Praying at political conventions

Better late than never, I guess. This conversation would have seemed a bit less opportunistic and partisan had it taken place some 20 years ago when the GOP was in the throes of being dominated by religious conservatives.

Not to take away from your points, Rod, for they are good ones and worthy of discussion. And, quite frankly, I share your concerns. I just wish voices like yours had been heard among conservatives back in the 1986 GOP convention when Pat Buchanan was coining the phrase "culture wars." Much damage has come to the cause of Christ from the co-opting of his Gospel by the GOP. It would have been helpful to have had voices like yours raising this concern back then. Unfortunately there were no such voices to be heard.

However, in spite of that, I am glad to see this discussion taking place. I have long believed that the Church loses whenever it allies with government or political parties. Invariably the Church comes away as the one having to change its message to accommodate the other. It would be far better, in my opinion, for the Church and her leadership to maintain a healthy distance from both government and politics.

When a Religious leader turns down the opportunity to pray before a group of people because he is afraid it might appear that he is "siding wit them", he demonstrates the lack of conviction in his own Faith.

He should look at it as an opportunity to witness his Faith to those who ask for it. What if Peter had turned down Cornelius's request to preach the Good News of Jesus?

Yes, He definitely did the right thing. I think that if Obama wins this election many conservative evangelical/Protestant/Catholic/ and Orthodox Christians will feel defeated and will want to crawl into a hole somewhere. However if Obama wins, this can be a perfect opportunity for believers to re-evaluate, deconstruct and then reconstruct what the true biblical relationship to the culture should be. Hopefully without attaching it to a partisan political agenda, or person they can get in the White House like they have done in the past. Many might ask "Oh yeah so if that's true, Why didn't this happen during the Clinton administration? What makes you think it would happen now?" I think it's different now, because Obama and the current generation of our culture is significantly more progressive and liberal than Clinton and the rest of America was at the time.

I think that Cameron Strang saw this as an opportunity as an evangelical to attempt to re-establish the role of religion in our culture by distancing himself from partisan politics. Not political participation, but political partisanship. This can be an opportunity for more of a true change in the culture by using a bottom up approach, instead of a top down approach. Cultural conservatives have tried the top down approach for years and years. Sure it might have worked on the surface for a little while, but it has done very little to broadly effect the culture as a whole. Strang did the right thing by declining the invitation by the Democratic Party. I also think it would be the right move for Strang to decline the invitation from the Republicans as well.

I've never had s good explanation why the following verse is not a flat out admonition for Christians against praying in public:

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." [Matthew 6:5-6]

Ideally, organized religion should play a minimal role, if that, at a political convention. Never happen, of course.

Cameron isn't a minister, as far as I know.
But he is a journalist, and for that reason alone, he shouldn't get involved with the convention.

"But that being the case, it's very odd to me that the Democrats offered him a praying gig there."

Because he's interesting and his faith vision goes beyond the miopic take of most Evangelicals?

Rod, His Eminence Abp Demetrios prays every year at both conventions. http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2008/08/24/2008-08-24_one_religious_leader_for_both_democratic.html