OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - When U.S. Senate candidate Jerry Moran was criticized recently for accepting subsidized rent from "The Family," his response was pathetic. He blamed people who "hate Christians" for criticizing his cozy living arrangement at the C Street House, owned by a cultish group known as "The Family."

Moran playing the "Christian persecution" card was kooky for many reasons. But I would like to take a look at this from a different angle. Can the C-Street run house really be called "Christian?"

I don't think so. This outfit known as "The Family" that Moran has associated himself with is not Christian at all---at least if Christianity is about Jesus the Nazarene.

Doug Coe, who is basically "the Pope" of this weird organization, tells people like Moran that Jesus the Nazarene got it all wrong.

MCDOWELL CREEK, Kan. - When Jan Garton passed away on November 9, 2009, one of the leading voices for conservation in Kansas was stilled.

Regarding her successful campaign to save Cheyenne Bottoms, the Hutchinson News wrote after Jan's death, "Jan Garton's life story perfectly illustrates how one person can make a difference." Jan's public actions and public words are well known.

Less well known, even by her friends, is her poetry. As Jan's executor, I had to clean out her file cabinets, and there I found writing she had never mentioned. Her poems give insight into just what it was that helped her change the world.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Richard T. Hughes' book Christian America and the Kingdom of God (2009) argues for a course correction for American Christians. Hughes, a professor of religion at Messiah College, tackles some tough questions and answers them with refreshing clarity.

Here's the gist of the book: God's Kingdom does not depend on coercion, or force, but instead seeks to persuade people into the Kingdom of God through non-violence and love. On the other hand, earthly Kingdoms (e.g., the Roman Empire) depend on coercion to gain compliance. Human empires depend on "the sword" to maintain peace. The Kingdom of God does not depend on the sword for peace, but believes that peace is a byproduct of justice. After reading this book, I finally understand the bumper sticker: "If you want peace, work for justice."

Relax, Hughes says that America is clearly a Christian nation, culturally and ceremonially. Christianity is easily the most popular religion in the USA, and the founders of our country were Christians, although some were Deists. Stated differently, America is a de facto Christian nation.

ANDOVER, Kan. - Why would any church want to align itself with a politician or a political party?

As the geeky Milhouse van Housen asked Bart Simpson, "What do they have to gain?", and the next shot cuts to the Reverend Lovejoy throwing a cache of coins down a counting machine, the implications are clear; the church needs money to destroy the secular world.

In real life, it is not as crass as directly funneling money from the church to the politicians since that would be a campaign violation and no church would be that profoundly foolish. However, when it comes to the well known and often maligned principle of the separation of church and state, the only separating going on is the church effectively keeping government out of their business while entangling itself into the bowels of political races, governmental entities, and PACs to push their agenda into secular society.

MOUND CITY, Kan. - Preacher Lou Engle, Sen. Sam Brownback's D.C. roommate for nearly a year, cited for the 2006 documentary "Jesus Camp," that he believes legalized abortion would lead to a second American civil war. Engle appeared in the documentary alongside Becky Fischer who "specializes" in evangelizing children and stated she would like Christian children to learn to be as dedicated as Hamas suicide bombers while taking back America for Christ.

Engle has on numerous occasions made reference to "radical Muslims" as his guide, preaching that he mourns Islam's followers who know how to die for their faith, yet Christians have become soft and forsaken martyrdom. Engle has called for a second civil war in the United States, while boasting an "underground" Christian church that plans to take over the world.

WICHITA, Kan. - Late last year in Wichita, a decision was made to stop any attempt by the Catholic Diocese and The Lord's Diner to establish a second unit of the facility in northeast Wichita. This after hearings before homeowner's associations, Wichita Ministerial League, the Wichita City Council and the District 1 Advisory Board. The opposition to their plan came from the "community" surrounding the proposed Northeast Lord's Diner and their representative on the Wichita City Council, LaVonta Williams.

Community can mean almost any group, large or small, of people working toward a common goal, but it should include working for the common good of everyone represented.

Comments made from representatives ran from, "...what we need are jobs," "...we worry about the neighborhood returning to blight ...," and, "... several churches in the area already distribute meals to residents."

GREAT BEND, Kan. - State Senator Carolyn McGill (R-Sedgwick) asked an incredible question on the Kansas State Senate floor of those who want to outlaw abortion but embrace the death penalty.

Referring to those who commit heinous murders, she asked, in essence, if all people start out as precious children of God from the moment of conception, "at what point in time did they lose that status and who made that decision?"

Most 'Religious Right' folks will try to move heaven and earth to protect an unborn child, but God help that child if he grows up and commits a double murder. Then, it's "off with his head."

Of course, the Religious Right says: "We support innocent human life. But when that life ceases to be innocent, that's different."

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Senator David Haley is the son of a state senator, the nephew of "Roots" author Alex Haley, and a graduate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s alma mater, Morehouse College.

So one would expect Haley to speak in the eloquent cadences of scripture so typical of African-American preachers. And Haley delivers the goods.

Check out this sugarplum launched by Senator Haley in Fridays' death penalty debate:

"Many of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory... I won't cast the first stone and won't be part of an angry mob and call for vengeance."

In a few seconds, Haley had invoked Paul's letter to the Romans, the Gospel of John, and invoked images of one of America's saddest chapters -- the lynch mob.

WICHITA, Kan. - Joseph Goebbels famously said, "If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth." As Hitler's Reichsminister of Propaganda, Goebbels used repetition to mold the German public's perception of reality as easily as if it were a clump of wet clay.

Karl Rove, Goebbels' modern-day equivalent during the Bush administration, effectively used Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Judith Miller at The New York Times and other mainstream media to hammer home the lie that Iraq had WMDs. And, according to the Center for Public Integrity, another 934 additional lies as well, which they repeated so often that they successfully panicked the public, stampeded Congress and fraudulently obtained permission to invade Iraq.

HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Tonight I read that Fred Phelps, pastor at the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, said that God hates Lady Gaga. It was striking timing for me personally because next week I'll be coming home myself to Topeka, the city of my birth. The Phelps story also comes a couple of days after I myself discovered Lady Gaga. And I must admit I think she is brilliant, an amazing artist and a very intelligent and earnest human being. Besides being an extremely gifted and accomplished musician, she seems to be a person who sincerely cares for other people.