Commenting on the difference between the two, the Black Biretta has a very good point, taking off from a K-Lo column.
The irony is that the clergyman (Reverend Wright) espouses the Dictatorship of Relativism whereas the politician (President Bush) embraces the concept of a Natural Moral Law. The former sees two worlds and two realities; political and religious, secular and spiritual (he says what policitians have to say; I say what pastors have to say. He does what he has to do; I do what I have to do). The latter recognizes that there is only ONE world and ONE reality. There is not a separate political existence from our religious existence. There is not one set of ethics and morality for those in government and another for citizens. There is one Natural Law and one Ten Commandments that bind on every human being regardless of race, gender, economic class, education level, etc. Politicians AND Pastors must speak the same language, that of TRUTH and JUSTICE. Faith and reason are not diametrically opposed. There is no intrinsic dichotomy either. Whether one explains the evil in religious or political terms is one thing but the substance, the essence of the act is either good or evil.
IIRC, Wright's heresy is not new--it is a variant of Manicheanism, and it is found in a number of other variations. It's also referred to as "dualism" and led to Gnosticism...
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