We were profoundly disturbed to hear about David Kuo's new book, Telling Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction.  Mr. Kuo served as deputy director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the early years of the Bush administration.  In his book, Mr. Kuo contends that the office was plagued with cynicism, arrogance, corruption, and religious discrimination.

Perhaps most disturbing, Mr. Kuo says leaders in both the White House and Congress had virtually no interest in funding faith-based initiatives or ensuring they would actually work.  They loved to make campaign promises and hold press conferences to showcase their commitment to faith.  But when it came time for action, these people were nowhere to be found.

The sad truth is that our country's leaders, especially those in the White House, appear to use faith almost solely as a political weapon.  They don't respect it.  They don't care about its capacity to improve people's lives.  They want power, period.  And apparently, they are willing to manipulate religious voters and break the law in order to gain that power.

As Mr. Kuo said last night on 60 Minutes: "You're taking the sacred and you're making it profane. You're taking Jesus and reducing him to some precinct captain, to some get-out-the-vote guy."  We would hope for more from a political party that has won election after election by claiming to be the party of faith.

Jesus warns against this sort of hypocrisy in the Gospels.  ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.' (Matthew 23:25-26)

We cannot and ought not judge the souls of President Bush, congressional leaders, or White House staff.  That's God's job.  But we will call out religious hypocrisy and abuse when we see it.  After all, faith is why we do the work we do.  God is our Alpha and Omega, our beginning and end, our ultimate concern.  And to see our God being used by a political party just to attain earthly power, with little hint of actual compassion or justice, is simply heartbreaking.

We don't know whether this White House will use its remaining years to carry out what was supposed to be President Bush's signature domestic achievement.  We hope so.  For the God we know longs for the liberation of all people in the quest for equality, fairness, and justice.  But given what Mr. Kuo and too many others have said about how the Bush administration operates, we're not holding our breath.