G. Frink's

Twelve years ago in a kinder, gentler era of presidential politics, the late J. Marse Grant argued with some eloquence that "America be spared the mean-spirited name calling between now and Nov. 5."

Grant, who died Friday at the age of 88, was editor emeritus of The Biblical Recorder, North Carolina's state Baptist newspaper. He seemed to be addressing himself primarily to other Southern Baptists, whose leadership he felt had lost its way by making the Southern Baptist Convention a political adjunct to the Republican Party.

Today the general issue of dangerously divisive overstatement is an inescapable national concern -- one well-addressed by Grant's comments.

Grant quoted the Rev. O.S. Hawkins, then pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, as a clear example of what should not be said, and how it should not be said.

Grant wrote:

Castigating "liberals" in general in particular, Hawkins took off the gloves with this tirade against Clinton, as reported by Associated Baptist Press:

"When I see political leaders with their liberal agendas contrary to the word of God coming out of church on Sunday, being photographed with Bibles in their hands and waving to the television cameras, the words of Jeremiah 7:9 echo in my mind," he said: "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom you do not know and then come and stand before Me in the house that is called by my name and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?"

The language of voice ads being delivered by automatically dialed telephone calls -- robocalls -- live down to the standard set by Hawkins in his abuse and misuse of the Bible "to make a political point." As do some televised ads and candidate speeches.

Those McCain campaign and Republican National Committee robosmears falsely portray Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as variously a friend of terrorists, indifferent to the lives of newborn babies and somehow otherwise a sinister "other." And as Grant said of Hawkins' words in 1996, "That's going too far."

Grant spoke directly to the potential consequences of the irresponsible, political evocation of strong emotion when he wrote:

Of course this is not the first or last time the Bible will be abused and misused to make a political point. Supporters of slavery 150 years ago come to mind. Present-day extremists in Israel, quoting their Bible, stirred up their followers to the extent that the nation?s leader was assassinated.

At the time, Republican enthusiasts had not cried out "kill him" when President Bill Clinton's name was mentioned at rallies. No reporter had been attacked at a Republican vice presidential candidate's rally in Grant's home state, as one was at Elon University on Friday.

Such startling inspirations to peace-making were not required for Grant, who had lived through the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and others.

He knew from life experience, as do I, what manner of havoc can be inspired by rabble rousing.

Update

In his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president Sunday morning on NBC's Meet the Press, retired General Colin L. Powell said of the robocalls and other attempts to link Obama somehow to a one-time domestic terrorist, "I think this goes too far."

Addressing Republican attempts to label Obama a Muslim and to treat followers of that faith as somehow unacceptable, the Republican former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "I think we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way."