Today’s Sullivan Award for moral equivalency goes to … Andrew Sullivan, for asking his readers to believe that any political candidate who sits through one measly sermon by a guest pastor who says this::

But what we see in Israel, the conflict that is spilled out throughout the Middle East, really which is all about Jerusalem, is an ongoing reflection of the fact that there is judgment. There is judgment that is going on in the land, and that’s the other part of this Jerusalem Dilemma. When Jesus was standing in that temple, He spoke that that judgment was coming, that there’s a reality to the judgment of unbelief. He said “I long to gather you, but…” what? “You were unwilling.” God never forces His way on human beings. And so because Jerusalem was unwilling to receive His grace, judgment was coming. He says, “Look, your house has left you desolate!” What did He mean by that? Remember where He is. He’s standing in the temple there in Jerusalem, the place where God had promised, through Moses, “There I will meet with you, there I will hear your prayers, and there I will forgive your sin.”

And now Jesus in that temple, just before going to the cross, says, “From now on this place is desolate.” And Jesus’ words have echoed down through the centuries. Not a generation after He uttered this promise, Titus and his Roman legions marched into that city and destroyed both the city and the temple. And from that day until this very present there has been no temple, and there is therefore no sacrifice in Judaism. Only we could sacrifice in…the only place was in the temple. And therefore there has been, and there is today, no confidence of atonement, no confidence of forgiveness. If you were to stand outside of a synagogue on the day of atonement and ask those leaving the service, “Did God hear your prayers? Were your sins forgiven on this most holy of all
days?” the answer would be, “I hope. I hope, but who can know?” Who indeed but those of us who have come under the wings of the Almighty, who’ve entered into that place of grace where forgiveness is assured for the dilemma of human life. Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It’s very real.

When Isaac was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment—you can’t miss it. And Jesus talks about it, but He didn’t leave us there. There’s a promise of a return from this judgment. Jesus concludes His message there in the temple by saying this—‘I tell you, you will not see Me again, you will not experience what I have come to bring, this place of grace which I have and will soon establish…you will not see Me again until you say, until you’re able with conviction to articulate, these words: “Baruch hab-ba bashem Adonai—Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Once again quoting again from a Psalm, this time Psalm 118: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief…the chief corner stone. And this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Save now, we beseech Thee; save now, O Lord! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

is no different than a candidate who attends for 20 years a church whose lead pastor, whom the candidate himself deemed a spiritual mentor, said this:

The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing “God Bless America.” No, no, no. Not God bless America, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.

And this:

We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

And who recently had a guest pastor of his own say this:

“America is the greatest sin against God.”

only to later explain that “America” had been a Freudian slip for “racism.” Nope, no difference there, none whatsoever. If I were into blending puppies, I’d call this a “fair hit!”

UPDATE: Another award named after Andrew Sullivan, and also won by Andrew Sullivan! Michael Phelps, you got yerself some competition.

UPDATE x2: Yet another, this time for his crack First Amendment jurisprudence. It’s a ‘hat trick!

UPDATE x3: While only Andrew Sullivan can get the gold medal for these awards, a noteworthy silver award goes to Ira Forman of the National Jewish Democratic Council, who also argues that Palin is no friend of the Jews:

She’s totally out of step with the American Jewish community. She is against reproductive freedom – even against abortion in the case of rape and incest. She has said that climate change is not man-made. She has said that she would favor teaching creationism in the schools. These are all way, way, way outside the mainstream.

Because we all know that abortion on demand, anthropogenic global warming and evolution are all central tenets of Judaism. It’s in the Bible, right next to the part about God damning America.