Regarding the Rick Warren prayer, a reader dropped me an e-mail to point out that, in one short paragraph, the pastor managed to reference the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam:

Almighty God — our Father. (Christians) Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.’ (from Dt. 6), And you are the compassionate and merciful one. (the Koran consistently address Allah as the compassionate and Merciful one.) And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Which brings me to the real point of this post — that more of us around these parts need to strive to model ourselves on the God who is “loving to everyone you have made.” (And I include myself in that group, by the way.)

Tonight, a reader dropped me a long note to tell me that she has been dismayed at the hostile, sometimes hateful tone in some of the comments about both George Bush and Barack Obama. Reading over the comments of the last few days, I have to admit: she has a point. While my politics is fairly moderate, my philosophy about comments is decidedly liberal; I don’t want to censor anyone and I want all sides to be heard. It’s a big church. And, sometimes, an unruly one. But I’d like to ask everyone here to take a deep breath and strive, at the very least, for civility. Please.

I’m reminded of the wry observation of my friend Fr. James Martin, who once noted, “See how these Christians shove one another.”

Indeed.

For my part, I’m going to try to behave, and be more vigilant about my own postings — and about the comments of others. Can you guys try to help me out? Okay? Thank you.