(RNS) Nothing will get better in our troubled and divided nation until we take to heart three lessons about what it means to be a decent person. First, give back to God. Second, help the unfortunate. Third, tell the truth. By Tom Ehrich.

NEW YORK (RNS) The better a restaurant owner knows the customers, the more focused the menu can be. It's the same with politics; when it's local, candidates tend to know their people or at least know their interests, lingo, worries and hopes. This is the level at which democracy tends to work best. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) As baby boomers start clicking the senior citizen box on travel fares, I want to say a word to my generation and to the one that preceded us. It is time for us to get out of the way. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) Politicians lie. We know that. Usually the American public is wary in responding to this chicanery. But the recent Republican National Convention revealed a mass madness that went beyond having fun. By Tom Ehrich.

TAMPA, Fla. (RNS) Two forces of nature were bearing down on Tampa this week. One, Tropical Storm Isaac, was thought likely to reach Tampa on Monday as a hurricane. The other, the Republican National Convention, was bringing 50,000 Republicans to nominate a president and vice president, to adopt a campaign platform, and to make the usual quadrennial noise. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) With their eyes focused on power, the shrill apparently have a bottomless well for funding their cause. They are certainly whipping each other into a frenzy. The question remains: Is anyone else listening? By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) Comparing today with yesterday is a popular yet pointless pastime. We rarely remember yesterday accurately, and yesterday was so, well, yesterday -- different context, different players, different period in our lives, different numbers, different stages in science, commerce and communications. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) Instead of reasoned debate among people who all seek the common good, we have a toxic spew of ads aimed at nothing more than instilling fear and hatred. Such willful destruction of the public square is despicable, and now it has become normal. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) Instead of turning on each other, as the wealthy and powerful want us to do, let's name the bad and incompetent behavior of the wealthy and powerful - and hold them accountable. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) The privileged see only the prizes they think they earned. Soon, to protect their delusions, they buy politicians and demand that they chase wealth for the greedy by turning the frightened against the vulnerable. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) Conservative commentators like Rupert Murdoch's stable and Ross Douthat of The New York Times are feasting on what they perceive as the "death" of "liberal Christianity." Their next round of emotional and financial blackmail won't find much of an audience. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) Although church conventions tend to get attention for decisions on sexuality and gender, I am more intrigued by a movement among Episcopalians to sell their national headquarters building in New York City. More open doors, I say, and more out-there ministry in a dangerous world. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) In Seattle, which is is arguably the nation's most secular city, people found the core meaning of an incarnate faith: people loving each other.  As religion struggles with who is allowed in, these church avoiders have opened their lives to each other. By Tom Ehrich. 

(RNS) The horrendous ugliness of this year's political campaigns is a last-ditch effort to install hatred on the throne -- all of it egged on by wealthy bigots whose goal, inevitably, is gaining more wealth. But it's last-ditch because times are changing. By Tom Ehrich.

(RNS) "Speaking truth to power" sounds like a noble calling until power pushes back. When big givers say "Jump!" it is the rare leader who says anything other than "How high?" It's time for that to change. What a noble service to America it would be if faith communities led the way. By Tom Ehrich.