Anita Dufalla, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image. The Very Reverend Thomas Hopko, dean emeritus of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y., lives in Ellwood City. (thopko@svots.edu)

Some of us Christians (or would-be Christians) don't necessarily want our leaders to be "observant Christians." We know ourselves too well for that.

We also don't want our country to consider itself a "Christian nation" because we also know what that can mean.

Because politics is the "art of the possible," we want leaders who work to achieve maximum results for the common good, as they understand the common good, with the recognition that others can legitimately see things differently than they do. And we want leaders who know that there is no perfect and lasting good in this world, and never dare to promise such a thing to anyone.

We want leaders who listen, tell the truth and learn from their mistakes.

We want leaders who resist reinventing themselves every few weeks to please and appease one or another voting bloc. We want men and women who do not demonize their critics and opponents while alleging to respect them deeply.

We want leaders who can compromise their convictions within acceptable limits without betraying their consciences in order to achieve the best for the most, as they understand the best to be.

We want people capable of changing their minds and admitting their errors.

And we want leaders who don't seek "all or nothing" in ideological battles that no one can win and that produce countless casualties who, as in all wars, are always mostly from the weakest and poorest among us.

This would mean, for example, that when some Americans argue that the invasion of Iraq was an egregious analytical, tactical, political and military error, those who disagree would not label them weak-willed cowards who are betraying the brave men and women in the armed forces and offering to surrender our nation and the entire world to evil powers.

Or, when some Americans oppose abortion, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research and gay marriage, their opponents on these issues would not accuse them of being heartless, cruel monsters who oppose modern science and technology, abhor women and minorities and want people to suffer uselessly as they glorify human agony at the sufferer's expense.

Or, when some Americans think that illegal immigrants should be treated kindly, especially for their children's sake, and that ways should be found to integrate them productively into society, their opponents would not call them anarchists who oppose law and order and treat American working people with contempt; just as when others say that they want to keep as many jobs as possible in America, with just wages for American workers, their opponents would not accuse them of being enemies of economic freedom, entrepreneurial initiative, international development and the capitalistic system that made our nation great.

Some of us Christians also want political leaders with the courage to conduct an all-out war on global and domestic violence, terror, crime, injustice and neglect of the neediest by sacrificial spiritual, economic and philanthropic actions that begin with the nation's strongest and richest citizens.

We want people who would resort to carefully planned and responsibly executed military operations to contain evil only when absolutely necessary, as the very last possible option. We also want all Americans to sacrifice and suffer equally for peace, justice, freedom and well-being for all Americans and all of the earth's peoples. And we want our leaders, who are inevitably among the country's freest, strongest and wealthiest men and women, to be the leading exemplars of such self-limiting sacrifice, which would, for the most part, cause them little personal suffering while only costing them dollars they do not really need for personal or familial well-being.

We want leaders who are not prisoners of power, profit, possession, property, position, privilege, prestige and pleasure. We want people who demand from others what they demand first from themselves, and who do for others what they would want others to do for them and their loved ones.

Some of us Christians are convinced that the first step in securing the best possible political leadership for America is a radical change in the way we elect our leaders. We wish for an immediate end to the agonizingly extended, disgracefully expensive and endlessly analyzed campaigns that exhaust people's patience and sanity, and lead them into all kinds of temptations that they could easily and happily do without.

And of supreme importance, we want a nation governed by women and men whose actions prove their genuine care and respect (not to use the "l" word) for everyone without exception, including America's most violent enemies whose children will be America's even more violent enemies if things don't radically change in our country, both among ourselves at home, and in our dealings with other peoples and nations.

If such political leaders would emerge in America, their religious convictions, or lack of convictions, wouldn't matter in the least to some of us Christians. Such leaders would, in fact, be an answer to our prayers.

We would be their strongest, most faithful and most grateful supporters even when we disagreed with some of their policies and actions. We also realize, however, as an old Russian saying puts it, that we get the leaders, both religious and political, that we deserve.