The Bishop Renders unto Caesar

Bishop James Greenleaf is in a bind. Bob Banks, the senior senator from Tennessee, is launching an inquiry into the bishop's mega-church, Calvary Fellowship World Ministries, and others like it. He wants to know whether they are taking advantage of their tax-exempt status to cheat the American people out of billions of dollars.

Typically, the bishop would be able to "donate" his way out of a political tight spot. This time, however, something else is required: respect. The bishop argues that Sen. Banks won't be appeased unless the bishop flies to Nashville to meet in person.

The bishop's wife, Lady Mae, is skeptical, but the bishop presses his point. "Senator Banks, in order to ascend to the earthly heights he has, made a number of bad deals," he says. "He promised his black constituents that he would fight for their rights. Once he got in office, he promised his white peers that he wouldn't fight too hard, cashed in his credibility earned on the front lines of the movement for a seat at a table Jesus Christ would have overturned in a fit of rage. In short, in search for his earthly power, he's distanced himself from his race, from his religion, I'm guessing even his own soul. And he won't be happy until everybody else does the same."

"Misery loves company," Lady Mae says.

The bishop forces a chuckle. "In this case, it demands it."