How would you define “spiritual mentor”?

The Audacity of Hype on Reverend Jeremiah Wright this afternoon (after the Magical Misery Tour – Jim Geraghty):

He was never my quote unquote, spiritual adviser, my quote unquote spiritual mentor, he was my pastor.

Yes, yes, dear voter, make sure you understand that.  Wright was never a “spiritual mentor” to the Audacity of Hype.

Of course, this begs the question: what is a “spiritual mentor”?  I would humbly submit that for most, this description would fit the bill:

The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

This, of course, was how the Audacity of Hype described Reverend Wright in the much-ballyhooed “Philadelphia speech,” i.e., before Wright’s Magical Misery tour.

Geraghty (whose link proved the excerpt above) put it best, “Obama’s Philadelphia Speech Looks Ridiculous Now.”  Indeed.