If you’re going to talk about a bible, might as well do it in a church.

Whether coincidental or intended, presenting the Brookings Institution report on Maine to dozens of legislators at Catholic Charities of Maine’s building – the St. Paul Center – in Augusta on Jan. 24 was the perfect, almost cinematic, setting.

From the giant mural of Jesus, thick sound-deadening carpeting, to myriad crucifixes adorning the walls, the presentation exuded a distinct evangelical sensation. Various Brookings authors and contributors even sat behind a long table, “Last Supper” style, to face the audience of lawmakers.

Ministering the meeting was Alan Caron, of GrowSmart Maine, which commissioned the Brookings report, Charting Maine’s Future. He’s been preaching its truths to all comers since the report’s release – which had everything but trumpeted fanfare from a heavenly band of angels – late last year.

Charting Maine’s Future is a fine piece of work, and an overdue comprehensive and critical outside analysis of what’s really working, and failing, in Maine. It’s overwhelming acceptance in Augusta has sparked the feeling of a revivalist movement, with the report the foundation of a new political religion.

The Book of Brookings. Or Brookingsology, perhaps.

But it’s just a report, right? Not so, according to local legislators. One state senator I spoke with called it “bible” straightaway, and goggled at its loving embrace in Augusta. Another, Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, has put Brookings’ ideas even ahead of his party’s leader, Gov. John Baldacci.

“Brookings is right,” the sometimes DINO – Democrat In Name Only – senator said while discussing the governor’s education consolidation plan. “The governor is wrong.”

Nutting was referring to Brookings’ suggestion to convene an independent commission on state spending, like the Base Realignment and Closure panel, to recommend efficiencies. “The governor could have filed a bill for a BRAC-type commission,” said Nutting. “He has not done that.”

So the senator has. His legislation, which should be unveiled Monday, would create an independent board to recommend $30 million in state administrative cuts, echoing what the report dictates should be done.

So sayeth Brookings, so sayeth the flock.

As a fresh observer of the Legislature, I’m entertained, and amazed, by the power being channeled through Brookings. Governments churn out reports like Henry Ford made Model Ts, and there’s enough discarded and forgotten hard-cover panaceas around the Sun Journal newsroom’s nooks and crannies to keep an incinerator burning for months.

Brookings, however, is special. It’s captured the imagination of both sides of the aisle, and even those who dare trash it can’t do so for long. In back-to-back news releases in February, for example, the Maine Republican Party tarnished, then polished, the Brookings report for its constituency.

To wit:

Feb. 9, GOP Chairman Joe Bruno: “As predicted, the governor and the Democrats have clung to this plan as the Salvation of Maine…The ironic part is that Brookings recommends raising taxes to solve our tax problem. That fact alone should make you scratch your head about the content of the report.”

Feb. 13, party executive director Julie O’Brien: “The fact that the Brookings Report provides evidence that we can be saving between $60 and $100 million dollars per year…supports the fact that Maine’s state government has been run inefficiently by Gov. Baldacci and the Majority Democrats for decades.”

(She concluded with this zinger: “It’s sad that Democrats have to commission a million dollar report before they will begin to listen to common-sense Republican ideas for saving money.” Does this mean the GOP, although it believes Brookings to be farcical, is mad because it stole Republican ideas?)

Democrats have been consistent in their effusive praise. The governor, in unveiling his biannual budget, invoked Brookings repeatedly, and glowingly. House Speaker Rep. Glenn Cummings of Portland, has created an elite “Prosperity Committee” to shape policy based on the report’s finer points.

Groups seeking funding, like land trusts or environmental advocates, cite Brookings’ vague recommendation to “invest in quality places.” L-A was hailed as “striking” by the Brookings folks, a mild adjective touted as if carved into a stone tablet on Mt. Ararat, or spoken by a burning bush.

And now, the chief Brookings apostle – GrowSmart – has upped its profile from advisory to advocacy; the Yarmouth-based nonprofit has released polls touting “broad support” for Brookings recommendations, and Caron is on the record as questioning the governor’s education plans.

“I think we’re a little disappointed that more hasn’t been done at the level of state government,” Caron told the conclave of legislators assembled at St. Paul’s. “Our opinion is the status quo is not an option.”

If this ends up as the sacred tenet of the Brookings movement, there’s only one thing I can say:

Amen.