Is He Dreaming?
January 23, 2008, 3:38 pm
Posted by Cathleen Kaveny
Jon Stewart interviews Jim Wallis on life in a post-religious right America.
BTW, I think both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are doing really well without writers. These guys are very smart–and very funny.
Wallis is delusional on several fronts. First of all, the “Religious Right” has never “dominated” our politics. What they did was simply gain a seat at a table that once belonged almost exclusively to the liberal establishment in politics, the media, academia, etc. By gaining in promiennce, however–rather than hiding out of sight, as the Left hoped the Right would continue to do–the Left went absolutely nuts. The Left had never been challenged before in this manner and they never learned to accept it (the overall media remains staunchly liberal, yet the Left now firmly believes that Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are the leading news outlets for the nation).
If the Religious Right has been so dominant, why did Pat Robertson’s presidential campaign go nowhere? Why is abortion still legal and gay marriage/civil unions still the law in the states that have adopted either (Massachusetts cannot even bring the matter up to a vote for reconsideration)?
Wallis is also dreaming if he truly belives “the world is hungry for the connection between spirituality and social justice” … the world has never been hungry for that connection–indeed, the very idea of using spirituality for social justice is what got Jesus crucified (since he challenged the dominant power structure and the prevailing attitudes of his day). Despite Wallis’ statements, nothing is being done about Darfur, climate change, etc. But then that was probably the whole point of having him on the show–remember: it’s a satirical, comedy spoof news show, not a real news program.
It was pretty funny for Jim Wallis to claim that he doesn’t want a “religious left.”
The interview seemed a little creepy to me–and not exactly candid on either side.
Creepy? Could you elaborate?
Two men who in public life present themselves as “honest” observers and brokers managed not to address their very different perspectives on the matter of religion in public life.
Stuart likes religion as a butt of his satire–his own religion as well as others, but I don’t detect that he fancies it as a normal part of politics or civic life (he is not Colbert).
Wallis has been working over the past three or four years to revive the respectability of religion in the Democratic party. Good for him. I favor that. But that’s not what he said on the show where his point was that the right doesn’t own religion.