I am sad because while I loved the opportunity to hear the Rev. Jim Wallis speak in Columbus, his fellow speaker, Rev. Russell Johnson, fulfilled every negative stereotype of the religious right. Ssomehow, I hoped against wisdom that I would find something positive in what the man said. I hoped, honestly, that I would hear something that gave us real common ground, and I only heard platitudes and lip service to what I consider grounding Christian -- heck call it human -- principles.
Wallis was brilliant, articulate and very moving. That was all expected, as although I do disagree with him now and again (the wisdom of Terri Schaivo being kept alive, for example), I find him to be so sincere in his convictions, Christian and political. He was a great advocate for morality in political debate but made clear his belief in the separation of church and state and his belief that the government has a role in caring for the least in society.
But I left the discussion with a profound sense of disappointment, because I did hope that the speaker from the religious right wouldn't fulfill every negative stereotype I have. I entered the room with the hope that maybe he would offer something that made me consider his point of view. I don't like to think people are my stereotypes. And yet, there he was, arguing that somehow Christians are persecuted by science classes not teaching intelligent design, as if that is a valid scientific theory. More telling, though, were his weird word choices. When talking about gay rights, he called them sodomites (a shocker to the lesbians, I'm sure). He basically blamed any negative outcome of Abu Ghraib not on the fact that there was torture but that the American press reported the torture. In a weirdly "oh, no he din't moment for me, he told the moderator (named Cohen) that "your forefathers suffered" because of Neville Chamberelin's impeachment. It was just bizarre.
Most disturbing, still, is the rank dishonesty of these people. The guy was just filled with lies, but more frightening, I'm not convinced he didn't believe them. The standard, "Oh, we pay taxes and our views are unrepresented. Christians aren't allowed to speak about their religion in public. God is being removed. Saddam Hussein was the same sort of threat as Hitler. We'd be fine if a mosque was built next to our church, but if there were a church next to a mosque, it would be burned down."
I was encouraged in many ways by Wallis' very positive view and his urging to use Christianity to further the fight against economic injustice and the abuse of the environment. Nonetheless, I have to say I was sad to hear Johnson and his followers (and I do consider them his followers, because Jesus would have thrown them to the curb) offer so little I could work with. Oh, sure, he said they care about the born, but it was in the "we adopt little Chinese babies" way, not in any "we'd like to actually support child care and education" way.
I guess I expected miracles, and they still may come. But today, as much as I admire Jim Wallis, I'm having trouble maintaining his optimism in a real discussion with the other side.