Justice vs. The Worldly Wise

OK, here's where things stand in the war of words between the U.S. Supreme Court justice and the "worldly wise."

According to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, the elites that rule American intellectual life think that Christians who believe in Easter and other biblical miracles are irrational fools. According to many outraged journalists, politicos and intellectuals, it was irrational and foolish of him to lash out like that at the American people.

"We are fools for Christ's sake," said Scalia, at a prayer breakfast sponsored by the Christian Legal Society chapter at the Mississippi College School of Law. "We must pray for the courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world."

Note: Scalia blasted the "sophisticated," "modern" and "worldly wise." Then, the very groups he criticized returned fire by saying that he was attacking America – period.

The Washington Post reported: "Scalia, a devout Roman Catholic, issued a harsh condemnation of American society, portraying it as not just skeptical of, but openly hostile to religious believers – particularly Christians."

One of Scalia's most outspoken critics went further. "It's a right-wing litmus test. ... If you don't say religion is being beat up on, then you aren't pitifully correct," the Rev. James Dunn, of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, told the Washington Post. "If the American people were as anti-religious as everyone says, then a Supreme Court justice wouldn't have the right to run around saying things like that."

It would help to know more about what Scalia said. However, the justice insisted that his remarks not be taped and his office has not released a text. The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger and the Associated Press filed reports and many who were in attendance have been interviewed by journalists.

Obviously, Scalia knew his remarks – which were laced with sarcasm and irony – would cause a firestorm, said Phillip E. Johnson, an outspoken Christian who teaches law at the University of California at Berkeley.

"But no one is saying the American people are anti-religious – especially not Justice Scalia," said Johnson, who began his career as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. "What he was doing was defending belief in a supernatural God. That's his bottom line."

A Baptist Press report offered another crucial detail. Scalia focused, in part, on 1 Corinthians 1: 18-19: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, `I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.' "

Today, very little has changed, said Scalia. "The worldly wise just will not have anything to do with miracles. ... To be honest about it, that is the view of Christians taken by modern society. Surely those who adhere to all or most ... traditional Christian beliefs are to be regarded as simple-minded."

Concerning the resurrection, he added: "It is not irrational to accept the testimony of eyewitnesses who had nothing to gain. ... The wise do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. So everything from Easter morning to the Ascension had to be made up by the groveling enthusiasts as part of their plan to get themselves martyred."

Scalia appears to have argued that the "worldly wise" are "naturalists" who reject belief in a supernatural, intelligent, God, said Johnson, author of "Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education." This means that the justice's remarks will anger modernist conservatives who preach social Darwinism, as well as secular liberals.

"This is the big split right now in the Republican's rather shaky coalition – between the pure economic conservatives and those who stress a moral order," said Johnson. "You see, once you start talking about the God of the Bible, then you're talking about a God who makes moral demands and plays a real role in the real world. ... For many people, it's shocking to hear a Supreme Court justice stand up and say he believes in that kind of God."

Starting Year Nine: Notes and Quotes

Every day, journalists who cover religion face waves of letters, press releases, magazines, books and, now, Internet versions of all of the above.

Some of this is news. Most of it isn't. But many items fall somewhere in between and create drifts of paper in my office. As of this week, I have written this column for eight years and I'd like to start another year by sharing some tidbits I couldn't trash.

* An interesting Newsweek report last summer described an emergency operation that saved a woman's life on a flight out of Hong Kong. The story ended with a dose of foggy faith: "Our lives depend on ... tiny miracles. Physicists say that the universe had to surmount vast odds to exist at all. ... No one stops to think about that, ordinarily, until an event like this one brings it into focus. Thousands of planes take off every day WITHOUT a surgeon on board. But there was a surgeon on Flight 32."

There but by the grace of – uh – the universe go we.

* At an Episcopal conference on church growth, New York Bishop Richard Grein criticized those who, to woo the unchurched, may sacrifice "Anglican style." This from a bishop who led a 1993 service in his own cathedral that included a whale-song Sanctus, preaching by skeptic Carl Sagan and prayers to Ra and Ausar.

* A thought for the Rev. Bill Hybels, the superstar pastor of Willowcreek Community Church outside Chicago: Bill Hybels is to Bill Clinton as Billy Graham was to Richard Nixon?

* No joke – an actual Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) news release began: "The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) has upheld a decision of the Synod of the Northwest Permanent Judicial Commission, sustaining Long Island Presbytery's decision not to respond to a request from Central Presbyterian Church in Huntington, N.Y., to investigate the alleged ordinations of a homosexual elder and deacon at First Presbyterian Church of Sag Harbor, N.Y." The PJC noted that "dialogue attempted in an atmosphere where one side or the other faces immediate potential remedial or disciplinary actions is not likely to be productive. ... Unprotected dialogue leads inexorably to wholly unproductive monologue."

No translation was offered for the church-lingo impaired. And, please, no jokes about "unprotected dialogue" among Presbyterians.

• The 1994 document "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" angered many on the left, who called it a GOP tract. On the right, some Protestants said it conceded too much to Catholics. Wait until folks see Catholic scholar Peter Kreeft's new book, "Ecumenical Jihad." It urges Christians, Jews and Muslims to unite in fighting the "common enemies" of secularism, materialism and immorality.
• Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., has threatened to excommunicate members of 12 groups that reject current church teachings. Question: Will he be excommunicated from the National Conference of Catholic Bishops?
• Here's a memorable politics-and-religion quote from House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt: "In the Republican version of Christmas, you only get your stocking stuffed if it's a SILK stocking. ... Gone are the notions of decency, charity and compassion that were the hallmarks of the man whose birth we celebrate each December 25th."
• Expect the following to surface in debates about National Public Radio. Referring to Christians who await Jesus' second coming, commentator Andrei Codrescu said: "The evaporation of four million (people) who believe in this crap would leave the world a better place." NPR apologized, after airing the commentary.
• On the Tonight show, Howard Stern waved a Bible and said the Gideons are now putting his books in hotels instead of Bibles. Jay Leno's response: "Howard, ... this (Bible) will strike you down as you go down the road. It will go through the windshield and pierce your heart. I am sounding like an evangelist now. ... Suddenly, all that is in this book is making perfect sense to me."
• Every field has its ruts. New York Times reporter Peter Steinfels said any list of generic religion news stories would include: "Ancient faith struggles to adjust," "Scholars challenge long-standing beliefs," "Interfaith harmony overcomes inherited enmity," "New translation of sacred scripture sounds funny" and "Devoted members of a zealous religious group turn out to be warm, ordinary folk."

TV vs. Traditional Faith

Everyone now and then, people on TV dramas or sitcoms quote scripture, kneel before crosses, mention Jesus by name or perform other acts that symbolize religious devotion.

What happens next is rather predictable, according to the Media Research Center's third annual "Faith In A Box" study of television entertainment and news. A commercial or two later, these true believers usually rob, rape, seduce or shoot someone, or at the very least act like bigots.

"It appears to be OK for characters to say that they have a kind of nebulous faith in some higher power," said Thomas Johnson, who wrote the study's entertainment report. "But the warning sign is when people do something that shows that religion is the most important thing in their lives. That means they're strange ... and they almost always turn out to be intolerant, violent wackos."

In news reports, the Media Research Center is almost always identified as a "conservative media watch group," which means that many media insiders scoff at its findings. However, the "Faith In A Box" reports are getting harder to ignore.

During 1995, the center's researchers studied virtually all prime-time programs – almost 1,800 hours of content – on major and minor broadcast networks. The number of portrayals of religion rose slightly to 287, from 253 in 1994. Still, this meant fewer than one depiction for every six hours of programming.

The report noted that negative portrayals of "devout laity and of the clergy" rose sharply, from 35 percent in 1994 to 64 percent in 1995. Positive portrayals of devout laity slid from 44 percent in 1994 to 11 percent in 1995. Twenty percent of 1995 clergy references were positive in, an 8 percent drop in a year.

In other words, while "spirituality" may be making a slight comeback, most Hollywood artists continue to blast religious traditionalists. This is especially true in programs that focus on sex and social issues.

"One of the harshest things you can say about someone in the entertainment business is that they're judgmental. That's a curse," said Johnson. "So when characters say that what they believe is absolutely true, or say that a particular act is sinful, then that means they're judgmental. Obviously, they're bad guys."

The news wasn't much better in network newsrooms. Out of 18,000-plus evening-news reports, religion drew 249. Out of more than 26,000 items in morning-news programs, religion drew 224. "Networks continue to neglect people and issues of faith in their everyday reporting," said the report. "When religion is covered, hostility toward traditional religious positions on social issues remains overt and sometimes unrebutted."

In one case study, "60 Minutes" superstar Mike Wallace devoted an entire segment to Call to Action, a Catholic group that opposes church teachings on birth control, the ordination of women, priestly celibacy, abortion and other social issues. The report featured 25 Call to Action sound bites, without including a single traditional Catholic voice. Later, Wallace told the Catholic newspaper Our Sunday Visitor that quotations from conservative Catholics just didn't blend with Call To Action footage.

As in Hollywood, social issues cause problems. Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz, appearing on conservative Cal Thomas' CNBC talk show, conceded that a "cultural bias" exists on subjects such as religion, abortion and homosexuality. "I think a lot of it is unconscious, but I think on those kinds of subjects, most reporters are probably to the left of the American public," he said.

Media Research Center analysts did find some signs of improvement, especially at ABC News, the only network newsroom with a religion specialist. Also, the faith-friendly CBS drama "Touched By An Angel" is drawing a loyal audience. Acknowledging that religion plays a positive role in millions of lives might be a savvy move in an era when complaints are up and ratings down.

Nevertheless, "old habits don't change easily," the report concluded. "The silver lining ... is that the failure of the broadcast networks' yuppie-centered fall offerings and the continued decline in their share of the audience makes a return to traditional programming a more attractive prospect now."

Jewish Life, Passover, and Pop Culture

The premiere issue of Jewish Family & Life includes a recipe for Matzah Brei.

You need six eggs, beaten, two cups of half and half, four matzahs and four tablespoons of vegetable oil. The rest is simple: soak the broken matzahs in the milk and cream for two minutes, then remove and soak in the eggs. Fry the results until golden and you have what amounts to Jewish french toast.

This is rather standard fare for a Jewish publication during Passover, which began Tuesday at sundown. However, this isn't just any Matzah Brei – it's Steven Spielberg's recipe.

"We're not going to turn this into the Jewish version of People or something," said editor-in-chief Yosef Abramowitz. "But face it, most Jewish magazines are boring. ... Our younger readers know who Stephen Spielberg is. While they're reading about his Jewish life we can pull them in and start talking about their Jewish lives."

That sounds simple. However, this is the 1990s and both Abramowitz and publisher Susan Laden know it will take skill to publish a breezy magazine called Jewish Family & Life! amid raging debates over the very definitions of words such as "Jewish" and "family." Thus, their advisory board includes well-known Jewish names from across the theological spectrum.

"What we care about is rejuvenating homes and helping them become Jewish homes," said Abramowitz. "It isn't in our interest to try to define Judaism for our readers and to say what is and what isn't a family. We're interested in promoting Jewish life, not Jewish arguments. ... We'll be working with everybody except Jews for Jesus."

One statistic looms in the background. As the '90s began, the intermarriage rate between Jews and non-Jews stood at 57 percent, up from 40 percent in 1980, and those who intermarry are much less likely to raise their children as Jews.

It's impossible to avoid the intermarriage issue, said Laden. However, the magazine will try to focus on how this affects homes, not Jewish institutions. The goal will be to help parents learn to say bed-time prayers, handle grandparents who celebrate Christmas or advise a teen who wants to date a non-Jew.

"We want to talk about the spirituality of daily life, the kind of issues that come up when children start asking real questions and parents try to answer them," said Laden. "I think young families are searching. They don't know where to find help. ... So we'll start at that point, instead of trying to impose some kind of rigid structure from on high."

The magazine's target audience consists of parents between the ages of 25 and 49. Surveys indicate that readers in an initial controlled circulation of 200,000 are "an advertiser's dream," said Laden. Ninety percent have college degrees and 90 percent own computers. (Yes, the magazine has an Internet address: JFLeditors@aol.com.) The average household income is $112,000.

Starting next fall, the quarterly magazine will offer a few longer reports about some events and trends. However, Israeli court decisions don't have as much impact in urban homes as new World Wide Web sites offering Jewish computer games, said Abramowitz.

"We're not going to apologize for our approach," he said. "We accept that mass media and popular culture are a powerful part of life and it wouldn't make sense to ignore that. That's just the way it is. ... So we may offend a few people, from time to time, but we know this is going to get the attention of younger readers."

For example, the first issue's "LIFE!Cycles" column included a chatty item about Roseanne Barr Arnold Thomas' new baby, Buck. Since he is the product of in vitro fertilization, the editors modestly suggested that he be given the Hebrew name "Binyamin," or "son of my right hand." After the issue came out, the staff heard from Roseanne's rabbi in Brentwood, Calif. Sure enough, the baby had already been given that very Hebrew name.

"What can I say? Warped minds think alike," said Abramowitz. "We must be on the cutting edge."