Have You No Sense of Decency Sir?

“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” (Joseph Welch to Sen. Joseph McCarthy during Senate hearings where McCarthy accused Army officials of harboring communists, June, 1954)

Biblically, believers are commanded to not seek their own interests but rather to pursue the interests of others (cf. Phil 2. 4). Also, in the face of oppression, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Mt.5:44). Yet, we are also called to defend those who are the victims of injustice (Ps. 83:3). The martyred German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer called for the church to defend those who were the victims of injustice, whether they were members of the church or not. Biblically, it seems, that the reason one can pursue the interests of others without fear of oppression is that one should be assured that Christ and his followers are also looking out him.

Which brings we to a recent spate of attacks by FOX News commentator Glenn Beck on the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, a ministry committed to Christian peace and justice by combining faith and progressive politics to strive for social justice. Last week Beck told his audience that if their pastors teach about social justice that they should leave their church and report the pastor to church authorities. His reason is that that “social justice is a perversion of the Gospel” and “a rallying cry on both the communist front and fascist front.” Beck has also called Wallis a “communist” and his attacks have also fueled WorldNetDaily, a conservative news website, to claiming that Wallis is a “longtime socialist,” “founder of the far-left magazine, Sojourners” (which he is) and former leader of the Michigan Students for a Democratic Society (which he was not).

In defense of Wallis, he is certainly in the progressive tradition. Progressives generally seek political, economic, social and moral reforms which seek to address systemic injustices in society. Wallis’ latest book, Rediscovering Values, is an examination of the abuses of Wall Street and the current economic crisis that focuses on the greed and avarice of the banking and financial industries and calls for moral-based forms of regulation. Wallis does not claim to be a leftist, Democrat, or socialist, but prefers to describe himself as part of the “moral middle,” a group that does not align itself politically to any party but considers the biblical imperatives for particular issues. It is a perspective captured in the title of a previous bestseller, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get it. Wallis is pro-life (a conservative issue), but also notes that being pro-life needs to extend to issues of health insurance, good schools and environment (more liberal issues). Of note is that, historically, progressives came from both parties, with notable Republicans (e.g., Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follette) and Democrats (e.g. Woodrow Wilson) among its champions.

What Beck has sought to do is control the definitions of terms like “social justice,” and “communist.” Beck and WorldNewsNet (in calling Wallis “far-left”) does not define the terms, but rather uses emotional language to paint Wallis as someone odious to their audiences. Relationally, any moderate Republican, people like Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush, would all be “leftist” in comparison. Wallis, to his credit, has vowed not to personally attack Beck and has offered to discuss his ideas of social justice. Beck has responded to Wallis’ offer by stating…

“So Jim, I just wanted to pass this on to you. In my time I will respond — my time, well, kind of like God’s time, might be a day, might be a week to you, I’m not sure. But I’m going to get to it in my time, not your time. So you go ahead and you continue to do your protest thing, and that’s great. I love it. But just know — the hammer is coming, because little do you know, for eight weeks, we’ve been compiling information on you, your cute little organization, and all the other cute little people that are with you. And when the hammer comes, it’s going to be hammering hard and all through the night, over and over…”

Now I can point out that Beck’s own Church of Latter-day Saints sees social justice as essential to Mormonism. I can also note that Beck’s attacks are based on his idea of the separation of church and state, all the while he supports conservative revisionist-historian David Barton to use church influence on the state if it serves conservative ends (apparently progressive people of faith are not allowed to bring their faith into the pubic square). As the Center for American Progress notes, “Beck does not distinguish the difference between imposing one’s religious views on others and acts of civic or public engagement based on faith.” This is not an isolated tactic. On March 11th, at a forum at Cedarville University where conservative Marvin Olasky (editor or World Magazine and author or Compassionate Conservativism) met Wallis in a forum on biblical responses to poverty, Olasky continually tried to tie Wallis to socialism (he used “equality” defined as equal redistribution of wealth) and read a passage from a fictious “Sojourner’s Bible” where he interpreted the parable of the Good Samaritan in socialist terms and attributed this to Wallis and his organization. Wallis, to his credit, not only refuted Olasky’s claims but did so in a way that was much more gracious than how Olasky (and more recently Beck) have been treating him.

Here is my point—where are the brethren standing up to Beck for his slanderous attacks on Wallis and his perversion of a concept that is central to the Scriptures themselves? To his credit Albert Mohler, conservative President of Southern Baptist Seminary, has challenged Beck’s attack on social justice. However, who will stand up to Beck on behalf of Wallis? Beck’s ruthless attacks, both now and in the future, can only continue if he is provided cover by conservative religious leaders that will tolerate (i.e., passively endorse) these attacks. Where is Rick Warren, James Dobson, or other prominent conservative religious leaders? I have a very difficult time believing that Beck would continue his attacks against Wallis if conservative people of faith would simply say that they disagree with Wallis’s theology but the personal attacks are both uncalled for and violate the spirit of grace that we, as Christians, are called to exhibit. Failure to do so provides Beck the tacit assent he needs to continue his campaign of slander.

To close let me cite the confession of another German pastor, Martin Niemoller, in a speech he gave in 1946 on his failure to address the oppression of the Nazis.

"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."