Different degrees of religion

I came in late on the hour long show CNN’s Anderson Cooper did this evening on “the intersection of faith and politics” on the show dedicated to looking at issues from 360 degrees, or from a full and fair look at them, presumably.

Okay, to start with, calling it “the intersection of faith and politics” implies two different roads that meet at some point, and that’s understandable for big media to look at religion and politics as separate tracks that happen to be converging right now, which is why they’re scrutinizing it so critically. But people this show kept referring to as “values voters” (buzz phrase) believe that faith should inform everything they do, whether it’s business or study or politics or…..mass communications, like major media.

When I do speaking engagements and encounter listeners of my radio shows, people frequently ask which media or individual reporters I recommend, or at least trust. None of us are going to agree with anyone all the time. Some media heavyweights have appreciable passion, but get overbearing on particular issues, or they take off inexplicably on the Church, though they are Catholic, or they portray themselves as fair and objective, though they betray a political bias…..So we’re all human. That given, I do like Anderson Cooper much of the time, and have come to appreciate his humanitarian core and effort to cover the swath of answers to a question. Or at least explore the questions more fully than most.

But this particular outing was shallow and narrow-minded, or so it seemed midway through the show.

Just yesterday, I caught a few minutes of CNN’s political reporter John King intereviewing GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on the topic of religion, which was really suspicious. These guys seem to toss up a question about faith and morals, and then fall back in assurance that the interview subject is going to hang himself by expounding on his church or his beliefs. When they talk about Jesus Christ unabashedly, the show edits some cutaway shots of the interviewer looking at them studiously, as if examining a new strain of something under a laboratory microscope. That happened during this AC 360 on CNN dedicated to “faith and politics” when reporter Gary Tuchman did a segment on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and how the Mormon religion of presidential candidate Mitt Romney is unacceptable to many people in the culture. I could have muted the sound and still noticed the message the report sent about how alien this religion was to common sense people, like Tuchman.

There was a segment with a split screen – split three ways – with CNN’s John King (who seems unabashedly biased toward liberal ideals and politicians) in one frame, a conservative stragetist in the middle, and a liberal stragetist in the third frame. They went back and forth on what they literally called the “so-called values voters” and the issues and candidates most important to “them.” Most interesting moment to me was the fleeting instant in which Anderson Cooper came back in response to something by pointing out some voters’ disregard for candidates who had flip-flopped on the issue of abortion. He said they became “pro-life……” and then stuttered briefly and corrected himself by re-stating it as ‘what has come to be known as pro-life’.

I caught that. I want to see the re-air of this show. The whole show will be interesting, and I want to see that moment and whether it gets edited out. Because not many years ago, the entire sweep of so-called ‘mainstream media’ changed their style books (the guide for how reporters craft their reports) to insist that language on abortion resolutely always refers to “pro-choice” supporters versus “anti-choice” activists. It liberally uses “reproductive rights” as a euphemism for contraception and abortion….which is a discussion for another day and post.

It was interesting to watch and listen to the analysis of “values voters” and the likelihood that they will also be concerned enough about issues other than values, like national security, to affect the election of…say Rudy Guiliani, who we all know supports abortion.

Don’t be fooled. Everything is about values, and someone’s values will prevail in all decisions in a courtroom, all legislation in government and all elections in politics. 

Make sure you are well informed.