Who Is John Stott?
By DAVID BROOKS
Tim Russert is a great journalist, but he made a mistake last weekend. He included Jerry Falwell and Al Sharpton in a discussion on religion and public life.
Inviting these two bozos onto "Meet the Press" to discuss that issue is like inviting Britney Spears and Larry Flynt to discuss D. H. Lawrence. Naturally, they got into a demeaning food fight that would have lowered the intellectual discourse of your average nursery school.
The discussion was religion, politics, law and judicial appointments…a small, highly distorted fragment of public life. That made Falwell and Sharpton perfect choices. And Rev. Sharpton flung no food. He showed well, as usual;stiffs like Falwell are perfect foils for his style.
This is why so many people are so misinformed about evangelical Christians. There is a world of difference between real-life people of faith and the made-for-TV, Elmer Gantry-style blowhards who are selected to represent them. Falwell and Pat Robertson are held up as spokesmen for evangelicals, which is ridiculous. Meanwhile people like John Stott, who are actually important, get ignored.
Looking at the list of accomplishments and acknowledgements Mr. Brooks lists it's hard to say he's ignored. It's hard to say he's not operating at the exact level of exposure he chooses.
Falwell and Robertson were not chosen by non-Evangelicals. They are the political face of that movement for a reason and will remain so until they are repudiated. And that ain't gonna happen.
