Thoughts | Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity

I separately posted a transcript of Jon Stewart's speech.

I enjoyed joining (in spirit) Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity held today on the DC Mall.  He's been derided in the last few weeks as either a liberal plotter trying to sneak a left-punch in just before election day, or a comedian that simply goes too far.  But I think his words speak pretty well for themselves:  he's honestly trying to take things down a notch.  For those of us that get a headache listening to both Fox News and MSNBC, it was a breath of fresh air.

As a Christian there are portions of his universal tolerance that poked my theology a little bit hard.  All ways up the mountain just can't be the same: I believe Jesus wins.  But what poked my theology harder is what strong call to compassionate listening and grace Jon Stewart provided.  Wow: what an embarrassing example for those of us who follow Christ.  I would only the hope the church could be so clear in calling for loving enemies. Jon Stewart stood on the stage and practically demanded it from 200,000 people.

Jon's hope is in the collective good of humanity, and this too is something our Christian worldview can both agree with and resist.  We can agree because we see everyone—Sunni Muslim to South Carolinian—as made in the image of God.  We resist only to say that we can see the source of the tension.  The demonizing each other is still just the symptom.  The tainted media communication environment is just a symptom too.  Both are the results of millions acting in self-centeredness, the essence of sin. And it can't be undone with people trying to be nicer.  It can only be undone through Jesus-powered forgiveness.

But for now, I still think Jon Stewart won the Jesus-like image award today.