When Even Kerry Gets Religion It’s Time to Start Praying

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Liberals are falling over each other these days to show how deeply religious (make that Christian) they are, from the “Faithful Democrats” to the “Red Letter Christians.” Even Howard Dean’s DNC has gotten itself a “faith advisory committe.”

This is all well and good (and possibly even–who knows?–sincere in some cases). But here’s cause for concern: John Kerry is starting to sound like Jim Wallis, which can mean only one thing–and not a good thing. Kerry gave a speech yesterday in Malibu, California, in which he said he’d “wandered in the wilderness” after the Vietnam War but, as the Washington Post puts it, came back to the Roman Catholic Church after a sudden and moving revelation in the late 1980s. He also said he wishes he’d given the speech before the 2004 presidential election.

“For 12 years I wandered in the wilderness, went through a divorce and struggled with questions about my direction. Then suddenly and movingly, I had a revelation about the connection between the work I was doing as a public servant and my formative teachings.”

Well, let’s take his word for that. He also said, of his 2004 run:

“I learned that if I didn’t fill in the picture myself, others would draw the caricature for me. I will never let that happen again.”

“Again”?! Please, God, no!

LESS DREADING, MORE DOING

This is the rubber-meets-road moment: the early days in our first fundraising drive since we took a big swing and merged with CIR to bring fearless investigative reporting to the internet, radio, video, and everywhere else that people need an antidote to lies and propaganda.

Donations have started slow, and we hope that explaining, level-headedly, why your support really is everything for our reporting will make a difference. Learn more in “Less Dreading, More Doing,” or in this 2:28 video about our merger (that literally just won an award), and please pitch in if you can right now.

payment methods

LESS DREADING, MORE DOING

This is the rubber-meets-road moment: the early days in our first fundraising drive since we took a big swing and merged with CIR to bring fearless investigative reporting to the internet, radio, video, and everywhere else that people need an antidote to lies and propaganda.

Donations have started slow, and we hope that explaining, level-headedly, why your support really is everything for our reporting will make a difference. Learn more in “Less Dreading, More Doing,” or in this 2:28 video about our merger (that literally just won an award), and please pitch in if you can right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate