Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

One of it's main target was the National Council of Churches itself. And one of its early projects was persuading 60 Minutes to run a piece alleging that the NCC and its member denominations were somehow funding Marxist guerrilla movements. This hit piece was the only segment, that Don Hewitt, the longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes says he regretted.  

Over at Talk to Action, Methodist ministers Andrew J. Weaver and Fred W. Kandeler outline the history and the damage done. Many in the mainline churches are waking up to the simple fact that they have been under attack for more than two decades by rightist interests set on neutralizing their effectiveness -- and that the IRD and its allies have had considerable success.

Sixty minutes executive producer Don Hewitt appeared on the December 2, 2002, edition of Larry King Live (CNN) and was asked whether he regretted any shows that he had done in his 36-year career. Hewitt named only one, the 1983 60 Minutes double segment on the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches. Hewitt told King that;

"We once took off on the National Council of Churches as being left wing and radical and a lot of nonsense. And the next morning I got a congratulatory phone call from every redneck bishop in America and I thought, oh, my God, we must have done something wrong last night, and I think we probably did."

The broadcast on CBS's 60 Minutes entitled "The Gospel According to Whom" began with Roman Catholic priest, Richard John Neuhaus, saying, "I am worried - I am outraged when the church lies to its own people." The camera moved from an offering plate in a United Methodist church in the Midwest to images of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and then to marchers in Communist Red Square. The lengthy segment over and over suggested that the National Council of Churches (NCC) was using Sunday offerings to promote Marxist revolution.

IRD remains a well-funded and influential agency to this day. It's minions in the mainline churches are treated as credible spokespersons for conservative dissent by mainstream religion reporters.

A few years ago, the National Council of Churches, faced with budget problems, and political gridlock, almost shut down. It has managed to resurect itself and under the leadership of Rev. Bob Edgar, appears poised to be once again an influential body in American public life.

As the slumbering giant of mainstream protestantism begins once again to stir, and the IRD and it's rightwing backers scramble to sew division and discord, will anyone be there to help? Or will the voices of mainline Christianity once again be silenced?