Conservative. Compassionate?
What Bush policy wonk Marvin Olasky really believes.
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“So should Christians not send their kids to public schools?” I ask. Olasky acknowledges that his charge of parental abdication of responsibility was a little strong, but says, “I still stand with the words of this, or at least the implication: that parents have a responsibility to learn who the teachers are and a sense of what is being taught.”
The “pig” graffiti on his door, he tells me, was prompted by remarks he made in 1998 during an interview with a newsletter called the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Olasky had said that feminism led to “great sexual irresponsibility” and had called the millions of children aborted since Roe v. Wade “the victims of feminism.” Later in the interview, he said, “God does not forbid women to be leaders in society, but, generally speaking, when that occurs, it’s usually because of the abdication of men. As in the situation of Deborah and Barak, there’s a certain shame attached to it. I would vote for a woman for the presidency, in some situations, but again, there’s a certain shame attached. Why don’t you have a man who’s able to step forward?” In a subsequent column in the biblically oriented weekly magazine World, which he edits, he explained the context: In the book of Judges, Barak refuses to lead the Israelites in battle unless Deborah accompanies him; she agrees but warns him that a woman will get credit for the victory.
When I ask him about all this, he says his remarks to the newsletter were “exceptional clumsiness in speech.” He adds, “I certainly didn’t mean there was any shame attached to the woman involved.”
I point out to him that the person who defaced his door probably believes that he opposes women holding jobs with authority.
“That person would be wrong,” he replies. “Deborah was an extraordinary woman. So the world should be able to greet and cheer exceptional women, absolutely.”
I am left wondering why anyone should feel ashamed that Deborah used her God-given leadership. Olasky provides me with an answer, sort of, in the May 20 issue of World: “Everyone, male or female, should be told, ‘Be all that you can be,’ but what most of us can happily be depends on the way we are made—and God knows our frames. He knows, because He made us, that men and women are complementary in nature… . He knows, because He made us, that men are typically more aggressive and women are typically more nurturing.”
Perhaps Olasky’s most publicized fracas occurred when he suggested in an Austin American-Statesman column that news reporters favored Arizona senator John McCain over Bush because, while Bush spoke openly of faith in Jesus Christ, McCain talked about his Stoic moral code without naming a religion. Olasky began by suggesting that the main character in novelist Tom Wolfe’s most recent book, A Man in Full, converted to the religion of Zeus—rather than Christianity—because the author believed it would be politically incorrect, if not commercial suicide, to have his character experience a Christian conversion. Along the way, the metaphor got muddled, and Olasky wound up insulting three reporters, who happened to be Jewish. “I made a couple of mistakes,” Olasky says now. “I didn’t know those folks were Jewish. When I name people now, I make sure.”
But the column also directly questioned the religious grounding of reporters who appeared to favor McCain. “A lot of liberal journalists have holes in their souls,” Olasky wrote. “Some of them grew up in nominally Christian homes but never really heard the Gospel; now they are looking for purpose in their lives but have no understanding of God’s grace. Others know more but don’t want to repent.” Olasky says he’d write that passage differently now. “We all have holes in our souls,” he says. “A good pastor will always say, ‘We are sinners.’ I might have been pointing the finger.”
Olasky’s affiliation with World drew attention from William Safire when the magazine published a scathing story on McCain a few days before the South Carolina primary. Although Olasky said he had recused himself from editing political stories, Safire didn’t buy it. Writing that the story amounted to “backdoor backing of candidate Bush,” Safire concluded it was “religio-political sleaze in action.”
Then there is Olasky’s take on the poor. In his new book he argues that throughout American history, many faith-based programs have had a better success rate than government programs in helping the poor. Faith in God and character building are essential to escaping poverty, he wrote: “Hard, character-building work is often particularly important in this process. Research studies show that church attendance tracks closely with lower dropout rates, less drug use, and fewer crimes committed. Faith-based organizations have shown that the best way to teach self-esteem and respect for law is to teach that we are esteemed by a wonderful God who set out for us rules of conduct that benefit society and ourselves.”
Dope dealers, alcoholics, thieves, and illegitimate children populate the book, as well as many modern-day saints doing selfless work in tough, urban settings. But Compassionate Conservativism seems to focus on the poor in need of rehabilitation from destructive behavior. Although the problems of law-abiding, working poor people are not addressed, Olasky says he did not intend to “dump on” the poor. “There’s no shame in being poor,” he insists, acknowledging that health problems, spousal abandonment, and layoffs—things outside a person’s control—often lead to poverty. Still, he continues, many people lack “a work understanding” that religious values could fill. “Faith in Christ gets a whole set of attitudes,” he says. “If you have a problem with your girlfriend, you still go to work. “
During our interview, Olasky admits that, on occasion, his words go too far, but that’s the nature of column writing. He recalls LBJ’s frustration with equivocating economists, who would only give advice in the form of “on the one hand, on the other hand.” Johnson fumed, “What I need is a one-handed economist.”
And yet Olasky acknowledges that “bold and courageous” reporting—devoid of shades of gray—could destroy church outreach to the poor. When I mention the late Reverend Lester Roloff, who ran afoul of the State of Texas in the seventies when corporal punishment in his “Bible-based” school violated state child-care laws, Olasky observes that “compassionate conservatism could produce similar stories.” But he adds, “If we condemned the whole public school system because of Columbine, that wouldn’t be a rational thing to do.”
The future of compassionate conservatism, it turns out, depends on balanced news coverage. “It will be up to reporters: Do they emphasize the good stuff or the bad stuff?” Olasky says. “It’s easy for them to find bad things.”
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