Truth in advertising

Who among us hasn't said something we've regretted? Jim Wallis called Friday and asked me to forgive him for calling me a liar. (I had noted in my July 17 column that billionaire leftist George Soros helped to fund his organization, Sojourners, at a critical time.) I appreciate Jim's call and I do forgive him.

But the original question remains: Where does Jim come out in the key battle between those who want a government that protects life but doesn't erode the Constitution, and those who want Washington to rule our society and economy? The answer is clear, from both what Jim says and which foundations support Sojourners.

Now that the dike is breaking down, more evidence arises regularly about Sojourners' funding. Jay Richards, writing for National Review Online, found that the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund-each chipping in $100,000-and Barbra Streisand have supported Sojourners. (See "Sojourners and Soros: The sequel," Sept. 11, 2010.) I found about $250,000 coming from The Tides Foundation, a left-wing San Francisco conduit.

I am not at all suggesting that Sojourners molds its positions to kiss up to those funders, but their giving is more evidence of the function secular leftists think Sojourners serves in the current debates: to reduce evangelical support for conservative candidates. If Jim argues that secular conservatives sometimes give money to right-of-center Christians for parallel reasons, I suspect he's correct.

Which returns me to my original challenge: It's fine for Jim to say he's prophetic rather than progressive, but he should admit that on the key issues in the 2010 election, government growth and health insurance, he lines up with liberals, just as WORLD on those two issues lines up with conservatives. That's all. It's not that hard. It might lose him a soupçon of support among 20-somethings who like the idea of being apolitical, but it's truth in advertising.