Patton Dodd: June 2008 Archives

The problem with using the Bible as the basis for running a society is that it would always be somebody's interpretation of the Bible, and a worst case scenario is that it might be your interpretation, Mr. Klinghoffer.

I too have read and studied the Bible all of my life, and I just can't recognize the Bible in so much of what you have said in our "dialogue." I really work at finding common ground with people across the political spectrum on moral issues that transcend ideology and politics. But we have been unable to find much common ground in this dialogue. I still find many of the things you have said absolutely astonishing.

Biblical wisdom is all-encompassing, with something to say about every private and public concern, yet your approach, Jim, seems myopic. Your passions are aroused by poverty, the Biblical approach to which you misunderstand, and by war, which you fail to appreciate as the normal tool of statecraft that it is in the Biblical perspective. On the problem of poverty, you seem to admire some political leaders whose views are, frankly, fantastic. In my book, I cite the transcript of the Sojourners Presidential Forum in June of last year. You questioned John Edwards about what he'd do to address poverty, and he responded with the claim that an Edwards Administration would "eliminat[e] poverty over the next 30 years."