Garry Wills: "Outside Looking In"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-10-27/garry-wills-outside-looking
Garry Wills, journalist, classicist and historian, says he’s always been an outsider looking in, but his perch has been remarkable. In a new collection of essays he describes some of the more unlikely places he’s been and the insights he’s gleaned about many of the major figures on our modern era: Richard Nixon, Beverly Sills, Dr Spock, Hillary Clinton, Bill Buckley, and John Waters to name a few. He’s covered anti-war protests, presidential campaigns, and investigated the life and death of the man who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald. Garry Wills joins us in the studio to talk about life as he’s seen it and the benefits of being an observer.
Guests
Garry Wills
professor emeritus of history at Northwestern University and author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer-Prize winning "Lincoln at Gettysburg," "Saint Augustine" and "Why I Am a Catholic."
Comments
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I am puzzled that the mainstream media has virtually ignored your very interesting analysis of the abortion issue in your book "Head and Heart: American Christianities". You are the only person I have found who addresses the assertion that abortion is murder. Would you please explain your position on this very important issue?
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Does Garry know of any political figure that is openly a "non believer?" They seem a very rare breed. Why?
A rare breed in the US. It is not so un-common in other countries.
Dear Mr. Wills,
I have never been an extremely religious person, probably in the cafeteria catholic category. I grew up in public elementary schools and then went to high school at a parocial school. I swore I would never send my kids to catholic school but as I grew up, I realized the value of the EDUCATION. Now, I have my kids in Catholic school because I realize it is difficult to live in this world without understanding our Judeo/Christian heritage. It is part of our history, good and bad.
I still don't buy much of what the church says but I have learned to sperate the institution from my faith. People think Catholism is so doctrinaire but I have found it to be a religion that actually challenges you to ask questions and in the process better understand Catholism (like the Jesuits). I am grateful to all the religious who taught me.
I respect and identify with Mr. Willis, although I definitely need to read more of his work. I was highly encouraged to read as a young child, but as I grew older friends, family, and yes, teachers, grew concerned that I was reading too much. Looking back, I know I lost out on making many good friends because I was seen as being snobby, stuck up, or just lost in my own world; inaccessible and aloof. That was because every spare minute at lunchtime, on the bus, waiting for class to start, etc., I was reading some book or other. Was it worth it? Well, it certainly helped me learn to think critically, especially when I entered college and had to take an ethics course as a requirement for the degree. Here is where our stories diverge: this course was the beginning of an amazing, fantastical journey into the analysis of how we know what we know and why we do what we do, but instead of leading me back to my Catholic heritage, it fed a growing horror of organized religion and people who are guided in their every decision by an imaginary friend that they truly believe speaks to them and shows them truth. I do not believe humanity needs religion. What we need is to recognize reality as it is, not what we want it to be. Only then can our politicians make the best decisions. While I can respect the pursuit of knowledge some religious sects espouse, when this pursuit is made in the name of a fantasy sky daddy who knows every thought, feeling, and deed we are capable of no matter how fleeting, it is tainted beyond repair.
THX soooo much for noting that abortion essentially has nothing to do with religion. My view on faith is all but immaterial in assessing how tragic it is to rip, tear or burn a baby from its mother's womb. It is an abhorrible act of violence.
who is this crack pot? he makes some good point but he makes just as many pointless rambles.
The papacy is a new institution? What? I guess a religious office that's been around nearly as long as one of the top three major religions is new?
George Washington was a great president? that was over 200 years ago and what relevance does that have in 2010? the circumstances and politics of Washington's time are far removed from our times. Truthfully, great presidents such as Washington, Lincoln & Roosevelt are great because they exhibit a set of characteristics in make it or break it circumstances not because the specifics of their circumstances are generalizable.
then he goes on to say he didn't like George Bush but at the same time he doesn't Like Barach Obama. Well that's all fine and good, is there anything you do like except the religious proffering you seem to like to do which has no place in governing a society. True the morality and the ethics espoused by nearly all major religions are inexorable truths of how to conduct ones self in a community, but Jesus, Mohamed or religious guilt guided actions don't really matter. I think morality and ethics are part of human nature and not a quality bestowed on people from religions. And as far as not liking Bush and not liking Obama, you have to stand behind something that is the least of evils and contributes to the greater good or else you're just another Rush Limbaugh bitching about everything.
This guy is just another negative silly fool like Jaun Williams who seems to think that because he can hide behind a radio mic, that he can make stupid statements, and use that nervous I know more than you know laugh. That doesn't contribute to progress, it's merely pessimistic ramblings of a befuddled mind. He should be on the outside looking in.... way way on the outside. and this guy won a Pulitzer???
Find something good or some good in something and stand behind it or stand down. we don't need more over analyzing nay sayers right now we have enough.
Were is Diane, she would at least reign this guy in!
Dear Gary: I consider it providential to be tuning in and lo and behold, the author of a book about the Gettysburg address, excellent read
I am not sure I hear you correctly regarding 'natural law' and the Roman Catholic position on abortion....
Natural law would seem to be a strong argument in favor of pro life as scientifically speaking, human embryos are in fact human and therefore deserving of respect, even by humanist agnostics, true?
This same argument would also apply to very old "humans" as well, even those in a comatose state. No one ever stops being human no matter what scientifically described condition they may be in, true?
I am not Catholic but have enjoyed Mr.Wills comments and level of logical, yet Christian, thought. I was also impressed by his comments about people like Bill Buckley, who I met at one time and George McGovern and their inability to sit quietly with a book. I thought I was the only one like that. Keep up the good work. One can be an intellectual as well as a Christian. Perhaps Ravi Zacharias might be a good modern day example of this as well?
No joke. Why is it we always get the religious guests when Diane is out? Sheesh. I don't mind them, I just want them interviewed objectively.
The guest just said that there's nothing in the Bible about abortion. That the idea that there is nothing in scripture giving us God's view on the taking of a human life that is still in the womb, or on when in the growth process God recognizes that life. That is a lie. Its not even close to being true. There are several scriptures that comment on this issue. Mr. Wills said that the early church didn't comment on it. So what, it doesn't matter if the church had an opinion, or when they developed one. What matters is what God says in his Word the Bible. Mr. Wills is choosing to ignore scriptures like Exodus 21:22,23. There are others that comment on this issue. Perhaps Mr. Wills should crack open a Bible before he decides to state on public radio what God has, or has not said.
Surely he does research for his writing. Why has he neglected a thorough search through the authority on how God feels about human life?
To say that the Bible says nothing about abortion is to show a limited knowledge of the scriptures. It is true that it specifically does not mention the barbaric procedure of killing an infant in the womb, it does present a PRINCIPLE whereby god recognizes the LIFE of the infant, within the womb as EQUAL in value with any other human life. Please see Exodus 21:22-24.
The idea of abortion is a convenient way to minimize the value of life, allow for expedient removal of future responsibilities and contributes to the disregard for other beneficial scriptural directives, such as the command to avoid sexual activity outside of marriage.
Why is it that being a 'thinking person' automatically removes any responsibility to view subjects under discussion with any morality, and to view them as no more than a buffalo or primate with a more advanced cranium? So sad the 'wisdom of the world' with all of its so-called wise men, is proven as the babblings of blind men leading other blind men into a pit.
Looking around at the terrible things people do to people is valid evidence that this form of 'wisdom' will soon be blown away the same as the dust off of a sun-baked field, with even less notice.
Yeah, the sun-baked field filled with the corpses of orphaned children who starved to death because of famine, war, and purely human avarice. Let's keep supporting the outrageously foolish objectives of a church that clings to power through oppression of women and their right to their own bodies because without that, they won't get anymore little girls and boys to molest.
They're not the objectives of a church if they were in the Bible. Bible came before church. If its in the Bible, its God's objective.
I very much appreciated him noting that abortion essentially has nothing to do with religion. My view on faith is all but immaterial in assessing how tragic it is to rip, tear or burn a baby from its mother's womb. It is an abhorrible act of violence.
Gary, I enjoy your talk today, I love that you told the President not to go back into Afghanistan, but I felt on opposite ends of what you said about abortion. You credit modern scientists and others opinions of when consciousness enters the fetus, (BTW how can they be so sure?) but you fail to ask an up most expert about Her opinion. The pregnant woman. Has it occurred to you that maybe the one who is pregnant may be the one having the mystical experience? I can tell you, as a woman who was pregnant, the consciousness is not in the physical body in the developing stages as it goes through all the various manifestations of shapes and systems building out of nothing on it's way to becoming a baby in a mother's womb. Also it is not as cut and dry as being in or out, because before birth and even for a short while after birth the consciousness goes in and out of the little body until it sets. So there you go, You now have an expert's opinion about that. Maybe you will consider it. Thank You again, I really enjoyed you sharing this morning. I will be sure to buy you book and give it to my father for Xmas. Sincerely, Ahleen
Mr. Wills,
Thank you for a very nice interview today. It is not often that I hear well educated catholic thought on TV or on the airwaves. The majority of it is far right or has long left the church behind. Please continue to help us exercise our catholic minds with great thought provoking ideas.
Greg Ryan
I'm not sure if Mr. Willis is saying the things he does about the Catholic Church and abortion because he believes them or because he's putting that "politician's spin" on them. The Catholic Church has stated that abortion is murder from the very beginning. A search of the writings of early Church Fathers and Popes, for example, show this clearly.
Exodus 21:22-24 says nothing about abortion, does not refer to abortion in any way, and says nothing about the sanctity of an unborn child, one way or another. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the 21st chapter of Exodus, and may wonder what this is all about, just try reading the whole chapter, not to mention chapters preceding and following. Taken all together, they must certainly be the most nonsensical set of instructions, commands, and so called holy writ one could ever imagine. It's no wonder the "unwashed" (intellectually speaking), don't understand "elitist" liberals, if they actually believe, and take seriously, such insanity proscribed in those scriptures. It's just so tough being an elitist - not much company with which to have an intelligent conversation.....
I'm surprised Steve Roberts said the following about the press and the religious right. He must be a very religious man...He quotes washington post article that " Members of the religious right are undereducated and easily led. " He says it's striking that it was written and no editor stopped it. !!!!That it shows prejudice and ignorance about that group.!!!!! I see where Steve's comng from now. No wonder I've noticed he has a nervous giggle as host,-- he must feel uncomfortable.
Religious Right's smart leaders appeal to the worst mob mentalityinstincts. These followers indeed are precisely easily led and uneducated. But the religious right takes us back to the 19th century. No editor should have stopped that sentence unless it was opinion intruding into a news article.
Steve Roberts is NO Diane Rehm! he really doesn't steer or dictate the direction the conversation goes as Diane Does. He tends to sit in the passenger seat and go along for whatever ride the guest decides to take him on. I generally tend to feel that when he's on the probably weren't able to get Katty Kay to sit in.
Very good analysis of Obama on health care and war.
Obama is a business-as-usual president
trying to fix the broken system of a flawed country.
I don't think business-as-usual will get the job done.