DiscernmentSo that you may be able to discern what is best. Phil. 1:10

Private Lives and Public Leadership

■ For many Americans, the impeachment trial Can a homemaker live a life secreted away from Inside: of William Jefferson Clinton is merely another the family, behind a closed door, without it bear- opportunity to express disgust with government ing fruit in the more public parts of one’s house? Where Should We and an invasive news media. In the following pages, our authors sharp- Draw the Line? 2 Although ample justification exists to en our capacity to judge more justly and com- regret the impeachment process, I am disap- passionately.As we stretch our moral faculty, A Case for pointed in one of the most frequently stated may our eyes be opened to see God’s eternal Telling More 4 reasons—the wish that Congress would put the wisdom come to bear on the intractable moral president’s personal matters aside and “get on decisions of everyday life. God Cannot with the business of the coun- I am pleased to introduce Be Privatized 6 try.” I respond,Why should we our new editor, Mr. Stan separate a president’s moral Guthrie. He has big shoes to Panelists Explore choices from the business of the “Why should we fill, taking over for our col- Theme During country? Aren’t questions of league, Mark Fackler. Mark Roundtable 8 truth-telling, personal integrity, separate a ended his superb run as editor and legal process central to the president’s moral this past summer with his move The Link Between citizen-formation process? from Wheaton to Calvin Private Lives We must recognize the choices from the College. Stan is managing editor and Public centrality of character to the very of Evangelical Missions Quarterly Leadership 10 business of the work of a nation.What becomes and Pulse, both published by Quotes 11 of the country’s business if char- country?” Wheaton’s Billy Graham acter issues are eliminated? Have Center. His work has also CACE Events 12 we let the “business of the coun- appeared in Christianity Today, try” be reduced to, well, business? Moody Magazine, Books and This is an extraordinary test case for raising Culture, and elsewhere. Stan will press for the issues about the morality of governance, and, highest quality Christian moral reflection to indeed, the role of character in all of life. Citizens appear in our pages. Enjoy his column in this hastily set aside Clinton’s problems only to risk issue, and look forward to many more. losing an invaluable opportunity for significant As you also notice, this issue introduces a moral reflection. new look for Discernment. We thank Ellen Rising Most of the essays in the following pages Morris, from Wheaton’s publication office, for were presented at Wheaton College on Septem- her outstanding design work.As always, your ber 10, 1998, at a CACE forum on “Private Lives comments and manuscripts are most welcome. and Public Leadership:Where Do We Draw the Advocating for Christian ethical reflection Line?” This session was before the impeachment requires vigilance and courage.Thanks for join- hearings in the House, or the trial in the Senate. ing us in this venture. Our authors avoided speculating on the specifics. Their focus on the presidency, however, ought not limit the question’s vitality for all spheres of life.What about a pastor, or a teacher? Kenneth Chase, director of CACE

■ A Newsletter of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics • Wheaton College Winter 1999,Vol. 6, No. 1 Where Should We Draw the Line?

By Martin Medhurst, Ph.D.

■ The important question “Private Lives, Public Family relationships have been controversial at Leadership:Where Should We Draw the Line?” is least as far back as Dolly Madison.The line between timely because of the behavior of our current presi- loving spouse and policy advisor has not always been dent, Bill Clinton. But we need to keep in mind strictly drawn. It seems perfectly reasonable to sub- three pertinent facts: First, Mr. Clinton is not the ject the spouse to the same sort of scrutiny usually first president to engage in extramarital sexual rela- reserved for the president and his advisors. tions while in office; second, that A second area is business transactions. It didn’t sexual morality is only one of start with Whitewater.Throughout presidential his- several areas where the private lives of our public servants inter- tory have been numerous instances of presidents face with their responsibilities to and high-ranking politicians engaging in question- the public; and third, that almost able practices—before entering, during, and after everything we know about our leaving office. political leaders is filtered for us Since the moment a vice presidential candi- through the various media. date, Richard Nixon, released his personal income From Thomas Jefferson’s tax returns during the 1952 campaign, the personal alleged affair with Sally Hemings business dealings of our political leaders have been to Jack Kennedy’s well-docu- fair game for curious inquisitors. The lines are mented trysts, the presidency has murky, but a key question is this: How does the Medhurst says frequently been the site for sordid sexual escapades. dispersal of such information affect the leader’s “private” issues ability to lead and the citizen’s willingness to have long Sex not Only Issue follow? What does the possession of such informa- intruded in the But the second point is equally important. Notice tion teach us about the policies or character of public sphere. that I did not say their public responsibilities, but the leader? rather their responsibilities to the public. It involves Perhaps a stronger case could be made for meeting the expectations of the electorate, fulfilling knowing about a president’s health.There is nothing its vision of public service, embodying the mythos more personal, however, than one’s own body.Yet of the office by displaying the ethos—the charac- history teaches us that presidential health can have ter—that people associate with the highest and most serious implications for the public welfare. powerful position in the world. It is not enough for Lincoln suffered terribly from depression a president simply to do the job. during the Civil War; Grant battled alcoholism in We expect our leaders to fulfill both func- the midst of Reconstruction;Wilson had an incapac- tions—and some have:Washington, Lincoln, itating stroke as he tried to realize his dream of a Theodore Roosevelt,Wilson, Eisenhower, Reagan. League of Nations. In most cases of presidential ail- They did far more than simply avoid public sex ment, whether Roosevelt’s polio or Eisenhower’s scandals.They learned how to negotiate the treach- heart attack, a systematic effort has been made to erous waters associated with being a private person conceal from public view the seriousness, if not the in public life.What were some of those dangerous nature, of the disease.Where is the line between the areas and how did they manage to accomplish privacy of one’s own body and the good of the these negotiations? body politic? Four areas, from a historical perspective, have proven troublesome to private/public relationships: Personal Religious Beliefs (1) family relationships, (2) business transactions, (3) Finally, there is the area of personal religious personal health, and (4) individual religious beliefs. beliefs. Nothing is any more revered or more firmly

2 Discernment ■ Winter 1999 protected under our form of government than the dominant, perhaps the dominant, player in policing individual’s right to freedom of conscience—free- the line between the private and the public in the dom to profess some form of religion, or no form at name of the public—of you and of me. Sometimes all. But what happens when one enters upon high they play their role nobly; at other times they leave elective office? Does one lose the right to one’s per- much to be desired. sonal beliefs if those beliefs are out of sync with The emergence of new communication tech- those held by the majority? nologies, the shortening of news cycles, the multi- The temptation to impose a religious test—an plication of news outlets, the blurring of the line act explicitly forbidden in the United States between news and entertainment, the popularity Constitution—has always been strong, whether in of talk radio and talk TV,the political uses of the the guise of the Know-Nothing Party, those who Internet, all affect what is considered to be “rele- marched under the slogan of “Rum, Romanism, and vant” on any given day.The power of the national Rebellion,” or those who smeared Al Smith in the media to shape our perceptions, our beliefs, and our 1928 election for the sin of being a Roman opinions is tremendous.The media matter and they, Catholic. All of this culminated, of course, in the like the politicians they love to criticize, ought also 1960 campaign, when John Kennedy had to remind to be analyzed and critically evaluated, not merely voters that he was not, despite repeated newspaper consumed unthinkingly. usage, the “Catholic candidate for Martin Medhurst is President,” but was, instead, the Recommended Principles professor of speech Democratic Party’s candidate for I commend the following principles communication president who “happened also to be “Almost everything for negotiating the line between the and coordinator a Catholic.” private and the public: of the program in we know about It was an effective line, but can • First, to your own self be presidential rhetoric anyone just “happen” to be a our political leaders true. Know what you believe in the George Bush Christian? Are one’s religious and and why you believe it and be School of Govern- moral beliefs of no more moment is filtered for us ready to articulate those ment and Public than where one “happened” to be through the beliefs in front of friends and Service at Texas born or what one “happened” to be foes alike. A&M University. doing on the day Mark McGwire various media.” • Second, be humble. He is a graduate of hit his 62nd home run? Entertain the possibility, from Wheaton College The pundits worried out loud time to time, that you may (B.A., 1974). His about Jimmy Carter, not only possibly be wrong. Ph.D. is from The because he claimed to be a born again Christian but • Third, be loyal—to your principles, your Pennsylvania State more so because he acted like one. He was a regular family, your friends, and your country. University.The churchgoer, even before becoming president; a • Fourth, be slow to anger and quick author or editor Sunday school teacher; a Bible reader.The press was to forgive. of seven books, worried. It had a right to be, because true religion • Fifth, study history and the lives of Dr. Medhurst is the affects the way a person thinks, reasons, judges, and exemplary leaders. founding editor of acts. In this sense, a president’s religious beliefs are • Sixth, read the Bible. the journal Rhetoric clearly a public concern. Religious faith necessarily These principles will not, by themselves, tell and Public Affairs. bridges the private and public realms and as such you where any particular line should be drawn. ought to be subject to analysis and criticism. They will help you to become someone of wisdom and character, who can weigh situations and people The Media and circumstances and make informed interpreta- Finally, we must remember that most of what we tions and judgments. And in the final analysis that is know about our leaders comes filtered through the what we must rely on: an informed and principled media—newspapers, magazines, and, foremost of electorate who will tell the politicians and the all, television.The so-called “fourth estate” is a media where the lines ought to be drawn.

■ A Newsletter of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics • Wheaton College 3 A Case for Telling More

By Deni Elliott

■ The news media help us learn about the so-called Nor do I advocate that a person’s health status private lives of public individuals. During the 1992 be reported. I believe the legitimate sphere of priva- political campaign I wrote a piece cy includes an individual’s health matters that are in USA Today called “Memo to commonly known only to the person, her healthcare the Media” in which I asked the provider, and the horde of others involved in secur- nation’s journalists to save me ing third-party payments. If a candidate can with- from another campaign with cov- stand the ravages of a campaign, it is reasonable to erage dominated by selectively expect that she has the mental and physical stamina disclosed secrets. I offered a to conduct herself in office as well.There are very “modest proposal” to the press few medical conditions that can be predicted to that included the following result in death or professional dysfunction within a requests.Tell me everything.Tell two- or four-year term. me every little secret you can ver- Nor am I advocating that journalists give up ify.And while you’re at it, tell me their important role of assessing the importance of where you got the information. information for publication. Clearly, they need a lot As you can imagine, that of practice in making editorial judgments. I am sim- Elliott says too piece did not make me very popular with the candi- ply asking that they not make those editorial judg- often journalists dates, their opponents, or, for that matter, the journal- ments about events and proclivities exhibited in the substitute their ists. But I advocated then, as I do now, that journalists public sphere by elected officials and candidates for editorial judg- confirm and publish any information that they can public office. Rather than the selective disclosure ment for the find regarding a candidate’s or an elected official’s life that we have of candidates’ and officials’ secrets, I am public’s right to outside of his or her own home. I maintain that this advocating full disclosure. choose its approach best serves a large, anonymous democracy representatives such as ours. It serves our democracy by providing a The Relevancy Test according to its way to balance the fact that we are likely not to truly Others, of course, seek to draw a more conservative own criteria. know the people who supposedly represent us. It also line between private and public life.They use the holds public officials accountable for the lifestyles relevancy test. Dennis Thompson, who directs the they choose to the people who elect them. ethics program at Harvard University, maintains that Most of my colleagues, however, maintain that “private conduct should be publicized only if it is journalists should only provide information about relevant to the performance in public office.” He candidates’ and elected officials’ private lives if it is pairs this relevancy standard with the need for relevant to their public duty. Before going further, I accountability. Specifically,“citizens should be able to need to be clear about what I am not advocating, hold public officials accountable for their decisions because I am often misinterpreted. and policies [that is, public office], and therefore citi- zens must have information that would enable them What I Don’t Mean to judge how well officials are doing or are likely to First, I do not advocate that journalists seek to do their job.” secure and divulge intimate information relating to Accountability, according to Thompson,“pro- personal relationships conducted outside of the pub- vides a reason to override or diminish the right of lic sphere.What people do in the privacy of their privacy that officials would otherwise have” and pro- own home, or in the privacy of their own trash cans, vides a reason to limit publicity about private lives. for that matter, is not the public’s business unless one Publicity over private matters diminishes of the participants chooses to make it so. accountability, according to Thompson, when it takes

4 Discernment ■ Winter 1999 precedence over reporting that is more relevant to The better solution, I believe, is to report to the official’s public office.And certainly if we take a voters everything that happens in the public sphere, look at the reporting about the Lewinsky affair, we or that is disclosed by a person with first hand can see how focus on the president’s private life has knowledge.The source of the information ought be certainly taken precedence over important discus- reported as well. sions about domestic policy.Thompson argues that And, the information does not need to be the accountability standard shifts the focus of the reported with banner headlines and months of hour- decision regarding disclosure from “conduct that long nightly television analysis. In fact, the more affects job performance to conduct that citizens often small details are reported, the less startling they need [in order] to assess job performance.” seem.This sort of openness cuts through the created images and the anonymity that candidates for public The Media office have sought to use to distance their real selves The first problem I see in this approach is that it from voters.Whomever I vote into public office makes little sense to talk about what a citizen should should be a person rather than a persona. base his or her judgment on regarding “how well The test I suggest journalists apply is simple. officials are doing or are likely to do their job.” One They should ask themselves,“If my readers or view- of the joys of our representative democracy is that I, ers lived down the street from this as a voter, get to decide who best candidate, if they ate at the same Deni Elliott is the represents me. I get to make that restaurants and shopped at the same University Professor decision on any basis I wish. stores, and their kids played on the of Ethics and director Now, I have never seen a can- “Tell me everything. same Little League team, what of the Practical Ethics didate who completely, truly repre- Tell me every little would they know about her?”Then Center at the sents me. So, it is up to me to decide secret you can I want the journalists to tell me that, University of which representative and nonrepre- please.What has commonly been Montana. She was sentative factors matter most. Does it verify. And while referred to as “private information” founding director matter if my would-be representative you’re at it, tell me about candidates and officials has of the Dartmouth uses tobacco products in public, sup- often been information known to a where you got the College Ethics ports televangelism, has no openly whole slew of insider politicians and Institute. Her latest gay friends, or sends her child to a information.” journalists that the candidates and book is Journalism private school? Maybe. Ultimately, officials want to conceal from their Ethics: Contemporary these factors may not matter as constituents back home. Issues (1998). much to me as the candidate’s vot- The notion of privacy, how- ing record on tobacco subsidies or abortion or gay ever, was never intended to be a barrier to social rights or private school vouchers, but in a close call, knowledge and interaction. It is intended to define a any of these factors may be a deciding one for me. sphere in which someone can move freely. Privacy On the other hand, journalists who decide defines a sphere of information that the individual which personal traits or choices are relevant for me can choose not to share. to know, and which are not, are substituting their The good news about the new technology is editorial judgment for my right to choose my repre- that electronic footprints that we leave via caller ID, sentative on whatever basis I wish.Worse, those who e-mail, voice-mail, and our wanderings through the decide which candidate’s sexual orientation, behav- World Wide Web town square cut down on the ior, or other personal habits get reported are less unnatural anonymity we have developed over the often reporters and editors and more often candi- past hundred years. dates with the best spin doctors. Candidates work to A virtual return to small town America helps present a public persona; opponents work to interest define an arguable sphere of privacy—information journalists in information that spoils that public per- and individual conduct in a nonpublic arena.This sona; and citizens are left wondering just who it is sphere of privacy ought be protected by and for every they are voting for to represent them. individual, whatever one’s professional or public role.

■ A Newsletter of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics • Wheaton College 5 God Cannot Be Privatized

By Rodney Clapp

■ “Private Lives and Public Leadership:Where Do I want to suggest how objectionable this We Draw the Line?” For Christians, the better ques- should be to Christians.Although we are terribly tion is not where we draw the lines, but which lines inured to it, we are all modernists, we are all individ- we will draw.The strict sep- ualists, we are all classical liberals, and we have in dif- aration between private and ferent ways deeply ingrained in ourselves the separa- public that our culture tion between public and private. Perhaps it is time to assumes is a relatively recent recognize how problematic this is in light of our development in history, convictions. growing largely out of the Industrial Revolution. Christians Live in Community Before this, the home was a Christians have little stake in the private as moderni- center of production as well ty has defined and enacted it. Our lives do not as consumption. People belong to us.The God of Israel is the Creator and were farmers, craftsmen, Redeemer of the universe. He cannot be privatized. cobblers, weavers of rugs. Jesus is Lord of our private lives first, and most There were duties and importantly, because He is Lord of the universe. activities even the young Our lives belong to God and to God’s people. Rodney Clapp children could participate We are members of a community called the church, says that in in, such as gathering kindling for the fire or helping the Body of Christ. For Christians, sex and a lot of our discussions herd the small animals. other things are community concerns. This is why of public and we marry in public in front of witnesses who will private, we ought The Separation of Public and Private uphold us and support us in our vows. not overlook Private lives and public lives were not separated. Thus, as Christians, we can have little truck community. Homes were places that fulfilled economic and other with President Clinton’s compartmentalization of his productive functions that we now call “public,” such public responsibilities and his private life.Whether or as producing goods, educating the young, and seeing not his sex life is a public matter, it is, because he is a to the welfare of the old and the destitute.With the professing Christian, a communal matter. It is the Industrial Revolution, however, the single wage church’s business what its members do with their earner was created.The man, the husband, the father pots and pans, their wallets, and their genitals.And of the household, was sent out to work, typically in thus, I think it is a sign of how accommodated to a factory, to bring home the means for bread and modernity’s sharp separation of private and public subsistence for the rest of the family.And so was we all are that no one, so far as I know at least, has drawn the strict division between the public and seriously asked whether or not Mr. Clinton should the private. be liable to church discipline.Where are the Public activities were engaged in outside the Southern Baptists when we need them? home.The home activities were confined to what Of course, I recognize that we are a long way we came to call the private realm. In this compart- from a proper churchly and communal Christian mentalization scheme, over time the public world life.We are deeply affected by modernity and are all was made the rightful realm of males, politics, sci- too individualized to simply enact Christian com- ence, and facts. And confined to the private realm munity standards tomorrow. were females, child rearing, values, and religion. By community, I mean persons with com- Yahweh, the God of Israel, was made a house- mon interests and goals. For Christians, the com- hold god. mon interest is the kingdom of God and the goal

6 Discernment ■ Winter 1999 is serving that kingdom’s aims. Community is not fit into this? From the Proverbs to the upholding the same as public, at least as public has come to be of the truthful Logos in the Gospel of John, the defined. Public now means “that which persons biblical concern is for wisdom.Wisdom, however, ostensibly hold somehow in common but without is not synonymous with information.Wisdom is any sense of personal belonging or responsibility.” not about possessing an abundance of bits of Because we sense that no one really belongs to or is knowledge, but about possessing a sense of dis- responsible for the upkeep of public transportation cernment, proportion, and proper deployment of or public parks, for instance, we litter buses and truly edifying and useful knowledge. As Martin deface parks. Everyone’s responsibility, especially in Medhurst suggests, the media are simply out of an age of tax revolts, is no one’s responsibility. control in giving us “news.”We have 24-hour The public is a realm in which we do not news cycles. Fifteen years ago journalists could have the sort of interconnection that I think Deni count on a seven- or eight-hour break in the Elliott hopes that modern technology, like the news cycle to catch their breaths and consider Internet, may push us toward, their next step. Now their breaks, where we somehow are able to if they exist at all, are literally in regain some knowledge of how terms of minutes. people really are. In any event, the News is a business with an public is not communal. It is not a “We are not insatiable maw. Do we really site in which we know that other staying soberly and believe that truly significant things people take some sort of personal happen every hour on the hour? properly informed, responsibility for us, for our wel- Do we really believe that simply fare, and for our common welfare. but swimming in a because a newspaper has to provide Community is also in dis- poisonous glut of its subscribers an issue every morn- tinction from the private, which ing, something genuinely signifi- innuendo, rumor, denotes individuals pursuing their cant happened the day before? If Rodney Clapp is own interest apart from and even sensationalism, and yesterday’s newspaper is not worth senior editor at in antagonism to the interests of reading today, how much of our prurience.” InterVarsity Press. others and of any common good. time did it genuinely deserve 24 He has won numer- In the private realm we shield our- hours before? ous writing and selves from any real or direct We are not staying soberly reporting awards. knowledge of who we really are. and properly informed, but swimming in a poiso- Mr. Clapp’s most Now, in light of President Clinton’s public nous glut of innuendo, rumor, sensationalism, and recent book is accountability, to some degree I sympathize with prurience. The Consuming his chafing that his sexual misdeeds or peccadilloes Part of the responsibility lies with the media, Passion: Christianity have been made “public.” With his passel of con- the editors and journalists who bring news to us. and Consumer Culture flicts of interest and his heading of an investiga- But that is only one link in the chain.We are the (InterVarsity Press, tion that began with Whitewater and somehow people who, as it is now said,“consume” the news. 1998). ended up with its nose in Monica Lewinsky’s We are the people who pay for the newspaper, dress, I don’t think Kenneth Starr has any pro- view the television, and keep up the Nielsen ratings found sense of communal responsibility to to sell the advertising.We can decide for wisdom President Clinton or the rest of the country. I rather than for mere information. think it reasonable in that light for President The rebuilding of true and authoritative Clinton to feel that Kenneth Starr is defacing him Christian community is a long-term task, a task of in much in the same way a vandal spray paints decades or even centuries. Perhaps it is time we graffiti on a park restroom. got started. What you can do tonight is cancel your The Role of the Media newspaper subscription, skip the 10 o’clock news, Where do the so-called “fourth estate,” the media, and retune your radios to a good jazz station.

■ A Newsletter of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics • Wheaton College 7 Panelists Explore Theme During Roundtable

■ C. Everett Koop, Deni Elliott, the state to do that. One of the Clapp: I would want to make Martin Medhurst, and Rodney things that will be involved in clear that Christians must be in a Clapp fleshed out the theme of trying to work that out is the sense bilingual, and as long as we “Private Lives and Public Leader- whole issue of authority. It is are in a culture that has certain ship” at a roundtable discussion on extremely thorny. I didn’t men- kinds of categories, private and September 10, 1998, at Wheaton tion the Southern Baptists to public, we need to know how to College.The following is an edited suggest that if they acted, all of work with that language.That transcript of their exchange. our problems with the Lewinsky doesn’t mean we don’t have situation would be out of the another language, if you will, a way or taken care of, but simply first language, a language of the as an example of how far along gospel that shapes how we deal we are. with that second language. But So I cannot give you a Christians are always, in a sense, direct answer except to say it missionaries.You go into a cul- would have to do with working ture, and in some ways, find things out extremely complex issues of you can agree with, other things authority and an understanding that are problematic, but you have Panelists (l. to r.) Medhurst: I have a question for of the relation of two, if you will, to learn to speak the language and Clapp, Elliott, Rodney. I was taken with your polises. I am concerned that the understand the mores and the Medhurst, and indictment of modernity. But it church reclaim its identity as a ways of that other culture. Koop explore the strikes me that even if the polis rather than depending on ramifications of Southern Baptist Convention Christian witnesses being a purely Elliott: I’d like to suggest that “private lives and were to in some way discipline individual or personal matter. when we frame the question as public leadership.” President Clinton we would then either Clinton’s private sexual life run up against the problem of, Dr. Koop then mentioned how sexual or a violation of public law, we which I alluded to in my sins and lying are regarded differently leave out an important area, and remarks, how to handle the pub- in popular culture and in the Bible. that is that there is a problem of lic dimension of religious belief. judgment. If we want to take a Medhurst: I think you are look at a leader, I think that we Clapp: Well, we are talking about absolutely right in the sense that need to wonder about the judg- changes over decades. Part of the from a public perspective, matters ment of one who would make issue is the very sharp privatiza- such as perjury or obstruction of himself so incredibly vulnerable tion of Christian faith and justice, or subornation of perjury, to the Linda Tripps of this world. understanding that it does not are much more important for the directly have political relevance. I public’s ability to make judgments The participants then discuss the think that we are now in an about its leaders than are the media. increasingly, at least, post- more private sins of sexual Christian society. Recognizing immorality. Now Rodney may Elliott: I’d like to know how that if the church and Christians disagree with that because that serious Rodney was about just are going to have a distinctive, if sort of flies in the face of his ignoring the media. It seems to you will, public or “out there” analysis, but I think most people me that the media are the key presence, it will be through the would agree that those other mat- players in this whole discussion of church.We can no longer lean on ters are of more public moment. privacy. I happen to think that

8 Discernment ■ Winter 1999 the modern world, with its elec- paper an unverified story about “now it has become relevant, tronic footprints as I call them, is me and repeated it today. now it’s news.”What makes really a good thing. I love caller The other thing that I have something genuinely relevant? ID. I think that’s good for society, always been concerned about How relevant is it simply because as is e-mail. with the press is that not only do someone else is going to scoop they not verify things, but they you with it? Clapp: I do not want to suggest love to put labels on people. So I that we ignore the media. I do had a bunch of labels that really The other is the matter of think the steady diet–day to day, had nothing to do with my job as judgment. Just as relevance has hour to hour–is not something surgeon general.They were always become a weasel word to get we need to be well informed in quotations. I was a “pro-life more viewers, and sell more about national and local affairs. zealot,” I was a “fundamentalist papers, I am afraid, Dr. Elliott, “Do we really Reading a good magazine, or Christian,” and I was also incom- that if we say with Clinton, or need to listen perhaps the Sunday newspaper petent, which was not in quota- anyone else,“what he has done in instead of every issue of the tions. Not in the 11 months I was this case may reflect on poor to news sta- newspaper, can help us to be rea- waiting to be confirmed did I see judgment, and in that sense poor tions every sonably well informed.What one newspaper article that was in judgment may carry over to day, do we we’ve got now is a lot of misin- my favor, and there were a lot of other governmental tasks,” then really need to formation and disinformation newspaper articles. Inasmuch as who decides what signals a poor tune into along with genuine information. my chief sin was said to be sense of judgment? Who chal- CNN hour by I am not interested in people incompetence, no one had a whit lenges that call? Again I wonder hour, and, yes, totally ignoring the press. I don’t of evidence to show what that in some cases if judgment isn’t an think we could do that if we incompetence was. after-the-case rationalization that do we need tried, and I don’t think that is was introduced by people who to read a daily advisable. I do think, though, that Medhurst: Probably the reason wanted to rush into the spotlight newspaper?” we are grossly addicted to it. It was that you had not been a with a story. continues to function as it is, bureaucrat or appointee, and the partly because it gets the support routinization in D.C. is that “if Elliott: I agree with the concerns of the marketplace. So I am seri- you are not a part of us, you are about the press, at least many of ous about suggesting that we look automatically not qualified.”The them. I do know that poor judg- at “Do we really need to listen to same thing is true in the media. ment is often a political call. I news stations every day, do we think that we can look back into really need to tune into CNN Clapp: The media give at least our own childhoods and we can hour by hour, and, yes, do we two defenses when their ethics see how our parents taught us need to read a daily newspaper?” are challenged. One is relevance. about consequentionalist think- That has been mentioned tonight ing.“Now let’s think what might Koop: I went to Washington as a and has come in for a bit of a happen if you do such and favorite son of Philadelphia. I beating I think, and not least such….” I am talking about a went from being Philadelphia’s because something becomes “rel- really basic kind of judgment best known, most beloved, most evant” in the news media as soon here.That is, we learn early on whatever doctor to suddenly as anyone reports it. So Matt not to put ourselves in positions being in Washington where I Drudge has become an important in which we are vulnerable to went through being Dr. Koop to player in part of the Clinton- really, really bad consequences. Dr. Kook. I said publicly several Lewinsky story because he That kind of judgment, it seems times that I had come to know released some of this material on to me, is something that we what was the definition of a truly the Internet, and it became some- would hope would be part of the investigative reporter. He is some- thing more “respectable “ news general moral developmental one who read in yesterday’s news- outlets had to report on because process of an adult.

■ A Newsletter of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics • Wheaton College 9 The Link Between Private Lives and Public Leadership

By Stan Guthrie

■ Geraldo, Montel, and Jerry Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, and almost certain death the first four notwithstanding,Americans gen- Kennedy.“Faithlessness,” Olasky children he fathered by his com- erally don’t like to pry into the stated,“is a leading indicator of panion Thérèse. How much credi- private lives of others. trouble. Small betrayals in mar- bility does someone–who would Concerning the Lewinsky scan- riage generally lead to larger govern the lives of millions–possess How much dal, citizens have consistently told betrayals, and leaders who break a if his own private life is a shambles? credibility the pollsters that high employ- large vow to one person generally Widespread public suspicion does some- ment and a rising Dow count for find it easy to break relatively about last December’s air strikes much more than an “inappropri- small vows to millions.” against Iraq, on the eve of the one—who ate” relationship. Most citizens Or, to put it another way, if House impeachment vote, shows would govern have dismissed the investigation as a person has not been faithful in a how dishonesty about “private” the lives of being “just about sex.” relatively “minor” thing such as matters can spill into the public millions— his marriage, why should he be arena. Peter J.Wallison, a former possess if his The Bible and Sex entrusted with the larger responsi- counsel to Ronald Reagan, wrote own private The Bible, however, never puts bilities of public leadership? in the December 17 Wall Street life is a the word “just” in front of “sex.” British historian Paul Journal, “What more powerful Sex is ultimately a spiritual act Johnson, in his 1988 book demonstration can there be that shambles? with practical consequences. Intellectuals, chronicles the personal personal actions–lying–by a David’s kingdom was shaken to moral bankruptcy of the secular President can destroy his ability to the core after his affair with the architects of modern society. It’s discharge the most important wife of an officer. hard not to notice the link functions of the office he holds?” In the church, overseers between their “private” lives and “must be above reproach, the hus- “public” policies. Public Exposure band of but one wife” (1 Tim. For example, Karl Marx A tree is known by its fruit, in 3:2). The apostle Paul asked, “If lived an angry and frustrated exis- private and in public. Perhaps it is anyone does not know how to tence, depending on the handouts time for citizens to take a closer manage his own family, how can of others.A contemporary said of look at the private lives of their he take care of God’s church?” him,“Marx does not believe in public leaders.While there is (1 Tim. 3:5) The obvious answer God but he does believe in him- certainly a time for forgiveness is, he can’t.The modern dichoto- self and makes everyone serve and “moving on,” maybe shame my between public leadership and himself. His heart is not full of needs to make a comeback in our private lives is an artifice. love but of bitterness and he has culture. Public exposure of marital very little sympathy for the infidelity and other “private” acts A “Leading Indicator” human race.” Perhaps if more has its uses, because shamelessness In his book The American people had taken a hard look at has been a major factor in our Leadership Tradition: Moral Vision Marx’s “private” life, they might unconscionably high levels of from Washington to Clinton, Marvin have had some warning. adultery, divorce, poverty, and Olasky, a journalism professor at Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the youth delinquency. the University of Texas at Austin, self-styled “friend of mankind,” Yet there must be limits, notes the link between private perfectly lived out the humorous or our political culture will per- and public infidelity exhibited by adage,“I love mankind; it’s people manently descend to the level Presidents Clinton,Wilson, I can’t stand.” He abandoned to of Larry Flynt.The traditional

10 Discernment ■ Winter 1999 measure has been relevance, but (3) With whom it occurred. neuter the media, but to reform since private conduct is inherent- Did the incident involve a young them, to move them to discern- ly relevant to public leadership, subordinate or a professional and ment. In an era in which political we must be more precise. Here social equal? The first is worse. candidates routinely release their are a few guideposts. (4) Results. Has the inci- income tax returns, public offi- (1) Bearing on official dent already been “paid for”? Has cials really don’t have private lives duties and commitment to the the offender made restitution and anyway. Stan Guthrie is law. If the infidelity (of whatever amends? If not, then he or she While marital fidelity does managing editor of kind) leads to lawbreaking or to a should be held accountable. not ensure a public servant will Evangelical Missions diminished capacity to do the job, be honest, or even competent, it Quarterly and Pulse, it is relevant. Spotlight on Character does tell voters something impor- both published by (2) When and where it These guidelines, admittedly, do tant about that person’s character Wheaton College’s occurred. Did the unfaithfulness not guarantee that irrelevant inci- and credibility. Deliberate igno- Billy Graham Center. happen decades ago, when the dents will not come to light, since rance about a public official’s He is the editor of public leader was less wise and their application requires judg- character is not bliss.As James Q. Discernment. mature, or did it occur recently? ment. Nor do they remove the Wilson noted in his book On More weight should be given to press’s gate-keeping function.The Character, “The public interest the latter. goal, however, should not be to depends on private virtue.”

“Yet, those of us who condemn (Larry) Flynt, we national media types who would never stoop to such journalism, ought to “Franklin Roosevelt successfullyuo coveredte up affairss with Lucy pause for a moment and wonder if Flynt is not following, in his QMercer and Missy Le Hand, and used the same techniques to own contemptible way, the path we establishment types have cover up affairs of state.Turner Catledge of the New York Times already blazed. told friends that Roosevelt’s first instinct was always to lie; “. . . . I particularly deplore what Flynt is doing, but say what you sometimes in mid-sentence he would switch to accuracy will about him, he at least lacks pretense. Say what you will because he realized he could get away with the truth in that about establishment journalism, you could never say that.” particular instance.” ■ Richard Cohen,“Thin Line Between Journalism, Flynt,” published in ■ Marvin Olasky,“Sex and the Presidency,” January 26, 1998, Wall the January 16, 1999, Daily Herald. Street Journal. “We urge the society as a whole to take account of the ethical “The proposition that the public has no right to condemn private commitments necessary for a civil society and to seek the behavior except when that behavior causes harm to others is integrity of both public and private morality.While partisan con- deeply ingrained in liberal culture. It even has bipartisan appeal.” flicts have usually dominated past debates over public morality, ■ Roger Kimball,“Forget Ken Starr.The House Should Call John we now confront a much deeper crisis, whether the moral basis Stuart Mill,” November 18, 1998, Wall Street Journal. of the constitutional system itself will be lost.” ■ From the “Declaration Concerning Religion, Ethics, and the Crisis in “I want private life and public life to be under God, transformed the Clinton Presidency,” published in the November 30, 1998, Wall and guided by faith, responsible for justice and faithfulness in all Street Journal. relations. For the sake of setting a healthy moral example for private life as well as effective leadership in just and ethical poli- “As human beings, we all have moral failings. But presidents cies, I urge us not to drag the sex lives of politicians into parti- should help us strive to meet impossible ideals and prepare us san politics.” for sacrifice when peace and prosperity do not abound.” ■ Glen Harold Stassen,“Accountability in and for Forgiveness,” ■ Henry Ruth,“Clinton Has Corrupted His Party’s Soul,” December Judgment Day at the White House (Eerdmans, 1999). 8, 1998, Wall Street Journal.

■ A Newsletter of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics • Wheaton College 11 Bulk Rate U.S. POSTAGE PAID Wheaton, IL Permit No. 392

Center for Applied Christian Ethics

Coming Events Discernment March 17–19, 1999 Winter 1999 ■ Vol. 6, No. 1 Trialogue Workshops: “Recovering Personal Responsibility”

Our annual “Trialogue” event promises to inspire and challenge. Our keynoter Discernment aims to stimulate interest in the will be Mr. Don Eberly, director of the Civil Society Project and founder of the moral dimensions of contemporary issues; to provide a forum for Christian reflection; and to National Fatherhood Initiative. He will speak both Wednesday and Thursday foster the teaching of Christian ethics across evenings. Other sessions, with speakers on education, fitness, and genetic engineer- the curriculum. Published three times a year. ing, are scheduled throughout the conference. For a brochure or other informa- CACE DIRECTOR: Kenneth Chase, Ph.D. tion, contact the CACE office at (630) 752-5886. EDITOR: Stan Guthrie, M.A. RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION: March 25, 1999 Pat Reichhold and Stephanie Bruce “Health Care Among the Poor: A Christian Calling” DESIGN: Ellen Rising Morris A special evening featuring Dr. C. Everett Koop, sponsored by CACE, Wheaton’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics Wheaton College Health Professions, the Christian Community Health Fellowship, and Lawndale Wheaton, IL 60187-5593 Christian Health Center. Along with a distinguished panel of experts, Dr. Koop Phone: 630/752-5886 will discuss the possibilities and difficulties in applying medical skills to the under- E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.wheaton.edu/CACE served populations in the United States.All Chicagoland health care students are invited to attend.The dinner and sessions will be held in the Lawndale complex. For invitations and other information, contact the CACE office at (630)752-5886. NEW CENTURY CHALLENGE

12 Discernment ■ Winter 1999