Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

Cathedral Dean Sam Lloyd and renowned broadcaster Judy Woodruff explore her career as a leading White House and national politics reporter, a media observer, and a person of faith.

Lloyd and Woodruff discuss public anger and fear that have built, particularly within the past year, as the economy has continued to languish. “There’s no question that there’s waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending,” Woodruff asserts, “But even if you were to squeeze all of that out, you still wouldn’t be able to address the massive debt problem that we have.” The nation’s problems are real and profound, but many people do not know about the ways in which the government helps Americans. Federal stimulus money has passed, for example, to state and local governments to prevent teacher layoffs; and to programs that enable ailing seniors to remain in their homes instead of moving to nursing homes.

Divisions between left and right continue to widen. Woodruff believes that this trend began in the era of the Clinton presidency, Newt Gingrich, and the Contract with America. Since the 1990s, fewer elected representatives maintain homes around Washington but instead board a plane for home at every opportunity. Their absence reduces opportunities for them to develop cooperative relationships with politicians from the opposing party.

Does that additional time at home mean that representatives listen more to their constituents? Maybe not. Congressional redistricting protects the incumbent or at least the incumbent’s party.

“The system just protects and promotes this division,” Woodruff asserts. “And I think the media, honestly, is making it worse.” Much content of television, radio, and the Internet “celebrates division and celebrates anger,” she adds.

Woodruff sees signs of hope, however: “I am starting to sense … a reaction to that, people saying, ‘This has just gone too far.’” Washington needs to hear that message from the public before anything will change, she further contends.

Religion is not currently riding to rescue American politics. “I see faith being used so much as a football in our political life,” Woodruff summarizes. The Republican Party has been associated with the Christian conservative movement for decades; few Republican politicians would publicly distance themselves from this movement. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, is not associated with a particular religious movement or tradition. Woodruff believes that Democrats cannot easily blend a unified voice of faith with their advocacy of civil rights and labor.

About Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff is senior correspondent for PBS’s NewsHour. A familiar and acclaimed television broadcaster, she has covered politics and other news for more than three decades at CNN, NBC, and PBS. For 12 years, Woodruff served as anchor and senior correspondent for CNN, anchoring the weekday political program, “Inside Politics.” Before that, she served many years as a White House and chief Washington correspondent for NBC News and PBS. In 2007, she completed an extensive project on the views of young Americans called “Generation Next: Speak Up. Be Heard.” In addition to her current work with PBS, Woodruff anchors a monthly program on Bloomberg Television called “Conversations with Judy Woodruff.”