Washington Post 'Wisdom'? Jesus Was A Marxist

Sally Quinn, spouse of former Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee and co-founder of the Post website's On Faith page, greeted the approaching holy day of Christmas by touting liberal and leftist books on religion and atheism in the Book World section: "These books offer a generosity of spirit, communion and wisdom. In a sense they are like the basic tenets of most religions -- they embody the Golden Rule. And they give us something to contemplate as we approach an often difficult, yet joyful and transcendent time of year." The most provocative political lesson in these four mini-reviews was from gay black Harvard Baptist minister Peter Gomes, author of The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus. Quinn explained:

He contends that Jesus is a revolutionary, a radical, and a socialist -- that Jesus "would not have been unsympathetic to the famous social slogan of the nineteenth century, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.'"

Quinn neither explained that Gomes is a gay celebrity (profile on CBS's 60 Minutes and all that), or that the "nineteenth century" slogan was a Karl Marx slogan.

PS: Another weird note in the Sunday Post came in the Travel section, where they tried to use Christmas carol lyrics as a hook to promote travel options. The strangest was "Silent Night," which advertised a Buddhist monastery and retreat center in West Virginia. It's a little odd to hear a "Christ the savior is born" hymn appropriated to promote how holy the mornings are with the Buddhist monks. Actually, Post writer Andrea Sachs touted the Buddhists as a retreat from obnoxious Christmas, a "sanctuary to civilians desperate to escape looping Christmas carols and holly jollies."