Are Stewart, Colbert Our New Spiritual Leaders?

Last Saturday's "Rally for Sanity and/or Fear" took a different tack from Glenn Beck's mass revival meeting, yet while the spirituality was much more subtle than Beck's altar call to America, its aim could still have been described as spiritual in nature. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert called for a return to reason in politics and civil discourse, to an end to demonizing the opposition, and to seeking peace in our hearts and discourse. Stewart asserted in prophetic tones that "if we amplify everything, we hear nothing." Although Stewart, unlike Beck, did not claim the mantle of a religious leader, his words touched deep spiritual issues -- first, the noxious antagonism and dishonesty that threaten our democratic way of life; second, the idolatrous elevation of personal and political (and dare we say, religious) ideology and consequent the inability to find common ground; and third, the culture of fear and anxiety perpetuated by the media.