Amazing.

I don’t have any intention of turning JA.O into a vlog–or otherwise have it become dominated by video–but we’re in a multimedia age in which stuff worthy of attention is becoming available online in the form of video. YouTube in particular is causing that to happen.

F’rinstance: Consider this video of Stephen Colbert interviewing William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (minor language warning):

This thing is amazing.

It’s got a startlingly muscular assertion of Catholicism and the truth of the Bible–something I would never expect to see on a vile network like Comedy Central.

It also has Colbert asking Donohue some questions that put him on the spot.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

28 thoughts on “Amazing.”

  1. I just posted this same video on my own blog last week. Whether Stephen Colbert is on our side is perhaps a topic of debate. Whether Stephen Colbert is a genius is not.
    Want more spirit boosting info? Get his Wiki.

  2. Great video. I just wish Donohue wouldn’t talk so fast. It makes him kind of hard to understand.

  5. Jimmy,
    Having videos like this is awesome. I always prefer a video over normal text usually…well, at least when it’s comedic like this. Haha!
    Thanks buddy!

  7. We’ve got our eye on him as we’ve recently discovered him. We’re subscribed to Colbert Report on iTunes.
    I saw him in a clip on Conan O’Brien say that he teaches Sunday school.
    From what I gather, he goes to Mass and is a faithful Catholic and comes from a family including 11 siblings.
    He describes his Catholic ubringing as such that “You can disagree with the Church and still be Catholic”. According to the same article, he describes his parents as intellectuals. But it’s not clear to me, what he might disagree with, or whether he actually even revealed what he disagreed with.
    In another article he is described as “liberal”.
    From what I’ve seen, though, he’s never expressed “liberal Catholic” leanings in the way of doctrine. He does a hilarious liturgical dance routine, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually do it in church.
    There’s some mystery to him, so there’s no guarantee we can put the stamp of approval on anything he might do.
    We find his show refreshing well beyond our expectations of what Hollywood typically accepts as the limits you can push as a Catholic, though.

  8. Jimmy,
    You gotta get your self booked on this man’s show! Donohue, while he may do some great work for Catholics, is far too ramped up and angry whenever he speaks to be a good witness.
    So, uh, publish a book, like, pronto. And get on there. That’d be a fun interview to watch.

  10. Adam D, I often wish Jimmy had more presence in the MSM. Sometimes we listen to interviews and say, “If only Jimmy were the one they were interviewing instead of this guy/woman”.
    Tim Staples is another one that stands out among the rest of those worth mentioning that I don’t have time to list, as someone I’d like to see in the MSM. And same with Michelle Arnold. I’m going to stop myself from making a thoughtful list I don’t have time to make…

  11. Colbert is the lone bright spot on Comedy Central. Jon Stewart can be funny & insightful but he’s obviously a liberal sympathizer. Colbert, OTOH, tends to give it to both sides equally, from what I’ve seen.
    And there’s quite a lot to be said for someone who stays in the Church, giving Her their faith & assent of will that the Church has the fullness of Truth, even if one may be questioning or unsure of all the Church’s teachings as Colbert seems to be doing. He may “disagree” with some teachings on a personal level (& until we see something in print from him explaining exactly what that means, it’s just speculation on our parts), at least Colbert’s not being like Francis Kissling or Dominic Crossen, etc.

  12. Perhaps the reason why Colber neither falls on the Right or the Left and is able to balance the issues is *because* he is Catholic.
    Being a Catholic often means having a liberal heart but a conservative head – and we’re often caught in the middle.

  13. When I first saw the title of this post, I thought it was going to be about a certain Protestant apologist who has a tendency to use the word “amazing” rather often. 🙂

  14. I enjoyed that video, as well as the links to others posted by M. Swaim and Karen. Colbert is a refreshingly funny guy who doesn’t take shots at Catholicism as if it were fodder for good jokes in ways that are demeaning to the true Church. (At least from the 3 that I watched).

  15. A couple of good things on youtube include Colber “debating” himself on Stem-cell research, and an interview with Joe Scarborough, wherein Joe describes Colbert as conservative. It will be noted that Colbert doesn’t contradict him.

  16. I love this clip. After seeing it for the first time – about a week ago — I looked at a lot of other video clips — and read about Colbert because I was curious as to what he really believed. He describes himself as a liberal and Democrat but also is a practicing Catholic.
    There was an interview with him on NPR’s Terry Gross of, “Fresh Air” in December 2005 — the audio file is available on NPR’s website.
    During the interview, Terry Gross ran a clip from a Daily Show piece that Colbert did criticizing pharmacists who were refusing to dispense birth control. And, in the interview he backed up that position – and made it clear that he doesn’t agree with the church’s position on birth control. So he’s not really what you could call an orthodox Catholic — at least not yet — but hey we’re all works in progress.
    But, it was a great little bit with Bill Donahue and I think it was mostly sincere. But, Donahue had that ruler for a reason.

  20. There’s a clip somewhere, where his interviewee put him on the spot and asked him to read John 3:16 and handed him an open bible. Colbert didn’t need that extra help and just spouted out the verse without reading it 🙂

  21. Part of Colbert’s persona mimics the blustering, unthinking Catholic conservative pundit, while another part manages to redeem such distortions. Such characteristics provide an excellent opportunity for opening a conversation with non-Catholic Colbert fans.

  22. Do double (these things <>) delete what was inside of them?
    There was supposed to be a WHACK between <<>>
    What happened?

  23. Evidentally, Dr. Eric, this site is set to censor violence. (Or Jimmy set the Strict Virtual Nun detector on “delete”.)

  24. Notice near the end Donahue says that Mel Gibson is not an anti-semite. There are a lot of people revising that point of view today, all over talk radio. Curious to hear his analysis.

  25. I’m still not convinced Gibson is an anti-Semite. He was very drunk and acting out, I think basically purposfully acting as bad as he could.
    About Colbert, I had a hard time deciding when he was expressing something he thinks is true or not. For instance, does he really think the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ? He was clearly somewhat in character when he said it, but I’m not sure if that automatically means what he said is the opposite of what he thinks.
    Anyway, the clip was funny but I wonder whether a non-Catholic watching it would be helped or hurt by it.

  26. Boy, the confluence! Donahue riffing with Colbert, then Mel’s self-immolation. Way too much.
    I agree with Jimmy, a startling display (matched by the Nicene Creed clip) inwhich intuition tells me that underneath the bluster, Colbert is all business.
    I’m disheartened over the Gibson flap. Too early to assess damage level, but it is a potent(ially)real distraction away from the artistry and testimony of THE PASSION and his publicly-known persona as a Roman Catholic. The one thing I do know is that Mel has my prayers. We’ve all been there.

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