Sally Quinn Wants To Start A New Religion

Sally Quinn is the co-moderator of the Washington Post/Newsweek feature entitled On Faith, and recently began a new feature there about interfaith marriages. Since nearly 40 percent of people in this country are in one, Quinn believes the subject is topical as ever.

Her marriage to former Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee was not exactly interfaith, but Quinn said it sometimes seemed like one.

"My husband was a Boson WASP, an Episcopalian who never went to church after he graduated from school but still believed in God," said Quinn. "I was an Atheist most of my life."

She is no longer an Atheist, however, and described her current faith using the words of her friend Karen Armstrong, who is a religious scholar. "I'm a freelance monotheist," said Quinn, who believes in one god but not in one particular faith.

On her website On Faith, panelists of every denomination are included, but Quinn sees room for another category called "people like me," for those who are spiritual but not necessarily religious. Imus got on board, and hollered, "Praise God!"

Imus observed that people who are so concerned about their religion are often not doing anything in their life for anyone else, which Quinn qualified by stating that being religious has nothing to do with morals and values.

"The basic tenet of every religion is The Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,'" she said, which, Imus pointed out, could be problematic for a sadist.

Which brings us to Sarah Palin, of whom Quinn wrote last week. "I think one of the most powerful ideas in Christianity is forgiveness," said Quinn. "And yet her book is just one big payback."

It seemed Quinn was missing an essential point about Palin that Imus confessed he too had overlooked until Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich brought it to his attention in yesterday's New York Times.

"It doesn't make a difference if she can answer any policy questions or whether she got even with a bunch of folks in the book, and whether that represents her to be a great Christian," said Imus. "She resonates with people in this country, whether any of us like it or not, and they don't care whether she knows anything or not."

As the moderator of On Faith, Quinn should have heard about the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David peed on Jesus. But since she hadn't, Imus broke it down.

"Some of us thought it was amusing," he said. "And some of us did not."

-Julie Kanfer