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On the set at Fox News, Cal Thomas dances and snaps his fingers after firing another torpedo at secularists and liberals on "After Hours with Cal Thomas." Thomas, 61, hums, "There's no business like show business," as he contemplates his next show. His conservative Christian musings have grown into the most widely syndicated political column in America, carried by more than 550 newspapers. Twice a week for 20 years, Thomas has taken aim at those he calls "my liberal friends." Indeed, many of them, such as Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and The New York Times columnist Frank Rich, count Thomas as a friend.

While the public Thomas is a commentator on "Fox News Watch" and is syndicated on more than 300 radio stations, the private Thomas entertains friend and foe by singing Broadway tunes, scheming practical jokes, and puncturing foolish pretensions with engaging wit. Former "Meet the Press" moderator Paul Duke recalls that Thomas "would let you know what he was thinking in a jolly way."

After an up-and-down beginning to his career, in 1980 Thomas ended up as media director for Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority. He sent an op-ed piece on book burning to The New York Times—not really expecting the "Pravda on the Hudson to pick me up." It did. Then he proposed writing a column through the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Bedlam broke out in the newsroom. "You are inviting Jerry Falwell in," one vice president argued.

But Willard Colston, the head of the Times Mirror division for syndicated columns, knew his paper was missing many readers. After a contentious meeting, Colston banged his hand on a desk and said, "We are going to try this thing." Thomas's column skyrocketed. Eventually, Thomas left the Moral Majority and created a new type of journalism that combined showbiz sensibility with a Christian worldview.

Tony Carnes, a CT senior news writer, caught up with Thomas for several interviews on the fly. Here are some highlights from their conversations.

You love musicals and the theater. You relish being a performer, in the best sense of the word. Are your columns and commentary a type of performance?

I wanted to go into musical comedy. If I could be in a musical, I would be Henry Higgins to Julie Andrews's Eliza. But I knew I couldn't make it as a Broadway star. So, broadcasting was the place where I could meet the stars. I get a kick meeting a theatrical singer like Carol Channing. On my television show, I once did a few songs with Ann Hampton Callaway, one of my favorite cabaret singers. We did a Christmas song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." [This approach] is a very effective way to witness. It destroys the stereotype of Christians. We have fun, tell jokes, and sing. I want to let my life show before I tell them.

How do you see yourself?

C. S. Lewis said we have been parachuted behind enemy lines. By my work I can be credible. God has sent me as a missionary to my colleagues. However, my vision is still journalism. I have never done anything else. I am praying and working to get people in church. Reporting is all passing away. I used to [think] career is everything.

How did Jack Kelley, the discredited star reporter of USA Today, go off the track?

When the Nazi Adolf Eichmann was put on trial, CBS's Mike Wallace interviewed a Holocaust survivor who testified at Nuremburg. He collapsed on the floor in tears when he saw Eichmann. Wallace asked, was this because he saw the evil in the eyes of the monster? The survivor said, "No, it was because I saw the capacity in myself to do the same thing." We have to remember to take the log out of our own eye and understand the temptation. Each time you succeed at something, a scoop on the front page for example, there is pressure to top that.

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July 2004, Vol. 48, No. 7