I have never been and I will never be a fan of Don Imus. I frankly find all of the “personalities” of what my mother calls squawk radio entirely and insufferably annoying. I don’t want to consume this bizarre form of entertainment.

What has been interesting to watch is this cultural morality tale that is playing out around Mr. Imus’ tasteless insults of the Rutgers women’s basketball team. One comment that I heard Imus made was (something like), “I did a bad thing, but I’m not a bad person. I’m a good person.” I always thought it was bad people who did bad things, now I find out it is the good people who are doing the bad things.

Imus has publicly apologized, shown apparent contrition, and is paying a price. MSNBC suspended then terminated his show and we’re waiting to see what CBS is going to do. For a “good person” a lot of bad things are sure happening to Mr. Imus.

I suspect that some people wonder why Mr. Imus can’t just be forgiven. Others suggest that it isn’t a matter of forgiveness, but justice. I think it is just a symptom of the religion-less spirituality that is so fashionable today. From the perspective of the Christian faith, there can be no forgiveness without atonement and the atonement took place on the cross of Jesus Christ.

Tim Keller has an article online called “Religion-less Spirituality” (you can access it at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/bcl/areas/missions/articles/070411.html). Religion-less spirituality is about prayer and miracles and forgiveness (mostly of yourself), but without truth or authority. Religion aside, the forgiveness of sins rests on the authority of the Gospel. Only God can forgive sins and God forgives through the person and work of Christ.

Will firing Don Imus atone for his comments? No, whatever penalty he suffers professionally will only provide the justice or revenge to satisfy other people. It will have no effect on Mr. Imus’ character or, more importantly, on his soul. His assertion that he is a good person really doesn’t make a difference either. What will make a difference, in fact ALL the difference, is whether Mr. Imus has encountered the grace of God in person of Jesus Christ.

It seems to me that the first thing that happens when we experience that grace is that we stop asserting that we are good people and we receive the undeserved forgiveness of our sins. You have to come to grips with the reality that you are a sinner to know what it is to be forgiven.

Is Mr. Imus forgiven in this eternal sense? Only God knows. It is, however, interesting to see how a society that works so hard to remove the Gospel from public life is going to handle penitence.