Actually, Don, I'm quite familiar with Wallis. I've read many of his articles. I can try to make myself more clear but I doubt that it will work. I'll try to use as few words as possible, as my wordiness always works against me...

Wallis thesis -- the reason he was on Meet The Press that week -- was because he had written article(s) chiding the religious right. The premise behind his chiding was that the religious right (by his reckoning), by virtue of pursuing legal restriction on abortion or homosexual rights, but seemingly not so vigorously desiring governmental action toward "the poor" or "the war", had exposed itself as narrow in their definition of morality.

What Falwell expressed was his resentment at being accused of not caring for the poor. He replied that, in very real, very material terms, he is VERY active in the care of the poor. And he asked, upon being thus accused, how materially active Wallis was, Wallis, not Falwell, having just stated that activity as the measure of a Christian's morality (a standard to which Wallis claimed that Falwell did not measure up).

It was a fair reaction -- Wallis said that Falwell represented those with a narrow view of morality -- only concerned with the moral issue of abortion or homosexuality -- based on what the religious right deemed was government's roll in addressing the moral issue.

Doing the math, it is the "religious left" not the "religious right" who has the narrower view of morality. Wallis said that the right expresses their outrage at abortion and homosexuality, whereas the left expresses their outrage at war and poverty.

In actual fact, the right expresses their sense of morality in matters of war (they may just not share Wallis' intellectualization of it), matters of poverty (they participate in both public {their taxes} and private enterprise {Salvation Army, innercity missions out the wazzoo, church-based social programs} to address it), in trying to get a more reasonable social view regarding abortion-on-demand, and, yes, homosexuality (an issue at which they are failing as a canoeist might paddle up Niagara falls).

The "religious left", as expressed by social policy and activism is involved in the moral issue of the war, and, if wishing for more governmental programs with which to address it counts -- poverty. They are not active in pursuing a more enlightened view of abortion -- they are, in fact, fighting tooth-and-nail to keep the issue obscured by myth.

So much for few words.