Does America's separation of church and state require that we eliminate moral and religious values from national politics? Sojourners editor Wallis advocates a platform that brings the spiritual and political together for the "common good." Demonstrating the power of using religious beliefs to motivate social reform, he offers practical ideas for integrating faith into the public sphere. 384 pages, hardcover from HarperSanFrancisco.
Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?
While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda—an agenda not all people of faith support—the Left hasn't done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy. While the Right argues that God's way is their way, the Left pursues an unrealistic separation of religious values from morally grounded political leadership. The consequence is a false choice between ideological religion and soulless politics.
The effect of this dilemma was made clear in the 2004 presidential election. The Democrats' miscalculations have left them despairing and searching for a way forward. It has become clear that someone must challenge the Republicans' claim that they speak for God, or that they hold a monopoly on moral values in the nation's public life. Wallis argues that America's separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. In fact, the very survival of America's social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics—a dependence the nation's founders recognized.
God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition—that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, pro-consistent ethic of life (beyond single issue voting), and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays and lesbians). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. In the tradition of prophets such as Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and Desmond Tutu, Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation's public life.
Jim Wallis is the author of the New York Times bestseller God's Politics, which electrified Americans disenchanted with how the Right had co-opted all talk about integrating religious values into our politics by offering an alternative voice. Wallis is a leading figure at the crossroads of religion and politics in America today, the author of eight books, and the founder of Sojourners, a global faith and justice network. He is a public theologian, an internationally renowned speaker and preacher, a faith-based activist, husband, and father to two young boys, and a Little League baseball coach.
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars(4.5 out of 5 stars)
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Dr. Robert W. Kellemen (Taneytown, MD), March 29, 2005
Either love him or loathe him because you'd have to work hard to be lukewarm about Jim Wallis and his new book, "God's Politics." As his subtitle suggests ("Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It"), Wallis calls for an integrative approach to politics and religion.
His point of integration is well captured in the words of the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin's statement about, "a seamless garment of life" in which all issues that infringe on human life are important. As Wallis himself says in an open letter to Chuck Colson:
"What I'm saying around the country is that there is a new option for American politics that follows from the prophetic religious tradition. It is `traditional' or `conservative' on issues of family values, sexual integrity, and personal responsibility while being very `progressive,' `populist,' or even `radical' on issues such as poverty and racial justice" (www.sojo.net).
When you read "God's Politics," be prepared to think, to be upset, to disagree, to ponder, to be stretched. When you tell your friends about it, be prepared to be called a "liberal turncoat" by your conservative friends, or a "fundamentalist nutcase" by your liberal friends.
Though I don't reach all the conclusion as Wallis, I have thought several times, "I wish I had written this book," and "I've always thought that there must be a way to be a Christian, love all of life, and care for the unborn as well as the disadvantaged born." Wallis has the courage, the mind, and the communication skills to weave together a tapestry that just might lead to a new American melting pot (to mix my metaphors).
Reviewer: Dr. Bob Kellemen, author of "Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction" and "Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.
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