God's Politics: An Interview With Jim Wallis

[struggle4progress]

<snip> I am an evangelical Christian, and I can’t ignore thousands of verses in the Bible on subject, which is poverty. I say at every stop, “Fighting poverty’s a moral value, too.” There’s a whole generation of young Christians who care about the environment. That’s their big issue. Protecting God’s creation, they would say, is a moral value, too. And, for a growing number of Christians, the ethics of war—how and when we go to war, whether we tell the truth about going to war—is a religious and moral issue as well.

I think the Right has made a serious mistake in adopting a moral-values strategy, because they’re winning in the short run. in the long run, they’re going to lose this debate because they won’t be able to restrict it to two issues. Once you open that door to a values conversation, it’s going to undercut a right-wing economic agenda, which values wealth over work and favors the rich over the poor, or resorts to war as the first resort and not the last. To quote the White House, when it comes to moral values in this discussion, I say, “Bring it on!” Let’s have the conversation, because the Right’s going to lose this debate in the end. But not if the Left doesn’t even get in the conversation. <snip>

forget their own progressive history. Every major social movement in our history was fueled in large part by religion and faith. Abolitionism, women’s suffrage, child labor law, and most famously, civil rights. Where would we be if the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had kept his faith to himself? Here’s a party that was vitally connected to the civil rights movement, led by black churches, now has driven so far , they’re successfully portrayed by the Right as a secular party hostile to religion. <snip>

“What is the greatest moral crisis facing America?” is the poll. This is after the flawed exit poll. Sixty-four percent said either greed and materialism or poverty and economic justice. And I think about 16 percent, abortion, and 11 percent or less, gay marriage. So when the question was asked straight up, moral values, that’s what happened. <snip>

http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/03/gods_politics_jim_wallis.html

[Tux]

1. I haven't read his book

But I might. From interviews, he seems like a great guy that will fight the fundie right for freedom, common sense, and true morals.

If only there were more of him....

[struggle4progress]

2. I think that there are many who agree with him --- but not enough ...

... who actually speak up. It's that modern American disease: "Somebody-ought-to."