Politics and Religion

O.K. Let's get down to it. Let's get controversial. Thus far, although these blog entries have, I hope, reflected my faith, I've purposely been fairly oblique about it. No specifics. No sermons. But, in fact, re-evaluating my beliefs in the wake of a life-altering, near-death experience like the fire has been an ongoing inner pursuit these past 21 months.

Actually, it's a journey that began well before that, accelerated by external issues in the church and society--the narrowing of evangelical Christian thinking to a few hot-button topics and the trend toward the merger of politics and religion. If I remember my U.S. history correctly, the Pilgrims would see this latter shift as alarming.

The pendulum swing hits me personally when people assume that my Christianity implies I am also a right-wing Republican. Which I'm not. (I'm not a Democrat either, by the way.) Other Christians, for example, have been surprised to learn I'm not a Bush/Cheney fan. From my perspective, I'm surprised they can support a man who claims to be a Christian while waging vengeful, unwarranted war. I'm pretty sure this is not what Jesus would do.

But I've felt a little lonely out here on the left bank of Christianity, so I've been searching for other Christians who believe the concept of an omnipotent, yet personal God is just too big, too radical to cram into tiny red or blue boxes. I've discovered a few brave forerunners. One is Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine and author of "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It."

Today, the New York Times published an op-ed piece by Wallis, which struck me as hugely encouraging. Here's an excerpt:

"Because the Republicans, with the help of the religious right, have captured the language of values and religion (narrowly conceived as only abortion and gay marriage), the Democrats have also been asking how to 'take back the faith.' But that means far more than throwing a few Bible verses into policy discussions, offering candidates some good lines from famous hymns, or teaching them how to clap at the right times in black churches. Democrats need to focus on the content of religious convictions and the values that underlie them.

"The discussion that shapes our political future should be one about moral values, but the questions to ask are these: Whose values? Which values? And how broadly and deeply will our political values be defined? Democrats must offer new ideas and a fresh agenda, rather than linguistic strategies to sell an old set of ideologies and interest group demands."

Wallis goes on to suggest five planks of a new Democratic platform, which right away tells you he's come up with at least three important issues other than abortion and homosexuality. If you'd like to read the entire Wallis piece, you can find it on The New York Times Web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/opinion/04wallis.html.