God is not a Republican... or a Democrat
For anyone who has never heard of Jim Wallis, I encourage you to check out his new book, "God's Politics : Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It", which, in its first week in release is at #2 on the Amazon sales rank. My copy arrived yesterday and so far it has not disappointed. Wallis is the editor of Sojourners, an incredible magazine and website for Christians committed to social justice. While he is quick to criticize both sides of the aisle for hypocrisy, I, as a progressive Christian, have found a hero in this man. It seems that everywhere you look, Democrats are disparaged for being "anti-family", "baby killers", etc etc etc. Yet rather than countering with reminders of our party's Christian policies (read Matthew 25:35-40, for example... and for anyone who says that this is not the government's job, may I remind you that God felt the need to mandate a social safety net in his covenant with the Israelites in the book of Exodus)... we have inexplicably remained silent. Jim Wallis, praise God, has not.
I've been following Wallis's work for awhile now, but I write this post now not just because his book came out this week, but also because I just found out that my old college roommate, Alison, had him as a professor this past semester in Divinity School. She came to visit me at work last week and saw my "God is not a Republican... or a Democrat" sign on the bullatin board in my office She says, "Oh, that's my professor's thing." So I'm thinking, maybe her prof had this on the wall in his classroom? So I tentatively ask if her prof was Jim Wallis and she says, "What?? You know who Jim Wallis is??" Ummmm, hello! :-) I then sat in awe as she (a Republican, by the way) regaled me with stories about how amazing he is.
If you've ever thought that you can't be a Democrat and also be a Christian, and visa versa (maybe especially visa versa) - do yourself a favor and become aquianted with Jim Wallis. If you don't want to commit to buying the book, I'd recommend this excerpt, or the article "Dangerous Religion" as a starter. To read the article, you'll have to register, but it's free - and I think you'll be glad you did.