The Religious Center, and Why Jim Wallis Isn't in It
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
I recently defended my characterization of the Rev. Jim Wallis as a leading light of the religious left—even if he rejected that designation. That prompted a member of his team to send over a Wallis-penned blog post on the inadequacy of "Religious Left" terminology in describing the migration of religious voters to the Democratic column on Election Day 2008:
Christians of color, younger white Christians, "new evangelical" pastors and leaders, and progressive Catholics and Protestants from many denominations are reaching across barriers to change the face of Christianity in this country—and also to engage with allies in other faith communities. They have learned many lessons from the mistakes of the Religious Right and aren't about to repeat them. And they are not about to become a new "Religious Left." When asked if they are liberal or conservative, many answer "yes," depending on the issue. And because they don't easily fit the political categories of left and right, they could become bridge-builders, bringing a divided nation together on the really big and politically transcendent issues like poverty, human rights, climate change, energy transformation, and the urgency of peace. And isn't that just what our new president is calling for?
On one score, Wallis is absolutely right: There were significant shifts in the evangelical, mainline Protestant, and white and Latino Roman Catholic blocs in November, and it wasn't because these voters have joined the religious left. Driven mostly by economic concerns, they were more receptive to Obama because he embraced religion and acknowledged a moral dimension on the abortion issue. They're middle-of-the-roaders.
Wallis's positions, by contrast, place him firmly in the religious left. He's pro-abortion rights (though he wants to reduce demand for abortion) and pro-civil unions for gay couples. Most of the issues he outlines above—poverty (as an issue for the government to solve), human rights (with no mention of national security), climate change, and the urgency of peace—are preoccupations of the political left.
The big thing that Wallis has in common with the religious centrists who moved to the Democratic column on Election Day is that neither is controlled by the religious right. But that doesn't mean the centrists back his agenda.
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Reader Comments
"Religious left" label doesn't do justice to Wallis' leadership of all evangelicals
Jim Wallis represents many of the positions of the evangelical mainstream eloquently and as an evangelical, I deeply appreciate his activism and passion. Poverty, the environment, social justice, and peacemaking are all issues (without the government and national security qualifications) that are central to evangelicals' mission and activism and Wallis is helping the evangelical mainstream continue to move deeper in those ministries. However, Wallis' strong partisan leaning and his differences with most evangelicals on abortion and the family do separate him. Labels often aren't useful so I'm not surprised that Wallis doesn't want to be boxed into a "religious left" box. I'm not sure where else I would place him, though, if I was forced to distinguish between "right," "center," and "left."
poverty
I'd have a hard time putting Wallis anywhere but the political left, but I'm not sure your characterization of the poverty issue as it relates to Christianity is correct.
Many Christians view poverty as a central issue, but that does not mean they all think the government should do all or most of the anti-poverty work. I'm not saying Wallis is anti-government. I don't know. But every Christian who talks about poverty is not also calling for LBJ to come back from the grave.
Wallis
Totally agree. Wallis and those on the religious left are just as willing to be used by the Democrats as the religious right was willing to be used by the GOP in the early 80's. Wallis has totally bought into the efficacy of government programs and one cannot escape the fact that the left holds that view. Meanwhile, while we try to engineer change through the unwieldy bureaucratic instrument of government we neglect to "love our neighbors." Wallis and Co. certainly are working to make the culture less Christian.
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