The Religious Center, and Why Jim Wallis Isn't in It

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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."

Randall of DC 12:57AM January 13, 2009

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.

John of IN 9:49PM January 12, 2009

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.

Jim of DC 1:09PM January 12, 2009