According to anthropologist Paul Hiebert, there are two types of spiritual rituals we all need to maintain our spiritual focus and enable us to live at a healthy and balanced pace: restorative rituals and rituals of transformation.

Restorative rituals are those activities we perform on a regular basis to renew our faith in the beliefs that order our lives and to rebuild the religious community in which these beliefs find expression. We particularly need practices that renew our faith by connecting our life to the events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrec­tion. Daily prayer times, weekly church services, and faith-focused celebrations at Christmas, Easter, and other important Christian festivals are all restorative rituals that can refocus our priorities on the values of our Christian faith. Not surprisingly, the secular culture provides an increasing array of its own rituals that compete with these. The morning news, Sunday sports, and gala seasonal sales can all drag our focus away from God’s priorities.

My husband and I have embraced the tradition of the Advent wreath with great enthusiasm. Each morning before breakfast we light the appropriate candles and read the scriptures for the day from the Book of Common Prayer. It is a wonderful way to focus our lives on the real celebration – the coming of Christ, Emmanuel – God with us, God in us, God for us. It renews and sustains me through a season that can otherwise be extremely stressful.

Rituals of transformation are the second type of practice Hiebert believes create healthy spiritual rhythms. These provide a structure that enables us to change and grow. In Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues (Baker Books, 1994), Hiebert explains that these rituals “cut through the established way of doing things and restore a measure of flexibility and personal intimacy.” Prayer retreats, pilgrimages, and mission trips are all transformative rituals that enable us to continue to nurture our faith and mature as Christian disciples. Because our consumer culture is so forceful in trying to get us to focus our lives on materialistic values, we need to just as intentionally focus on God’s biblical values in order to stand against these pressures.

For Tom and me, regular prayer retreats have become transformative rituals that enable us to adopt a whole new rhythm of life. Two to three times a year we get away for a couple of days to rethink our priorities and re-evaluate our use of time and resources. As a result, we are able to pace our activities more in synch with the life, death, and resurrection of Christ than with the dictates of secular culture.

In an effort to transform their lives one family we know decided to establish a rhythm of Christian service revolving around the events of the school year. In early September, when buying clothes and books for their children’s return to school, they now donate money to an organization that provides books and school supplies for inner-city kids who lack the resources to provide for their own school needs. At Thanksgiving, in gratitude for the education they are receiving, they contribute to a literacy program for young girls in Africa who would otherwise go unschooled. During the second half of the year, they tutor at-risk kids in their community who have no access to computers, and over the summer months they take some of their vacation time to go on short-term mission trips. Not only has this ritual approach changed the focus of their lives but they’ve found, too, that their children’s academic performance has improved. Teaching others has enabled them to learn, too.

Take time to think about your own values and examine your priorities. Make a list of the important events that define your faith and give meaning to your life. If possible get away for a day with your spouse or a friend and reflect on the values and faith principles you would like to see undergird your life and that of your children. How could you incorporate simple routines into your daily, weekly, and yearly routines that would enhance and reinforce these values?

We don’t have to succumb to the neurotic fads and rituals of our culture. We can all take control and work creatively to develop rituals and routines that reflect our values and strengthen our beliefs. In so doing we really will create a world that is healthy and hospitable not just for us but for others too.

Christine Sine is an Australian physician who has worked extensively in Africa, Central America, and Asia. She and her husband, Tom, are co-founders of Mustard Seed Associates - an international network that encourages Christians to live out their faith authentically. This article is adapted from her latest book, GodSpace: Time for Peace in the Rhythms of Life(Barclay Press, 2006). For more information visit the MSA Web site, http://www.msainfo.org/.

Today's news on: detainees, immigration, Iran, politics, Darfur, health insurance, Colombia, faith and politics, and selected op-eds

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Full news summary:

Detainees. Senate Approves Broad New Rules to Try Detainees – “The Senate approved a measure on the interrogations and trials of terrorism suspects, establishing far-reaching rules to deal with what President Bush has called the most dangerous combatants in a different type of war.” Legal battle over detainee bill is likely – “Bush is expected to receive a bill he can sign into law in the next few days, but legal challenges almost assuredly will be pursued against the prosecution process, which the administration considers a key element in its war on terrorism.” Many Rights in U.S. Legal System Absent in New Bill – “The military trials bill approved by Congress lends legislative support for the first time to broad rules for the detention, interrogation, prosecution and trials of terrorism suspects far different from those in the familiar American criminal justice system.”

Immigration. Border bill takes a detour – “The Senate set the stage for a vote by week's end on a bill to wall off 700 miles of the U.S. border from Mexico, but a last-minute push by senators concerned about the severe shortage of agricultural workers could derail the measure's progress.”

Iran. House OKs sanctions for services, sales to Iran – “The House voted to impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. The vote came as U.S diplomats continued to press the U.N. Security Council to penalize Tehran if it fails to end its uranium enrichment program.”

Politics. Bush Attacks 'Party of Cut and Run' – “In his sharpest partisan attack of this election campaign, President Bush denounced Democratic critics of his Iraq policy and said "the party of FDR and the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run." Bush Attacks Democrats Over Iraq and Terror - “President Bush took on the Democrats with some of his most pointed language yet this campaign year, telegraphing the start of the last, intensive phase of the election season for the White House.”

Darfur. UN 'must drop' Darfur peace force - “Top UN officials say the world body must abandon efforts to pressure Sudan to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur. UN Sudan envoy Jan Pronk says the existing African Union force should instead be strengthened.” UN force 'unlikely soon' in Darfur – “The Sudanese government has rejected a call from the US secretary of state to accept United Nations peacekeepers in Darfur, as the head of the UN in the country admitted any deployment was unlikely in the near future.”

Health insurance. Most Uninsured Children Have a Parent Who Works – “A majority of the 9 million children in the United States who lack health insurance live in two-parent families in which at least one parent is working, according to a report released Thursday by a healthcare advocacy group. In many of these families, one parent or both either have jobs that do not offer insurance or do not make enough to afford the coverage offered by their employers, the report by Families USA found.”

Colombia. Doubts Aside, U.S. Set to Boost Colombia Aid – “Despite growing bipartisan concern over alleged corruption in the Colombian army, the U.S. Congress appears likely to approve increased funds for this country's war on drugs. A final vote on Plan Colombia funding — the largest U.S. foreign aid program outside the Middle East and Afghanistan — probably won't take place until after the November congressional elections. But staffers and analysts in Washington say Colombia will receive more than $750 million, exceeding the $728 million for the current fiscal year.”

Faith and politics. Religious-Right Voter Guides Facing Challenge From Left – “A new group called Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good said yesterday that it will distribute at least 1 million voter guides before the Nov. 7 elections, emphasizing church teachings on war, poverty and social justice as well as on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. … In Protestant churches, the Christian Coalition's guides will face competition this year from "Voting God's Politics," a brochure produced by the liberal evangelical magazine Sojourners and the anti-poverty group Call to Renewal. Like the Common Good guide, it discusses issues, not individual candidates.”

Op-Eds

Where's religious right's outrage now? (Randall Balmer, Philadelphia Inquirer) “Where is the "moral majority" when we need it? … on the defining moral issues of our day, the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's use of torture against those it has designated as "enemy combatants," these "voices of morality" are strangely silent.”Use brinkmanship on Iran (Robert D. Kaplan. LA Times) “For Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to snare an invitation to speak before the Council on Foreign Relations last week, after threatening several times to destroy Israel, is what's known in military parlance as a successful "information op." In a mass-media age, symbolism defeats substance. Thus, the harsh reception Ahmadinejad received at the council is less significant than the fact of the reception itself. The council's august status attaches added symbolic value to its deeds.”

Bush's Conception Conflict (Michael Kinsley, Wash Post) “…it is hard -- indeed, I would say it is impossible -- to reconcile Bush's absolutism over allegedly human life when it is a clump of unknowing, unfeeling cells with his sophisticated, if not cavalier, attitude toward the loss of innocent human life when it is children and adults in Iraq.”

Why Bill Clinton Pushed Back (By E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post) “Bill Clinton's eruption on "Fox News Sunday" last weekend over questions about his administration's handling of terrorism was a long time coming and has political implications that go beyond this fall's elections. By choosing to intervene in the terror debate in a way that no one could miss, Clinton forced an argument about the past that had up to now been largely a one-sided propaganda war waged by the right.”

Habeas Corpus, RIP (1215-2006) (Molly Ivins, Common Dreams) “With a smug stroke of his pen, President Bush is set to wipe out a safeguard against illegal imprisonment that has endured as a cornerstone of legal justice since the Magna Carta.”

As the diplomatic dance with Iran continues, the rumors of war are increasing. European Union and Iranian diplomats have been meeting this week in intensive negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. News stories have been optimistic on the one hand, noting that the U.S. government was holding off on pushing for sanctions against Iran while the talks continued and the possibility that Iran might be willing to stop its enriching of uranium in return for economic incentives.

On the other hand, several news sources have reported moves toward possible U.S. military strikes against Iran. A recent Time magazine cover story asked, What Would War Look Like?. It noted that “from the State Department to the White House to the highest reaches of the military command, there is a growing sense that a showdown with Iran … may be impossible to avoid.” But in the current situation, with the violence in Iraq spiraling out of control, a U.S. attack on Iran would likely be a disaster, simply adding more fuel to the bloodshed and creating more terrorists. As the National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism released this week concluded, “The Iraq conflict has become the ‘cause celebre’ for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world….” An attack on Iran would make that resentment far worse.

As a statement by 21 U.S. military, national security, and foreign policy officials - released in August - said, “We strongly caution against any consideration of the use of military force against Iran.The current crises must be resolved through diplomacy, not military action. An attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences for security in the region ...."

On Tuesday, Sojourners/Call to Renewal and Faithful Security released a statement signed by more than 100 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders urging “Words, Not War, With Iran.” I participated in a press conference with Dr. Susannah Heschel, Dr. Louay of the Islamic Society of North America, Brian McLaren, and Dr. Trita Parsi of the Iranian-American Council to discuss the statement with reporters.

Our statement said, “While we agree Iran should not support terrorism or obtain nuclear weapons, we come together as religious leaders to urge that the U.S. engage in direct negotiations with Iran as an alternative to military action in resolving the crisis.” We reject anti-Semitism and threats of attack against Israel made by Iran, but believe that the only solution to the nuclear issue is a negotiated settlement. And we root our concern in our belief that “The teachings of the Abrahamic tradition command us to keep human life sacred and to act as stewards of creation. We consider all weapons of mass destruction — whether nuclear, biological, or chemical — immoral and unacceptable for use in any circumstances.”

Our statement concludes, “The moral wisdom of many religious leaders and the pragmatic warnings of many military leaders now offer a common message – “Words, Not War, With Iran.” I invite you to join us in signing this statement. You can find the complete text of the statement, a list of the signers, and add your name at www.wordsnotwar.org.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

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True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people.

- Menno Simons

Our world seems to grow busier every day with conflicting commitments that pull us in many directions. Some of us feel the weight of changing the world lies on our shoulders. We know we are too busy but don’t know how to disconnect from our fast paced cyber-spaced world. Anxiety, depression and suicide are increasing. Growing evidence suggests stress and pressure of overbooked schedules are major contributors. God’s healthy rhythms are blurred by a culture that says there is never time to slow down or take a break.

Finding the balance between being and doing isn’t easy. Our daily activities and the rituals that give meaning to our lives are often divorced from our religious experiences. Massage therapy, aromatherapy, yoga, and countless other disciplines tantalize us with the promise of peace and relief from stress in more tangible ways than do prayer and Bible study. The consumer culture and our concerns about the upcoming elections have more impact on our life pace than do our faith values.

Finding God’s pace and the rituals God intends to mold our lives requires intentionality. We must disconnect from the rhythms of our secular culture and deliberately develop rituals and routines that flow out of our faith. Unfortunately since the reformation Protestants have tended to look at church rituals and liturgies with a disapproving eye. Many evangelical Christians are scared by the word ritual because it implies something formal, legalistic and boringly repetitive. Even Catholics have allowed their lives to be overrun by the busyness of the secular culture and its pervasive rituals.

What we don’t realize is that our whole life is a series of rituals. A ritual is simply anything we do on a regular basis that reinforces our beliefs and values. Taking a shower in the morning and washing our hands before we eat are both rituals that flow out of the belief that we need to be physically clean to start the day. Daily prayer is a ritual that reinforces our belief in a creator God who relates to us in a personal way and who is active in both our lives and our world.

When we disconnect the rhythm of our lives from our religious experience, quasi religious rituals rush in to fill the void. We no longer fast for Lent but go on obsessive spring diets instead. We rarely pause during the day for prayer but punctuate our routine with coffee breaks, aerobic workouts, and trips to the mall. We think we have escaped from the dead rituals of the past but are caught up instead in the compulsions of fashion fads, shopping sprees, and the allure of a new vitamin pill that promises a happier healthier life.

There is growing recognition of our need for daily, weekly, and yearly spiritual practices or rituals that flow from our Christian values and provide a rhythm that helps us cope with the escalating stresses of life. As psychologist and life coach Martha Beck said, “ritual is an incredibly powerful psychological process...Modern Western culture has had most of the ritual stripped from it, leaving us less grounded and more alienated than many so-called primitive peoples. By putting ritual back into your life, you can help ease stress and enhance enjoyment, benefiting everything from your immune system, to your parenting skills, to your creativity” [“Creating Special moments that enhance and enrich your life,” Real Simple, April 2000]. Have you ever noticed how irrational and angry a child gets when his or her usual routines are changed even slightly? The need for structure and ritual is deeply imbedded in our psyches.

Spiritual rituals are powerful and essential forces that are meant to be the foremost way we create and express meaning. They should provide the anchors and rhythms that give purpose to our daily routines. They bring us into joyous relationship with God, speed our personal healing processes, shape our communities, and make our world a welcoming place in which to live.

Martha Beck encourages us to make rituals that are uncomplicated, yet meaningful, so they won’t overwhelm us or add to our burdens. She also suggests that we keep them simple. This means we are more likely to stick to them and can creatively alter them as our circumstances and life situations change.

Christine Sine is an Australian physician who has worked extensively in Africa, Central America, and Asia. She and her husband Tom are co-founders of Mustard Seed Associates - an international network that encourages Christians to live out their faith authentically. This article is adapted from her latest book, GodSpace: Time for Peace in the Rhythms of Life(Barclay Press 2006). For more information visit the MSA website, http://www.msainfo.org/.

Last week, Sojourners launched the “Red Letter Christians” group at a press conference in Washington. “Red Letter Christians” is a short-hand way of talking about Christians who take the whole of Jesus’ teachings seriously in our spiritual and public lives—even the difficult bits of the Beatitudes like “blessed are the poor” and “blessed are the peacemakers.”

It is humbling to be asked to be part of this group of Christian writers; I felt especially awed at Dave Batstone’s discussion of contemporary slavery as a moral issue and Randall Balmer’s call to stand up against torture. For more than a dozen years, I have been voicing my concerns that the Religious Right’s conception of “values” issues is limited and politicized, but most of my words have been in print—not spoken with passion (as my colleagues so ably did) before reporters. With lights and cameras on, and journalists taking notes, I felt surprisingly shy (not at all as I feel in the pulpit or in the classroom) and, introducing myself quickly, shared my concerns about issues of church and state, and then willingly surrendered the podium to the next Red Letter Christian!

The combination of my colleagues’ clarity and my own shyness would have kept me glued to my seat for the rest of the event, save the question of one reporter. Several tried to pin us down politically (suspicious, I think, that we are some sort of front organization for the Democratic National Committee). Finally, one asked outright if all the Red Letter Christians were registered Democrats—and if any of us were Republicans.

The room seemed a little strained at that point. One person talked about being an independent voter. I kept thinking that the journalists were missing the point by trying to define us by Washington categories instead of theological ones. Unexpectedly, I found myself at the microphone again—“coming out” politically to a room full of the mainstream media.

I shared that I am currently a registered Democrat and that I was born to a Democratic family. However (and in correct chronological order), I have been a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, a Republican, a Democrat, a Republican very briefly, and once again a Democrat (maybe the journalist should ask me the same question five years from now!). But then, the ultimate confession: One of my proudest possessions is a personal letter from Senator Barry Goldwater (yes, “Mr. Conservative”) congratulating me on being Arizona Teen-Age Republican of the Year in 1976!

The room laughed. And the subject changed back to more important things (like poverty, the environment, and peacemaking) than our voter registration. But if I wasn’t quite so intimidated by the cameras, I now realize that my confession should have extended just one more sentence: “Yes, I’ve worn all these political labels—depending on issues at stake and candidates in races—but throughout my checkered political history, one label has never changed: Christian; I am a Christian, and all those other labels are secondary to my baptismal journey to live the teachings of Jesus.”

And that’s the point of Red Letter Christians: We are Christians. All those other labels—Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative—are secondary to being Christian, our passionate quests to enact grace and live a Christian way of life. As I reflect on my missing sentence, I realize that it sounds a wee bit like a sentence from scripture. Not one printed in RED letters, but the plain black words of St. Paul: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” If the blessed apostle were around for press conferences today, I’m pretty sure he’d add, “no longer Republican or Democrat,” too.

Diana Butler Bass is an independent scholar and author. Her latest book is Christianity for the Rest of Us (Harper, September 2006).

Reports on cost of war, detainees, Iraq, the intelligence estimate, Iran, Darfur, the "White House referee," Israel-Syria, the "suburban agenda," faith and politics, and organizing.

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Full news summary:

Cost of war. Cost of Iraq war nearly $2b a week –"A new congressional analysis shows the Iraq war is now costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week -- nearly twice as much as in the first year of the conflict three years ago and 20 percent more than last year -- as the Pentagon spends more on establishing regional bases to support the extended deployment and scrambles to fix or replace equipment damaged in combat."

Detainees. House passes detainee rules – "The House approved administration-backed rules for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects, a key component of the national security agenda that Republicans aim to showcase in their fight to hold onto Congress. Torture is barred but not tough interrogation tactics." House Approves Bill on Detainees – "The House approved an administration-backed system of questioning and prosecuting terrorism suspects yesterday, setting clearer limits on CIA interrogation techniques but denying access to courts for detainees seeking to challenge their imprisonment."

Iraq. Poll Finds Iraqis Back Attacks on U.S. Troops – "About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask American troops to leave within a year, a poll released Wednesday found." A way out of the Iraq mess? – "Democrats and Republicans have come together with the goal of figuring out a plan of action. The real test, though, will be whether anyone in Washington will listen." (By Cal Thomas, a conservative columnist and Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.) The Iraq Study Group and its mission.

Intelligence Estimate. Dispute on Intelligence Report Disrupts Republicans’ Game Plan "The dispute over a newly disclosed National Intelligence Estimate has threatened a pre-election script in which the White House had sought to put Democrats on the defensive on national security."

Iran. U.S. to wait 'a few weeks' on Iran move – "The Bush administration postponed its pursuit of U.N. sanctions against Iran for "a few weeks" to allow its European allies time to try to negotiate a suspension of Iran's nuclear fuel production." Negotiators discuss Iran's nuclear program in Berlin – "Senior Iranian and European Union negotiators held five hours of talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program amid suggestions the United States might be willing to defer seeking sanctions for a few weeks if a diplomatic resolution was in sight." Iran dissident's message to U.S.: Don't turn us into Iraq – "Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji rose to star status by stubbornly refusing to be silenced during 6 long years in prison. … Now in America on a speaking tour … Ganji has shunned White House photo ops in favor of a singular message he hopes the Bush administration will hear: Don't bomb, don't sanction, don't turn Iran into Iraq."

Darfur. U.S. threatens more sanctions - "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised the threat of more international sanctions against Sudan if the government did not stop military operations in the Darfur region and accept a UN peacekeeping force." U.S. Weighs Moves Against Sudan Over U.N. Force - "The United States is considering a series of punitive steps if the Sudanese government fails to agree to a U.N. peacekeeping force to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region … Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled the new approach in a speech in which she demanded an immediate cease-fire and warned that Khartoum faces "a choice between cooperation and confrontation." The responsibility to protect Darfur – "The UN should send a peacekeeping force to Darfur - even without Sudan's consent."

White House referee. Bush Plays Chaperon for Awkward Encounter – "For the past week, the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan have been in the United States, circling one another like wary cats as they lobbed insults across the airwaves from a distance. On Wednesday night, they stood glumly — more like caged cats — in the Rose Garden with President Bush, who had invited them to the White House for dinner and a little talking-to." Bush referees as Karzai and Musharraf meet for dinner - "President George Bush said that he would act as referee at a working dinner at the White House between the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan as public bickering between the two men threatens to destabilise the US "war on terror".

Israel-Syria. Olmert not warming to Syria's moves – "The message from Syrian President Bashar Assad this week seemed conciliatory, an attempt to set himself apart from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. … It was the latest in a series of signals from Damascus after the recent war in Lebanon, suggesting its readiness for negotiations with Israel and fueling debate here on whether to pursue talks with Syria."

"Suburban agenda." House GOP pushes its 'suburban agenda' – "While House Republicans trumpeted elements of their suburban agenda, Democrats yesterday said Congress will have failed the American people if it adjourns without increasing the minimum wage."

Faith and politics. Danforth Warns of Christian Right but Says Tide Will Turn – "The potency of the Christian right in the Republican Party is limited, former senator John C. Danforth of Missouri is telling audiences this month. A lifelong Republican moderate disturbed by his party's direction, he contends that the political center has a future." John Danforth – "John Danforth looks like a quintessential Republican insider but he is calling for a radical change in how his party operates."

Organize. A plan for very civil disobedience - Four hundred people will be arrested early this evening for blocking Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport, in what could prove to be one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in the city's history. Police will follow a script, which even specifies who will be arrested, in a march to organize hotel workers.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.

- Psalm 37:5-7

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Prayer that works is prayer that makes a difference, contemplation that turns into action, on behalf of peace and justice in a troubled and unjust world system. Prayer is energy, the energy of love and transformative power. It is given to us to use for the good of all creation. In prayer God gives us the fuel of life, and asks us to live it.

- Margaret Silf

A few weeks ago, Jim Wallis pledged that we who write about the Religious Right--including those of us on this blog--would not treat them the way they have treated us. Which is to say, we will always keep in mind that, as I'm constantly reminding my mom, even Karl Rove is a child of God and should be treated as such.

That does not, however, mean that some of us will be shy about pointing out instances when our interlocutors on the right seek to muddy the facts, engage in hypocrisy, or speak about us in decidedly un-Christian terms. And before you start yelling "Plank in your eye!", I spend much of my time--some would say too much--taking folks on the left to task when they use stereotypes to describe religious conservatives or question whether people of faith should be involved in politics. Pointing out a few optical specks on the right is hardly unfair.

Let's start with Ralph Reed, who engaged in a mostly thoughtful and civil dialogue here with Jim last week, but who started the exchange by declaring himself shocked that anyone would think all religious conservatives care about is abortion and gay marriage. Where would anyone get that idea? And while he's right that many evangelicals, particularly in the grassroots, care about issues like poverty and human trafficking and the environment and health care, it's just disingenuous to argue that the leaders of the Christian Right publicly promote a broad agenda.

The three Justice Sundays so far have been about abortion and gay marriage and installing judges who would outlaw both. A letter the Alliance Defense Fund and Family Research Council sent out last week encouraging pastors to get involved with political issues mentions two, and only two: sanctity of life and protection of marriage. Ditto the material for the Values Voters Summit last weekend. Even Rick Warren, whose agenda has broadened quite a bit since the 2004 election, sent out a voter guide in November 2004 that highlighted five issues: abortion, abortion, gay marriage, human cloning, euthanasia.

If the leaders of the Christian Right decide that it's most important to focus directly on abortion and gay marriage, that's completely fine. But they shouldn't pretend otherwise, nor attack as uncharitable and dishonest those who question that decision.

I heard a thought-provoking commentary on "All Things Considered" last night by a woman named Caroline Langston. She talked about the fact that over the past decade or so her political views have changed, but not her religious views--and wondered whether that was acceptable to her newfound peers on the liberal end of the political spectrum.

One of the problems with the oft-used term "religious left" is that it is sometimes taken to connote people who are theologically liberal in addition to politically liberal. Those of us who are conservative (I prefer the term "orthodox") theologically but liberal politically sometimes pose problems when our religiously-informed political beliefs don't always fall neatly into the traditional liberal categories. Some of you out there may relate to Caroline, who warns her new friends:

"I'm still pro life, not because I am a tool of the patriarchy as some girl once accused me, but because it seems consistent with others who at risk, vulnerable and unwanted. I have grave concerns about stem cell research, not because I want to shove my religion on others but because I've learned to be suspicious of people who claim that philosophical objections are unimportant. And my disenchantment with the current conservative movement rests on two concepts that the great cannon of Western literature gave me - hubris and sin."

The new political and religious landscape that we'll be exploring on this blog is more complicated than the monolithic one that has been assumed in the past, during the time of what Jim Wallis refers to as the Religious Right's monologue. It will require some tough thinking by people on all sides who may have to rework ideas about who their allies are. As Caroline asks at the end of her commentary: "Is there a place for me at the table, exactly as I am?"

The consensus evangelical document (For the Health of the Nation: AnEvangelical Call to Civic Responsibility) says that "faithful evangelical civic engagement must champion a biblically balanced agenda." And it then deals with seven areas: religious freedom, family, sanctity of human life, justice for the poor, human rights, peace and creation care. This document refuses to lift out one area to "value most." It says they all are on God's heart and therefore central to faithful evangelical civic engagement.

Ron Sider is president of Evangelicals for Social Action.

We've asked other members of the God's Politics Blog team to respond to the question that Jim Wallis and Ralph Reed debated last week: "What should values voters value most?"

When voting, I look for political candidates with a proven record of support for certain values. I also look for cautionary signs that lead me to avoid a candidate like the plague. What are those values and those warning signs? Here’s a working list:

* I look for candidates whose spiritual beliefs harmonize with the practical way they pursue policies and programs for a sustainable lifestyle with Earth and justice for people, especially destitute people and minorities.

* I’m wary as all get out of candidates who talk a blue streak about God, who, they claim, favors the U.S. as the “elect,” invested with divine authority to destroy “evil doers” such as Muslim terrorists or convicted felons on death row.

* I hate seeing politicians use God and religion to invoke fear of gay people, which quickly translates into prejudice and abrogation of their civil rights. (Have you noticed how often the issue of “gay marriage” surfaces during election time, then drops from sight until the next election?)

* I trust candidates who see our national budget as a “moral document”, as Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, referred to it, and who are outraged by the $400+ billions spent annually on instruments of destruction and war. Every month we pour $8 billion into the war in Iraq. Think what could happen if we poured those resources into reinvigorating public education, libraries, and the arts; universal health insurance; affordable housing; and alternatives to incarceration. Presently two million people are incarcerated in the U.S., more, per capita, than any other nation, and over half of those are imprisoned for non-violent crimes.

* I don’t trust candidates who claim to be “pro life” simply because they publicly state their opposition to abortion. What good is that if they do not also work vigorously and consistently to create social conditions in which healthy babies are born, children cared for, and families thrive?

* I look for “pro-life” politicians to list “eradication of poverty” as a top priority. Poverty in our nation is on the rise. During the last six years those living at or below the poverty line in the U.S. rose 17 percent. To allow even the existence of poor people in this rich nation, much less poverty on the increase, is totally unworthy of us as Americans and certainly not pro-life.

* I greatly fear candidates who advocate turning over responsibility for our poor and needy to religious volunteers and so-called “faith-based initiatives” while diminishing government’s rightful and necessary responsibility for the social welfare of all of our citizens. The code word here to watch for is “tax cuts,” especially when tax cuts are weighted to benefit the wealthy.

* I look for candidates who see us as global citizens, respecting and promoting international agreements which address our planetary crises (global warming, deforestation, depletion of potable water) and human rights (the Geneva Conventions, the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. Convention against Torture). In the wake of 9/11 we desperately need political leaders who turn to dialogue and diplomacy as first and necessary steps for building peace rather than turning immediately to dropping bombs and sending in the troops as the way to get our “enemies” to submit to our demands at the negotiating table.

Finally, I look for candidates who have the wisdom of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who teaches that we will never win the “war against terror” by using violence. Such a war is un-winnable, he says, “as long as we have conditions in the world that make people desperate. When you are a father and you see your child go to bed hungry, something happens to you.”

Sister Helen Prejean is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille and a prominent anti-death penalty advocate whose work was featured in the film Dead Man Walking. Her most recent book is The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions.

The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make pe