I wondered when something on this was going to go up on the God’s Politics blog. Thank God there are more people challenging the Religious Right, even folks from within.>

Thank you Becky Garrison for sharing such encouraging news. In addition to Dr. Hunter, David Kuo (who recently published Tempting Faith) is another brave soul willing to speak Truth no matter how politically-incorrect it is.>

“…he’s encouraging evangelicals to look beyond the narrow issues of abortion and same-sex marriage to focus on ways religious communities can lend their voices to relieve poverty, heal the sick, and protect the earth.” How many times will the contributors to this blog post a statement like this before they realize that we’re already looking at a broad range of issues. Conservative Christians give to the poor, they visit hospitals and nursing homes, and try to conserve water. You keep saying it because as long as you can keep up the impression that Christian conservatives only care about these two wedge issues, you can pretend that we’re narrow-minded and self-absorbed, and you’re not. Progressive Christians care just as much about those issues as we do, and we care just as much about poverty and justice as you do. The difference is that while progressives believe the government should be doing the work, and deciding for us where our money goes, we think each person should get to make that decision for themselves. As Christians we shouldn’t be trying to change things through the government, we should be out changing them ourselves. That goes for marriage laws, abortion, poverty, social justice, hunger and everything else. And I wonder when we’ll see some criticisms of those extremists on the Christian Left on this blog? There is Constant mention of them in vague generalities, but no specific admonitions. Unless you’re just saying it to seem balanced, when you’re not.>

Elmo, the “diaconal” issues don’t raise anywhere near the kind of money the “social” issues do nor do they get or keep people in office. Simply put, Christians are known not for a charity work but for our obsession with “values.” Even conservatives understand this — check out a book, “Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?” by Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson, both formerly of the Moral Majority, some time.>

I must admit to being surprised by this article. I was under the impression that the Christian Coalition had been defunct for years. However, what if the Sojourners appointed a president who, after being appointed, revealed he did not endorse the minimum wage, was strictly anti-abortion and expressed skepticism about the global warming “hysteria”? I am convinced he would be forced to resign, too, and then the smug, self-righteous snickering would be coming from the Right side of the religious community. Instead of from folks like Becky Garrison.>

timks: Good point. The only problem is Sojourners would get praise from the media for getting rid of someone elected “under false pretenses” (IOW, they assumed, and you know what that does). Rick: I agree with you, and I think the problem is that both sides can energize they’re base by mentioning these issues. The left just does it by using them to lay the image of hatred on the right. But, while I’m sure there are people who hate homosexuals and care nothing about the poor or the environment, those people are not the majority. There are homosexuals who hate straight people, and there are people out there who care more about a hungry, homeless house cat than they do about a hungry, homeless veteran. But playing this game where we call out the extremists every chance we get just makes it harder to compromise.>

Elmo: The problem with that statement is that the “Christian left” doesn’t really have that much of a base, in part because it’s pretty much folded into the secular left, which was all but eliminated during the Reagan years. (I should know — I attended a “religious left” church back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and its membership rarely, if ever, broke triple digits.) Besides, the religious left is decidedly not evangelical; it believes in religious tolerance to the extent that “whatever you believe is fine” and thus doesn’t stand for anything of substance. This is why I don’t consider Sojourners “religious left,” despite its clear leanings — it makes an honest attempt to push for particular faith in Christ, which is beyond all that. I remember two years ago when Jim Wallis told about his relationship with Bill Bright, the late founder of Campus Crusade for Christ; they had formerly been enemies, but Bright at the literal end of his life sent Sojourners a check because he had come to believe in that ministry.>

Rick Nowlin – Interesting anecdote re: Bill Bright. I would like to know if Jim Wallis has ever sent a check to Campus Crusade for Christ?>

Ask him sometime. (An aside: I have, since I know someone who works for it and someone who used to.)>

Sorry, Rick. My question was addressed to Jim since I know he reads through these posts occasionally. I was clumsy in making it appear that the question was directed to you. I did appreciate the anecdote.>

Timks, That was my thought as well. Elmo, I share your frustration. Christians are not known for their charity work. Why? We give a greater portion of our income than anyone else. The problem is that creating and sustaining economic freedom and opportunity is less sexy than an initiative to give money to the poor. Here’s a story for you. Two people are handed a $1 million check. They may spend it on anyone but themselves. Person A gives the check back, and instructs the giver to spend it as he sees fit. Person B gives it to a food shelter. Person B comes out smelling like a rose, while person A looks like a jackass, even though they have done precisely the same amount of tanglible good. That will always be the connundrum facing conservatives.>

Elmo, Maybe the reason the right is identified as a two-issue entity is because that is all they talk about! No matter what subject you start out with, it ends up all about abortiona and homosexuality. There are a lot of people who see those issues as being lower on the list of priorities. If only they would put as much energy into pressuring the politicos into coming up with a plan for affordable health care as they do trying to get a ban on same-sex marriage! And it would hit the headlines and would be of interest to a lot more people.Most people are much more concerned about whether they will be able to get needed health care than whether a couple of guys down the street get a marriage certificate. And my reading of the New Testament indicates Christ was much more into healing than people’s sex lives.>

Rick – I think the religious left has succeeded in separating itself from the secular left in some sense. I don’t think Sojourners is on the same branch as some of the far-lefties, but I don’t see them as centrists either. Holmgren – The conversations you’re talking about usually go like this. No matter what subject we start out with, an opponent will throw out those two issues to steer the debate to controversy. If you look at this site, you’ll see that the contributors are constantly mentioning this two-issue fallacy. Most of my political discussions are about school choice, the Fair Tax, Fairness Doctrine, capital punishment (against, if you must know), and countless other issues. And if you want to provide some public healthcare subsidies, you can get a good deal of funds by making it illegal for hospital to provide non-emergent care for illegal immigrants. That will bank a couple hundred million dollars easy.>

And I forgot, yes Jesus was all about healing. But it was more than physical and emotional healing, it was healing from sin. And if that sin was sexual (a la the woman caught in adultery) he wanted to heal them of that, also. The fact that “social justice” and caring for the least of these may seem more important than sexuality doesn’t make sexuality unimportant. That would be like saying that because loving God (the 1st Great Commandment) is more important than loving your neighbor (the 2nd Great Commandment), then loving your neighbor isn’t important, as long as you love God. If you keep reading the New Testament you’ll find that Paul, whose writings are the earliest Christian documents, admonished the church to have not even a hint of sexual immorality among us. But that goes for the Church, not the gov’t. As far as public policy is concerned, I think we need to fix straight marriage before we worry about gay marriage.>