Jim Wallis, God’s Politics:
Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It
(Harper San Francisco, 2005) 374 pages, hardback
In the mid 1980’s I was introduced by some colleagues to a small book that had a profound impact on me. The Call to Conversion, was written by Jim Wallis, founder and leader of Sojourners, an inner city Christian community in Washington DC.
Over two decades later, Sojourners is still going. And Jim Wallis is still living, speaking and writing as a modern-day prophet, challenging the Church to live more faithfully to the message of Jesus. What I’ve always liked about Wallis is that he can’t easily be dismissed as just a social activist or a left-wing Christian taking pot shots at more conservative Christianity. Jim Wallis’ own activism (and that of the community he leads) is grounded in a life of prayer, biblical reflection and commitment to being relationally connected with Jesus.
With the growing dis-ease with the Bush administration’s approach to foreign policy, Wallis’ message is really starting to get some traction – not just among his traditional constituency – Christians with a social conscience, but also now with Christians of more conservative persuasions who are now starting to see that the road America is walking down is fraught with danger. The profile of Wallis and Sojourners is rapidly rising as issues such as terrorism, the Iraq war, global poverty and the scandals of Enron and World.com raise/highlight the issue of faith’s relevance (and often irrelevance!) to the public worlds of politics, education and business. Gradually even some of the American media are waking up to the fact that not all Christian leaders are political and economic conservatives or religious fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson.
Even though this is targeted at the American reader, the issues are still incredibly relevant for those of us who live in NZ, Australia and Canada. I’ve read a lot of Wallis’ stuff over the years and I think he’s able to nail the issues really well. I think this book is really timely and very balanced. But even if you disagree with his perspectives, he’s a very challenging and prophetic voice.
God’s Politics acts as a kind of manifesto for a thoughtful and holistic Christian engagement in political issues. For as Wallis says early on his book: “The real question is not whether religious faith should influence a society and its politics, but how.” While he is deeply unhappy with the predominant conservative Christian engagement in the political process, he also expresses grave concern about those who fail to apply their faith to their politics.
Wallis sums up the central concern of his book, by asking: “Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?
“While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda – an agenda not all people of faith support – the Left hasn’t done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy. While the Right argues that God’s way is their way, the Left pursues an unrealistic separation of religious values from morally grounded political leadership. The consequence is a false choice between ideological religion and soul-less politics.”
And even though the American situation is on many counts thoroughly different to ours, there are echoes of similar themes in the dilemmas we face.
“The best contribution of religion,” according to Wallis, “is precisely not to be ideologically predictable or loyally partisan but to maintain the moral independence to critique both the Left and the Right.”
In doing this, he argues for a “consistent ethic of life” which addresses all the threats to human life and dignity. That is, an ethic that seeks to promote a biblical perspective on both social and economic issues such as poverty, racism, justice, war etc, as well as more personal, cultural and sexual issues like the family, abortion, sexuality etc. Most of the book is an opportunity for him to work this out through specific issues such as international relations, economic justice and social issues.
In Part 1, entitled “Changing the Wind”, Wallis lays the groundwork for his thesis. In his chapter called “Take back the faith: co-opted by the right, dismissed by the left” he suggests that “…many people around the world now think Christian faith stands for political commitments that are almost the opposite of its true meaning. How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich, pro-war, and only pro-American?” (3)
In the following chapter, Wallis proposes that the history of most social change is brought about by movements with a spiritual foundation. Vision is clearly a key to such movements. However, disturbingly he identifies a lack of vision by some in public life in America, and a clear, but bad vision by other political leaders. “When politics is being shaped by visions that defend wealth and power, rather than opening up more opportunity; that are more exclusionary than inclusive; that pursue politics that destabilize families and communities; that exalt private interests over the common good; that simply leave too many people behind; that seek national or corporate self-interest over international peace and justice; or that increase conflict rather than reducing it – then such political vision can be as destructive as having no vision at all.” (29)
The third chapter, “Is there a politics of God?: God is personal but never private”, Wallis writes about the damaging effects of privatized faith.
Part II is all about “Moving Beyond the Politics of Complaint”. I love his main theme here, summed up in two statements:
“Saying no is good, but having an alternative is better. Protest is not enough; it is necessary to show a better way.” And “We have something to be for and not just something to be against.”
For Wallis the best protest is not just countercultural, it is transformational. To do so requires more commitment, risk and creativity. It’s easy to hurl abuse from the sidelines, but much more difficult to work toward constructive, better solutions.
In Chapter 6 Wallis outlines a ‘new’ option – prophetic politics. He is of course, using the word ‘prophetic’ not in the foretelling sense, but rather in the articulation of moral truth and of pointing the way to a just solution. This type of ‘politics’ can’t be just worked out through the political machine, but at a number of different levels – civic, business, church and voluntary organization etc.
The rest of the book seeks to more specifically address the range of issues involved in building a consistent ethic of life. In Part III, entitled “Spiritual Values and International Relations: When did Jesus become Pro-War?”, Wallis considers the issues of responding to terrorism, the Iraq war and the wider Middle Eastern conflict.
He writes about the dangerous “theology of empire” that has developed in America, asking, “’Are we on God’s side?’ has always been a better question than ‘Is God on ours?’” For Wallis, “To name the face of evil in the brutality of terrorist attacks is good theology, but to say they are evil and we are good is bad theology that can lead to dangerous foreign policy.” (16)
He raises the role of fear in the American response post 9/11, and suggests that the US (by implication, to a degree all of us in the West?) should “face honestly the grievances and injustices that breed rage and vengeance and are continually exploited by terrorists to recruit the angry and desperate.” (98) In other words, “Why are so many people angry at us?” (98)
This is not to suggest that Wallis has any sympathy with the terrorists who embark on such heinous crimes. He states:
“…if we are to tell the truth about America, let us also tell the truth about the terrorists…The root of the terror attacks is not a yearning for economic justice for the poor and oppressed of the world. It is motivated rather by the ambition of a perverted religious fundamentalism for regional and global power; one that rejects the values of liberty, equality, democracy and human rights.” (99)
In other words, the balancing act is to “…drain the swamps of injustice in which the mosquitoes of terror breed, but without seeming to justify or excuse the utterly inexcusable acts we witnessed in New York and Washington.” (100)
To Wallis, then, “Justice really is the best path to peace.” (106)
The next chapter continues the theme of foreign policy by examining the war in Iraq, appropriately named “Not a Just War”, followed by chapters entitled “Dangerous Religion”, “Blessed are the Peacemakers”, “Against Impossible Odds: Peace in the Middle East” and “Micah’s Vision for National and Global Security: Cure causes not just symptoms”.
They include a strong critique of America’s interaction with the world. Take, for example, his statement, “God has not given the responsibility for overcoming evil to any nation-state, much less a superpower with enormous wealth and particular national interests. To continue to confuse the roles of God and the church with those of the American nation, as George Bush seems to do repeatedly, is a serious theological error that some might say borders on idolatry or blasphemy.” (145)
Part IV (“Spiritual Values and Economic Justice: When did Jesus become Pro-Rich?”) moves onto the significant issue of poverty (both domestic and global). One of these chapters uses a favourite line of Wallis’ – “Budgets are Moral Documents”, helping readers to see that government budgets are statements about what is morally important, not just a matter of economic expedience. Furthermore:
“The Bible doesn’t propose any blueprint for an economic system, but rather insists that all human economic arrangements be subject to the demands of God’s justice, that great gaps be avoided or rectified, and that the poor are not left behind.” (273-4)
Consistent with his main thesis, Wallis challenges both conservatives and liberals to not think about issues like poverty in such black and white terms – as though there is only one cause and one solution. So for example he challenges some by saying:
“Wealthy Christians talk about the poor but have no friends who are poor. So they merely speculate on the reasons for their condition, often placing the blame on the poor themselves.” (211)
…and others by challenging:
“Liberals must no longer be content to just ‘service poverty’ instead of overcoming it, and conservatives must stop merely blaming poor people for their poverty instead of taking some responsibility themselves.” (226)
Our perceptions on the cause of poverty, Wallis suggests, have to be less simplistic and one-eyed. “Family breakdown is a cause of poverty…To promote marriage and stable two-parent families is an anti-poverty measure.” (226-7) But equally, “Out in the suburbs, affluence buffers the many bad choices kids make, giving them second, third and many more chances. But to an inner-city kid, living in a poor and violent neighbourhood, a bad choice could cost you your life.” (227)
Part V, “Spiritual Values and Social Issues: When did Jesus become a selective moralist?”, looks at issues of abortion, capital punishment, racism, and family and community values. Again, Wallis is arguing for Christians to develop a consistent ethic of life – not one that just selects one or two issues and ignores others (or even worse, argues against life-giving responses to the others). Consistent with his overall thesis, Wallis is targeting not just the conservative who fights vigorously against abortion and ‘family values’ but supports capital punishment and disregards the insidious underlying racism. He also challenges those at the other end of the spectrum as well.
The final section of God’s Politics recentres the whole engagement of faith with politics around what Wallis calls the critical choice – hope versus cynicism. I’ll finish with some of his lines. They’re worth pondering:
“Prophetic faith does not see the primary battle as the struggle between belief and secularism. It understands that the real battle, the big struggle of our times, is the fundamental choice between cynicism and hope. The prophets always begin in judgement, in a social critique of the status quo, but they end in hope – that these realities can and will be changed.” (346)
“Cynicism does protect you in many ways. It protects you from seeming foolish to believe that things could and will change. It protects you from disappointment. It protects you from insecurity because now you are free to pursue your own security instead of sacrificing it for a social engagement that won’t work anyway. Ultimately, cynicism protects you from commitment.” (346-7)
Final Note: One of the things I found most helpful throughout this book, are the inclusion of columns and statements that Wallis and others have made publicly over the past few years. They’re worth reading and pondering, because they have been carefully considered and written.
God’s Politics is now out in paperback. I noticed three or four copies on the shelves at Whitcoulls the other day. Plus they’re only selling for $19.95 (quite a bit less than the original hardback copies of a year ago). I recommend it. Highly.
Other great lines from the book
“…many people around the world now think Christian faith stands for political commitments that are almost the opposite of its true meaning. How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich, pro-war, and only pro-American?” (3)
“Religious wisdom suggests that the more overwhelming the military might, the more dangerous its capacity for self and public deception.” (5)
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the resistance to it.” (89)
“The civil rights struggle succeeded because it first built a movement that was morally based and politically independent.” (64)
“This is not a time for peace-loving, but rather for peacemaking, which is much more demanding.” (107)
“But the answer to bad theology is not secularism; it is good theology.” (149)
“The distinction between good and evil does not run between one nation and another, or one group and another. It runs straight through every human heart.” (153-4)
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