David L. Everett CL 8530 Fall 2006 Book Report
God’s Politics Why The Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It by Jim Wallis Jim Wallis addresses the question of faith and politics, versus faith or politics. The inclusion of faith allows a voice, spiritually-inspired, prophetic, to be heard in an arena that could and should have a moral compass (p. xiv). While instructive and informative, Wallis takes some critical shots aimed not only at the public square, but the church as well. Tying in a social witness with the practice of politics, this book identifies, describes and analyzes the distinctive elements of “taking back the faith” in the modern context in order that a relevance is maintained.
Wallis’ main argument is that religious
congregations are not meant to be social organizations that merely reflect the wider culture’s values, but dynamic countercultural communities whose purpose is to reshape both lives and societies. “We can demonstrate our commitment to pluralistic democracy and support the rightful separation of church and state without segregating moral and spiritual values from our political life (7).”
By combining personal and social
responsibility to construct the common good, Wallis argues that separation, polarization and competition of the two leaves spirituality without a social consequence, and a politics with no soul. Thus claiming, a political discourse that is disconnected from moral values quickly degenerates. The question then becomes, how do we change our pubic life with the religious values that many hold dear? And how do we connect, what Wallis calls, “a genuinely prophetic spirituality” to the urgent need for social justice? Wallis begins this search by stressing the significance of two points – one, in politics, the best interest of the country is served when the prophetic voice of religion is heard, challenging both Right and Left from consistent moral ground; and two, in truth, most of the important movements for social change in America have been fueled by religion, progressive religion. Wallis states,