“Neither religious nor secular fundamentalism can save us … but a new spiritual revival that ignites deep social conscience could transform our society.”

— Jim Wallis, Christian commentator, editor, and author, most recently of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.    

Jim Wallis characterizes himself as a “progressive evangelical,” — not to be confused with a Democrat, since his views can veer to the right of center — and he condemns both the Republican and Democratic approach to faith and political life. In his recent book, Wallis claims that while the conservatives have successfully harnessed the power of religious language for political gain, the Democrats, in propounding the secularist cause, have both lost the most recent elections and lost sight of what Wallis believes should be the American goal — to move beyond partisan politics while embracing Christian values.

The left “doesn’t get it” because it refuses to reintroduce Christian values into the Democratic platform, which allows the Republicans to enjoy a stranglehold on the religious voice in American politics. The right, on the other hand, is “wrong” because it manipulates religious language for a political agenda that is inconsistent with the Christian tradition. The way to change the status quo, Wallis claims, is not for the Democrats to move away from Christian values; the solution is for Democrats and, indeed, all Americans, to embrace and reintroduce Christian values into the political spectrum.  

Mimi Hanaoka