Jim Wallis appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Jim received enthusiastic applause from the studio audience!
"The Nation's Katha Pollitt dismantles Wallis' God's Politics as an ahistorical and convenient interpretation of Christian politics ("If it's wrong, it isn't truly evangelical, therefore evangelicalism is purely good.") that boils down to majority rule. Pollitt writes: "The more insistently people bring Christianity into politics, the more political argument becomes a matter of Christian hermeneutics."
I came across the Pollit article from The Nation the other day. It seems that she just can't agreeing with Christians on anything. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, the left has everything to gain by seeking common ground with people of faith (or rather, people whose political outlook is informed and motivated by faith), and very little left to lose. I mean, what are they afraid of? Losing even worse in the next election?
She commits the same old error of lumping Christians today (of every political stripe) with Crusaders, bigots, and witch-hunters of yesterday. In his book, Wallis wittily compares this line of thinking with equating every socially progressive effort of collective action with Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.
I don't know how I'd try to convince someone like Pollit that Christianity can be a positive motivating force for social change. And not just changes that benefit the 'in-group' members of Christian adherents, but the kinds of changes that benefit the broader culture. She seems unwilling to take seriously the progressive contributions of believers. But, after a generation of largely compassionless political judgementalism and 'escape-pod' solutions to social/environmental/educational/economic issues from highly vocal, well-organized, and right-leaning public Christian leadership, I can't say that I blame her.
b/t/w, check out this article on Hillary Clinton taking a different angle on abortion: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/nyregion/25clinton.html
Posted by: marshall | January 26, 2005 at 01:14 PM