Jim Wallis was in town for a booksigning last Tuesday night. He's promoting his book, "God's Politics: How the right gets it wrong, and the left doesn't get it". The event was held in the University District's Methodist church. To my surprise the main sanctuary of the church was completely full when I got there, even though it was a few minutes early. People kept coming in and the balcony filled, until there was standing room only.
Wow. A bigger crowd than Easter Sunday...
Jim kept to the lecture format for this event. No prayer. He began by saying, "Welcome to this town hall meeting, which we have been advertising as a book signing!"
He said that everywhere he's gone on this book tour the response has been amazing. Throughout his lecture there was plenty of spontaneous applause.
He says it is the start of a new movement - the awakening of the "non-religious right".
Who is coming to these meetings?
- Catholics who feel they are not represetned by a few bishops who tell them that abortion is the only issue that matters in their lives today
- Mainline protestants who feel dismissed, as if they have no faith at all
- Evangelicals who feel they are not represented by people like Jerry Falwell
- Jews and Muslims
- those who are spiritual but otherwise not religious
The right thinks they own the language of faith. Furthermore, they want everyone to believe there are only two moral values: abortion and gay marriage.
Jim says that his own choice for the top two moral values are elimanating poverty and preserving the environment.
The religious right acts as if the reasons for going to war do not matter. But that is at the heart of the moral values of this nation.
The religious right is the political seduction of religion. It is the idea of the political right, and in co-opting these churches they've said, "give us your membership lists, we'll make you famous!"
Jim said he believes strongly in the separation of church and state, but there is a role for faith and values in politics. There should not be segergation or bannishment of religious terms in the public square. However, this kind of talk should come from individuals who are explaining why they have a particular position. The religious right claims that God is on their side. This leads to arrogance, pride, and power-grabbing. Instead they should be worrying if they are on God's side. If they did this, they would work from a position of humility, repentance, and accountability.
Faith is supposed to change the BIG THINGS. It is not a wedge ... it is a bridge.
Politicians generate fear about an issue, then they blame the other side. Then they take a poll to see if it worked.
Let us stop the politics of blame. Let us start the politics of solutions, the politics of hope.
Politicans do not try to resolve conflicts. There is a great need to find the common ground and work towards a common goal, even when it seems impossible becuase the emotions get in the way. Abortion - safe, legal and rare? Let's try working towards making it "rare", and make the common goal reducing unwanted pregnacies. I do not believe we should criminalize a woman's desparate choice.
The big choice is not belief vs. secularism.
It is hope vs. cynicism.
Cynicism is when you know things have gone wrong but you think it won't change.
Faith gives you strength to hope.
Hope turns into action.
Action produces change!
Faith --> Hope --> Action --> Change
He told many stories about putting faith into action. Here is one of them:
Jim Wallis snuck into South Africa 10 years before the end of apartheid, despite being on all the no-fly lists into that country. He saw how it was absolutely impossible for the blacks to succeed in their struggle for justice. They arested all the leaders, tortured, jailed and killed them. The only ones left were a few ministers who were constantly threatened with arrest.
Jim went to Desmond Tutu's church. They originally planned a rally, but the government shut it down. And so archbishop Tutu said, "Let's have church. Try to ban that!"
The church was fairly small, and outside the walls were three times as many policemen as there were worshippers inside. some of the cops came into the church and walked down the side aisles, with guns on their hips and pencils and paper. They were going to record anything the archbishop said, so they could use it against him.
Desmond Tutu looked at the police. Then he said to them, "We are going to be free. We are not asking for permission from the rulers of our land. We know we are going to be free. Do you know what? We are being nice to you. We are inviting you to join the winning side. Come and join the winning side, because YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST!!!"
The congregation started to sing and dance according to their tradition, and they danced all the way out of the church and down the road together, completely surprising all those white policemen in the process. At that moment Jim saw there was hope - and in the end, as we all know, the struggle succeeded.
After the lecture, he took questions from the audience.
One of them was:
I am interested in your ideas, but I am an athiest. What will you do to help athiests and agnostics feel welcomed?
Jim's answer: "Religion doesn't have a monopoly on morality. You ARE part of the conversation." Then he told a story about how he and a bunch of other ministers got arrested for protesting the tax cuts in the rotunda of the capitol building. When they got to the police station, everybody was put into the drunk tank, and he saw ministers and rabbis and everyone having very intense discussions about ideas - people who ordinairily are too dogmatic to get along. He said, "We should all ACT together on what we believe on the inside - then we can TALK about what we believe later."
Another question: What are some concrete suggestions about what I can do as an individual
Jim's answer: Be authentic. Be yourself. Let your faith and your convictions shine through.