An Evening With Jim Wallis

Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and author of God's Politics graciously dropped by my church before his sold-out lecture at the Belcourt Theatre. To paraphrase from memory some of his closing remarks:

"How did the religion of Jesus come to be pro-rich, pro-war, and only pro-American? . . . When someone has stolen your faith, you need to take it back."

Read more about Wallis and Sojourners at Sojourners Online.

I am glad that Wallis's effort to organize religious progressives for political action (with a particular emphasis on alleviating poverty) is gaining momentum and garnering substantial media attention. I do worry, however, that this movement is too Wallis-centric. For the past few months, promoting Wallis's new book has been Sojourners' primary objective. And, thus far, the movement (as far as I can tell) has failed to raise up progressive religious leaders on the local level. Still, I appreciate all that Wallis has done for Christians who don't identify with the religious right and hope that his efforts continue to be fruitful.