I was reading through CNN.com this morning, and I came across an article titled, "Sen. Clinton: God got me through martial strife". Being a follower of Jesus it interested me so I read on. I was caught off guard by the fifth paragraph.
The forum, sponsored by the liberal Sojourners/Call to Renewal evangelical organization, provided an uncommon glimpse into the most personal beliefs of Clinton and rivals John Edwards and Barack Obama.
Sojourners/Call to Renewal is liberal? Wait a minute, I thought that they were a non-partisan Christian advocacy group? What's going on here? As I read on further, I found out that Clinton, Edwards and Obama, were the only candidates present to express their personal religious beliefs.
The three candidates were invited by Sojourners founder Jim Wallis; most of the other Democratic candidates appeared on CNN later Monday to discuss their faith.
I'm the first person to admit that I don't completely understand the separation of church and state, but I do think that the church has a voice and should speak into the political process. (Just like big corporations can) But why would Sojourners/Call to renewal, who have a great opportunity to engage the current field of presidential candidates on the issue of faith, choose only three candidates to speak to. And why would they hold such a forum with only Democrats?
Admittedly I don't like the current administration and their close ties to the religious right, but I do not think the answer is a religious left. I have followed sojourners for a while now and I don't believe that Sojourners wants to be the religious left, but with the next presidential election increasingly being seen as a crucial event, this would be a great chance for them to live up to their 2004 slogan "God is not a Republican or a Democrat"
With the current polarization of our political climate, it is easy for Christians to slide into the left/right categories, or to be labeled so by others. I would propose that we choose a radical middle? One that in staunchly independent from political parties, can point towards God's Justice, and let those to the right and left of them know where they are falling short.
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2 comments:
The Radical Middle - isn't that a Vineyard saying? I think that makes a lot of sense. It's just hard to put into practice.
I wasn't surprised to see Sojourners described the way it was, though. They are pretty much the evangelical left, the opposite number to such (irritating) organizations as the Family Research Council and Dobson's group(s).
Yep, I stole the phrase from a book about the history of the Vineyard movement. Although they do not use the term in a political sense.
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