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God-s Politics - Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn-t Get It

5 stars (True Christianity returns to the mainstream. Thank you, Jim Wallis!) - Kudos to Jim Wallis (best known until now as publisher/main writer of of the Christian magazine "Sojourners")for crafting such a well-considered read at a time when the American Church really needs it! Any Christian who is alarmed by the deciededly un-Christlike tactics & teachings of the Relgious Right (epitomized by shamefully out-of-touch leaders such as James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, & Pat Robertson) should buy this book and read it as soon as possible. Wallis lays out a viable plan to "take back our faith" from the hands of the Republican Party, and return Christianity to it's first century roots - a faith of compassion, peacemaking, and service to our fellow man. In one of the book's more facinating chapters, Wallis discusses the theological presuppositions of George W. Bush, and how they have lead him to confuse American imperialism with the Kingdom of God. But it should be noted that Wallis is equally critical of the secular left, and makes some good arguments that true Christianity can never be represented fully or faithfully by ANY political party. As a Sojourners bumper sticker campaign put it, simply by honestly, "God is not a Republican...Or a Democrat". All in all, an EXCELLENT read for anyone who has ever thought that something just doesn't smell right with modern mainstream Evangelicalism. 4 stars (A Very Timely Book) - As a Christian, I have become increasingly troubled by the direction of conservative Christianity in America. Christian leaders seem blindly willing to sell their integrity and their witness to a political party that largely ignores 95% of the Biblical message, all it seems for the sake of political power. I have also been less than enamored by the political left which seems to ignore the importance of faith in people's lives. When I saw a television interview with Jim Wallis, I was so taken with his thoughtful and refreshing approach to faith a...
HarperSanFrancisco :: Religion & Church & State :: CHRISTIAN LIVING PRACTICAL LIFE POLITICS :: United States :: Religion :: Politics & State :: Religion - Christian Living :: Religion :: :: God-s Politics - Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn-t Get It

 

It Takes a Family - Conservatism and the Common Good

1 stars (Lacking Respect for Others) - In forty brief chapters Santorum speaks about conservatism, marriage and the American family through the lense of his Catholic faith. He describes Americans as "stewards" whose "task is to secure and increase this patrimony [our inheritance] for our children". What is this patrimony? It is social, economic, moral, cultural, and intellectual "capital". Santorum believes that the family "is at the center of all the types of capital". But his is a rigid and exclusive definition of family - there can only be one mother and one father. Nor is it the family found in the Bible since those often included multiple wives and concubines. It is subtitled, "Conservatism and the common good". The difference between liberals and conservatives is their concept of freedom. Santorum says liberals, or, as he derogatively calls them, "village elders", want "the freedom to be and to do whatever [they] want - freedom to choose, irrespective of the choice, freedom without limits (with the obligatory caveat that you can't hurt anyone else directly)." Opposed to this is the conservative view of freedom. "Properly defined, liberty is freedom coupled with responsibility to something bigger or higher than the self. It is the pursuit of our dreams with an eye toward the common good." The question is who gets to define what is meant by the common good? My guess would be conservatives. Further, "the foundational social unit that instills a devotion to such liberty and that stands against [often sexual] No-Fault Freedom's toxic effects is the traditional family." "Village elders" view human nature differently than conservatives. Santorum believes "conservatives follow the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview, which includes the concept of original sin .... A view of human beings as fallen creatures given to sinfulness." And later, "the truth is that human beings are not born naturally inclined to do the right thing." Is he still livin...
Intercollegiate Studies Institute :: Religion & Church & State :: United States :: Politics&International Relations :: Politics and culture :: Politics - Current Events :: Political Science :: Politi :: It Takes a Family - Conservatism and the Common Good