Wallis, who describes himself as "a 19th-century evangelical" who was born in the wrong century, says that when he talks to Democrats, "it's straight talk about their lack of moral content. Martin Luther King never endorsed a candidate, he made the candidates endorse his agenda."
In the immediate aftermath of last November's election, Jim Wallis' Sojourners published "Spoils of Victory," originally at Christianity Today [emphasis in the original].
"The Religious Right's dominance over politics and evangelicals has come to an end," Democratic adviser and Sojourners/Call to Renewal leader Jim Wallis told Christianity Today the day after the election. Wallis usually phrases his belief that his own religious convictions make for sound public policy somewhat differently: "[Y]ou've got to make an argument for the common good, you've got to persuade your fellow citizens that this is best for the country, that these are good things for all of us." He expanded upon his concept of the common good in a letter to Chuck Colson.
What I'm saying around the country is that there is a new option for American politics that follows from the prophetic religious tradition. It is "traditional" or "conservative" on issues of family values, sexual integrity, and personal responsibility while being very "progressive," "populist," or even "radical" on issues such as poverty and racial justice. And that seems to be their only real difference of opinion on the subject. It's not surprising that Wallis should endorse the DFLA and its 95-10 Initiative -- a piece of Trojan donkey legislation that uses long-overdue social justice measures as camouflage for anti-abortion regulations so repressive that 95-10 is endorsed by every major organization of the Religious Right. After all, despite his pro-feminist rhetoric, Jim Wallis has been literally signed on to the Religious Right's anti-abortion policies for at least the last dozen years, so it's no surprise that he thinks 95-10 is such a great proposal. Why shouldn't all Democrats join Jim Wallis in endorsing 95-10 as part of the search for "common ground" on abortion? Maybe it's because 95-10 calls for preventing pregnancy, but mentions contraception only in regard to failure rates -- anti-choice dog whistle code for "abstinence-only." Maybe it's because 95-10 also calls for the imposition of repressive legislation upon every physician in the country. Maybe it's because 95-10 mandates federal funding for a nationwide network to funnel unsuspecting women seeking information about abortion into crisis pregnancy center "ministries." Maybe it's because most Democrats have scruples about crawling into bed with Concerned Women for America, Priests for Life, the March for Life, the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Lutherans for Life, CareNet, Heartbeat International, Project Rachel, the "abortion is genocide" Abortion in Black America, Life Issues Institute, LifeSite, Joe Scheidler's Pro-Life Action League, Americans United for Life, the American Life League's Stop Planned Parenthood International, Human Life International, Feminists for Life, National Right to Life, and the same Life Dynamics that lists every provider of abortion care in the country as "American Death Camps" -- all of them directly linked from the DFLA site. Maybe it's because DFLA opposes embryonic stem cell research. Maybe it's because DFLA is still spreading the discredited lie that abortion causes breast cancer. Maybe it's because DFLA officers publicly refused to support the Democratic presidential ticket in 2004, calling John Kerry the "Hitler of the Unborn." Yes, maybe those are some of the reasons -- the reasons that 95-10 is a Trojan donkey. Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice took Wallis to task for his refusal to talk straight about abortion in his current role as "progressive evangelical" adviser to Democrats in search of "values voter" support.
He is one of those religious leaders who set the teeth of feminist religious women, particularly Roman Catholics, on edge. He identifies himself as a progressive pro-life evangelical, but his heroes are ... the Catholic bishops. ... He claims to speak for "millions" of progressive Catholics who are eager to support the Democratic Party but balk at its stance on abortion. His pronouncements on Catholic teaching about abortion and what Catholics actually believe are firm and unshaken by facts. This is what Jim Wallis himself says about where the Democratic Party needs to go on abortion policy in order to find what he calls "common ground" with "values voters."
Democrats must offer new ideas and a fresh agenda, rather than linguistic strategies to sell an old set of ideologies and interest group demands. On the issue of reproductive freedom and abortion rights, there is no older "set of ideologies and interest group demands" than that of the Religious Right and, it seems, of Jim Wallis. Yes, all of the above are part of Wallis' agenda -- although he leaves out not only contraception, but his signed endorsement of a federal constitutional amendment to make abortion a crime in all 50 states. Frances Kissling goes on to say, "While he repeatedly has said that Democrats need not change their position on abortion, just the way they talk about it ... Wallis is now out of the closet." If the position paper that Wallis and assorted self-professed abortion abolitionists from the Religious Right signed twelve years ago is anything to go by, he's been out of the closet on reproductive freedom for women for a long time. Here is a favorite Wallis sound bite: "God is not a Republican or a Democrat. I want Republicans to talk about more than gay marriage and abortion. I want Democrats to talk about abortion and poverty in moral terms." And here, courtesy of Priests for Life, are only a few of the "moral terms" -- prefaced with the blatant lie that "abortion on demand ... is legal at any time of pregnancy, for virtually any reason, in every state " -- to which Jim Wallis signed his name.
THE AMERICA WE SEEK A partial list of signatories includes such luminaries of the Religious Right as Gary Bauer, Family Research Council; Charles W. Colson, Prison Fellowship; Guy M. Condon of Care Net; James C. Dobson, Focus on the Family; Clarke D. Forsythe, Americans United for Life; Wanda Franz, National Right to Life Committee; Robert P. George; William Kristol, Project for the Republican Future; Beverly LaHaye, Concerned Women for America; Richard Land, Southern Baptist Convention; Bernard N. Nathanson, MD; Richard John Neuhaus, Institute on Religion and Public Life; Frank A. Pavone, Priests for Life; Ralph Reed, Christian Coalition . . . and Jim Wallis, Sojourners. Since he must know that in every civilization since the beginning of recorded time -- including pre-Roe America -- the only alternative to safe and legal abortion has been illegal and unsafe abortion, one can only conclude that Wallis is all right with that, too. In his painfully honest account [pdf link] of his own visits to a clinic that provided abortion care, Catholic theologian Daniel Maguire said that while he knew that this experience would not give him a woman's understanding of the abortion decision, he hoped that it would "empty me a bit of my inculcated masculine insensitivity" and help him to "lie less" when he wrote about abortion. One review of God's Politics deprecated the importance of Wallis' opposition to what he calls the Democratic Party's "highly ideological and very rigid stance on this critical moral issue." It was Katherine Mangu-Ward's opinion that "Pro-choicers will have no trouble shrugging off this breach in an otherwise nearly flawless leftist litany." This pro-choicer has a whole lot of trouble shrugging off what Jim Wallis has said about abortion, and along with Mr. Maguire, most people in this country of all faiths -- or even of none -- would like to hear a lot less lying about it from both religious leaders and politicians. Wallis says, "The biblical prophets were in the presence of the king, but never in the pocket of the king." Let us be vigilant lest, in our zeal to find "common ground," we end up in his own.
Portions of this material appeared previously at Talk to Action.
Jim Wallis and the "Moral Center" on Abortion | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
Jim Wallis and the "Moral Center" on Abortion | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
|
Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)
Short Takes
Daily Kos: National Right to Life Committee deletes old press release declaring that McCain is not prolife. Street Prophets: Pastordan takes on a Democrat's...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Draft Democratic Platform Rejects Anti-Abortion "Reduction" Plank
There was a controversy recently, when Jim Wallis and allied evangelicals proposed "abortion reduction" as a central feature of the Democratic Party Platform. This...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Appreciating John MacArthur
In many ways, John MacArthur typifies a preacher of biblical evangelical orthodox Christianity. He believes in a literal six day creation and that all...... By Jonathan Rowe (0 comments)
Attention All "Evil-Doers"...This Really is a Religious War!
Like many a good oppressed American Christian, retired Lt. Gen. William "my God was bigger than his" Boykin has now written of his unbearable...... By Chris Rodda (1 comment)
Short Takes
People for the American Way has a report on a Religious Right strategy conference on the "Armaggedon of the Culture War." That's what religious...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Jeff Sharlet on the Radio
If you have not yet had a chance to hear Jeff Sharlet discuss his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Impolite Question: Do Faith-Based Programs Actually Work?
Americans United for Separation of Church and State opposes "faith-based" initiatives because we believe that pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into the coffers of...... By Rob Boston (5 comments)
Rick Warren Appears on Glenn Beck's Program
Rick Warren has in the past used his position as pastor to endorse George Bush for president. He now claims to be neutral and...... By wilkyjr (0 comments)
Short Takes
Hullabaloo: Digby follows-up on my post on Ray Flynn. She says: "...some of the progressive members of the Religion Industrial Complex are really social...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
A Neo-Orthodox View of Christian Unity.
Below is a timely repost from last summer. My column will resume next week. Last week I discussed the Vatican's recent decisions that will...... By Frank Cocozzelli (4 comments)
Ray Flynn, the Religious Right and Progressive Revival
There has been quite a flap going on ever since pastordan took the new blog site Progressive Revival to task about a few things...... By Frederick Clarkson (4 comments)
Short Takes
Ethics Daily: Religious right leader Richard Land "has repeatedly offered false claims about the environmental devastation of oil wells in the aftermath of Hurricane...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Veep Veto?: Religious Right Seeks To Pick McCain's Running Mate
The Religious Right is once again flexing its political muscle. It's odd. Some media analysts say this movement is dead or dying - but...... By Rob Boston (1 comment)
Texas Religious Right Charity with UK Links Tries to Liquidate
In 2006 the British SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, founded 1698) sold off its chain of Christian bookshops to a Texas-based Orthodox Christian...... By Richard Bartholomew (2 comments)
John McCain's Catholic Problem
The Catholic Right, Part Sixty-five What does McCain's use of Catholic Right icon Deal Hudson as a campaign advisor and surrogate tell us about...... By Frank Cocozzelli (3 comments)
"Yes on 8" RSVP? Need your advice.
Schubert Flint Public Affairs has been hired to run the Yes on Prop. 8 ("Protect Marriage") initiative. If you've happened to notice the names Jennifer Kerns, Frank Schubert, or Jeff Flint in media coverage...... By Chino Blanco (1 comment)
Alabama PSC Cantidate Matt Chancey: His Views on Suffrage, Women, Marriage, etc.
Promoted from the diaries -- FC Alabama voters should be made aware that Matt Chancey opposes"one person, one vote" suffrage, apparently on religious grounds. Matt Chancey, a Republican, is running for president of the...... By CynthiaGee (2 comments)
Jews and Christians Unite against the Empire of Neo-cons and 'Christian' Zionists
Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources...Everything is justified in...... By eileen fleming (1 comment)
Patriot Follows the Money and Exposes Foreign Agents
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official."-Theodore Roosevelt ...... By eileen fleming (0 comments)
The Alleged "Church of Liberalism"
4th July, Independence Day. I was at a party in Paris. As usual, when one of the guests learned that he was speaking to an American the conversation turned to the election and Obama....... By TMurray (0 comments)
Hope Never Dies for Extremists
The extreme political Religious Right hasn't given up hope of getting something out of this election. Their latest ploy involves petitioning the parties for a "True Christian" in the vice-presidential slot. The Christian Anti-Defamation...... By John McKay (0 comments)
Catholic religious right wing: Legion of Christ
Frank L. Cocozzelli's weekly series of posts on "The Catholic Right" (listed here) includes quite a few posts about Opus Dei. There's another, similarly ultra-orthodox Catholic religious order he might want to examine in...... By Diane Vera (3 comments)
Prosyletization in Iraq: A threat to national security
As amazing as it sounds, dominionists may in fact be fomenting terrorism--not just the domestic terrorism like bombings of women's clinics we normally associate, but the very "Islamist terror bombings" that the GOP loves...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
Proselytization in Iraq: A minor history
The recent incident where a Marine was recently found distributing "Bible coins" promoted by a fundamentalist "Bible church" is, sad to say, far from the first incident of overt prosyletisation in Iraq. The truth...... By dogemperor (1 comment)
Source of "Bible coins" distributed by USMC in Iraq discovered
In what is--sadly--yet another case of the extent of which blatant prosyletisation is tolerated in the modern US military, a recent incident where members of the US Marine Corps were handing out coins to...... By dogemperor (0 comments)
What Does the Religious Right Fear the Most?
A poll that one of the giants on the right, Coral Ridge Ministries, sent to their members gives a revealing insight into their world view. ...... By John McKay (3 comments)
UK Abortion Limit Stays at 24 Weeks Despite Washington Think Tank's Tactics
IN GOD'S NAME is a revealing documentary about how the Alliance Defense Fund is using its tactics to try to restrict abortion in Europe as well as in America. Watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeTfW8-dCNE ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
'Christians United For Israel' Joyfully Sing of Israel's Invasion and Destruction
An open letter, from Ray McGovern, a 27-year intelligence analyst with the CIA, to Admiral William J. Fallon, warns of an impending US attack on Iran. If such an event occurred, the resulting war...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
The Petrification of John McCain
We are very pleased to welcome Frederick Lane as a guest front pager. He is the author of several books,most recently, The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right's Crusade to Reshape the Supreme...... By Frederick_Lane (3 comments)
More Biblical Precedent for Allowing Abortion
This is a follow up to my most recent diary entry. ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
John Hagee Says God Made AIDS and Bird Flu But Lord will Protect Him Personally
John Hagee claims 1) that he knows with absolute certainty the will of God (as he told a BBC interviewer in 2003), is 2) sure that he, John Hagee, has a place in heaven...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Biblical support for abortion, who knew?
It turns out that our present legal understanding of when a life is entitled to legal protection is consistent with the Old Testament Biblical understanding of when a fetus becomes a 'life' warranting legal...... By TMurray (2 comments)
2001 John Hagee Film Shows Gangsterish Rabbi, Foppish Catholic Priest In League With anti-Christ
The following somewhat satirical video is built around a brief excerpt from Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee's 2001 55-minute film "Vanished", which followed the prophetic, premillennial plot line of Tim LaHaye's and Jerry Jenkin's...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
PBS "Carrier": A Mixed Blessing
Watching the PBS miniseries "Carrier" was a revelation, but not always a pleasant one... ...... By bughouse square (0 comments)
Will We Ever Learn?
Ever looked at something or did something which at the time seemed good and beneficial only to learn that it was not what you thought? If we could all have the opportunity to live...... By truthngrace (0 comments)
McCain-Endorser's Church Casts Out "Demon of Anal Fissures", Teaches Vomiting Evil Spirits
[NOTE: for a related story, see Mai Tai Dogs: Pics Show Bush Administration, McCain-Endorser Hagee Schmoozing at Chinese Restaurant] I have to admit, on one level it sounds more entertaining than a church full...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
Bush 41 salutes Sun Myung Moon's effort to subdue the planet.
Sun Myung Moon's end time political front, the Universal Peace Federation had a summit from April 28 to May 2 in Washington DC. The participants took a tour of the Moon owned Washington Times...... By Lou (2 comments)
Advancing The Kingdom
Over the past four years, I've researched the darkest regions of the Christian right for the non-fiction film Silhouette City. The film tracks the movement of apocalyptic Christian nationalism from the margins of American...... By MichaelWWilson (2 comments)
Newspaper Profiles Army of God Spokeman
We have written a great deal about the anti-abortion terror organization, Army of God. One recent post prompted God Tube to take down videos posted by the proprietor of the Army of God web...... By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Judicial Council Chief James Holsinger and $20 million of UMC Money
Dr. James Holsinger, a leader in the IRD-linked Methodist renewal movement has, until now, been best known for his crack-pot anti-gay views. - FC Dr. James Holsinger, the Bush nominee for Surgeon General and...... By AJWEAVER (0 comments)
No Constitution Party home for Keyes
Well, that didn't take long. All the speculation about Alan Keyes finding a home with the rabidly right-wing Constitution Party has quickly come to naught as the CP convention picks radio talk show host,...... By tacitus (0 comments)
Florida Christian License Plate
Well, Florida is at it again. They're considering a "Christian" license plate. It's supposed to have a cross and a stained glass window on it with the words "I Believe!" More below the break!...... By ArchaeoBob (3 comments)
The Alleged 'Atheist Delusion'
John Gray's ample Saturday Review column in the March 15th edition of London's Guardian newpaper diagnosed the current climate surrounding religion as one of `moral panic'. This is true only of the irrational fear...... By TMurray (0 comments)
A Real GI Bill of Rights
As much as I admire Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel for their efforts to reform the military, I respectfully submit that their proposed bill doesn't go far enough... ...... By bughouse square (2 comments)
Mikey's War
There comes a time when ordinary citizens need to step up and openly challenge the perverse Christianization of our national instutions, particularly the military. What follows is an introduction to someone who is doing...... By bughouse square (1 comment) More Diaries... |
BlogsBartholomew's Notes On ReligionChip BerletMax BlumenthalThe Panda's ThumbFrederick Clarkson Chuck Currie DefCon father Jake Stops The World John Gorenfeld Religion Clause Chris Mooney Religious Right Watch The Revealer Jesus Politics Majority Report Radio Blog Mainstream Baptist Orcinus Dispatches from the Culture Wars Ex-Gay Watch The Wall of Separation Blog From The Capital:a blog on religious liberty issues and the separation of church and stateOrganizationsAmerican Booksellers Foundation for Freedom of ExpressionACLUAnti-Defamation LeagueAmerican Library AssociationChristian Alliance for ProgressCitizens ProjectDefCon: Campaign to Defend The ConstitutionFaithful America People For the American wayInstitute For Democracy StudiesInterfaith AllianceJews On First: Defending the First AmendmentAmerican Fundamentalists Americans United for Separation of Church and StateBaptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty The Clergy and laity Network Political Research Associates Theocracy Watch Media Matters for AmericaMilitary Religious Freedom FoundationMontana Human Rights NetworkNational Center For Science EducationReligious Coalition for Reproductive ChoiceThe RevealerSouthern Poverty Law CenterTexas Freedom NetworkCrossLeft: Organizing the Christian LeftTheocracy WatchTruth Wins Out" |
|||||||||||||