progressive politics

I've been getting Sojourners for a little while now. It's a maganize and e-zine that is designed to give a Christian perspective on progressive politics. I had hoped that it would be a thoughtful discussion of the issues from a biblical perspective. But I'm a little frustrated...instead of thoughtful discussions, I seem to be getting only shrill attacks on conservatives and President Bush.

I agree that the Republicans aren't the only party for Christians. As a matter of fact, many Christ-followers are being duped into believing that Jesus would vote Republican. And Republican leaders are continuing to feed that message to anyone who'll listen because it's worth a whole heck of a lot of votes every election cycle. But the reaily is...the Republical party couldn't care less about honoring Jesus and espousing his values. At least the Democrats acknowledge that they don't care about that stuff...until this year, when they're trying to dip into the pockets of their own brand of Christian. Jim Wallis is just as shrill on the left as Pat Robertson is on the right. They deserve each other!

So what are the values that Jesus talked about? Things like: respect for everyone, life, justice, care for the poor, the difficulty of being rich, generosity, forgiveness, responsibility for one's decisions, freedom to make those decisions.

Where is the thoughtful discussion about these things? It should be in the church community. How do we get the discussion going? I'm still trying to figure that out.

If you're a part of the Hamburg Wesleyan community, let me know if you think you'd be interested in participating in a casual but organized discussion of these issues during the election season. Let's see what happens.

Peace,

Matt