Sojourners leader tells bishops to tap new generation
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A UMNS photo by Tim Tanton Jim
Wallis of Sojourners tells United Methodist bishops that religion
shouldn't be a wedge but a bridge that connects people of different
beliefs.
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Jim
Wallis, editor in chief of Sojourners magazine, speaks to United
Methodist bishops May 4. Wallis said religion shouldn't be used as a
partisan wedge but as a bridge that connects people of different beliefs
and backgrounds. The bishops visited the Sojourners organization's
offices in Washington during their May 1-6 spring meeting. A UMNS photo
by Tim Tanton. Photo #05-xxx. Accompanies UMNS story #284, 5/6/05 |
May 6, 2005By Tim Tanton* WASHINGTON (UMNS)—Young people are ready to change the world—they’re just waiting for the altar call, the editor of Sojourners magazine told United Methodist bishops. "If
we’re church leaders, we better have an altar call ready for a new
generation of young people," Jim Wallis told about 35 bishops and
bishops’ spouses May 4. Wallis is a founder of Sojourners, a nonprofit
Christian organization working for social change. The
bishops visited the Sojourners offices as part of their May 1-6 spring
meeting in Arlington, Va. At the same time, other groups of bishops
visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill and heard presentations at United
Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary. Wallis
said he has been traveling around the United States for three months,
holding town meetings and signing copies of his book, God’s Politics: How the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.
The meetings are drawing large and diverse audiences, including
evangelicals, mega church pastors, mainline church members, agnostics,
young people, gays, Catholics, rabbis and Muslims. "We
have a lot of evangelicals coming out who don’t feel represented by a
handful of television preachers," Wallis said. Many mainline church
folks feel their faith has been "disrespected" in the current political
debate in the country, as if members of mainline churches are not people
of faith, he said. He is hearing from black evangelicals and a lot of
Hispanic and Asian Christians, he said.
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Bishop Thomas Bickerton |
In particular, young
people are "coming out in droves," he said. A lot of them say they are
spiritual but not religious, he said."What
I’m finding is a whole lot of young people want to give their lives for
something big," he said. "Not something small. Not something
ideological, partisan—they don’t care about left or right." Noting the different groups that are stepping forward, he quipped: "It’s almost like the rise of the non-religious right." He sees a change in how faith and values are being addressed in public life. "When
it comes to religion and values in politics, the monologue of the
religious right is finally over, and a new dialogue has just begun," he
declared. One group is no longer framing the discussion. "It’s not all
left-right; it simply isn’t bipolar," he said. "It’s much deeper and
more complicated." The change doesn’t represent the rise of the religious left as opposed to the religious right, he said. "Religion
is not supposed to be a wedge; it’s supposed to be a bridge to bring us
together," he said. At its best, religion is not theologically
predictable or partisan but prophetic, he said. "I think there’s a hunger in America to restore a different, better conversation about religion in public life," he said. Discussing
the subtitle of his book, Wallis said people on the right are
comfortable in the language of values, faith and God—so comfortable they
almost seem to think "they own the territory"—while people on the left
are uncomfortable talking about faith, religion and values.
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Bishop Charlene P. Kammerer |
Bishop Charlene P. Kammerer |
"I think there’s
common ground to be found even on issues as tough" as gay marriage and
abortion, Wallis said. But they aren’t the only moral issues."I
am an evangelical Christian, so I will insist when there are 3,000
verses in the Bible on poverty, fighting poverty is a moral values
issue." He also cited the environment, war, and the "silent tsunami" of
30,000 children dying daily because of hunger and other causes. Wallis
said it is important for faith groups to join across their boundaries
to collaborate on common concerns. He noted that the National
Association of Evangelicals has put the environment and global warming
back on the map in Washington with the release of a statement
characterizing those topics as religious issues. Separating
church and state doesn’t mean banning religion from public life, but in
a pluralistic society, the debate must focus on what is best for the
common good, he said. "Religion must be disciplined by democracy." During
a question-and-answer session with the bishops, Wallis emphasized the
need for "being courageous about a faith that intends to change people’s
lives." He pointed to the passion of John Wesley, Methodism’s founder,
who worked for spiritual renewal and social justice. Bishop
Thomas Bickerton, who leads the church’s Pittsburgh Area, said
afterward he was struck most by Wallis’ comments about young people. The
bishop noted that young people are striving to find relevance in the
church. Bishop
Charlene Kammerer said she felt "very convicted" to continue building
on the Council of Bishops’ relationship with the Bush administration.
Kammerer, as bishop of the Richmond (Va.) Area, was part of a delegation
of bishops who met with Bush and presented a Bible to him May 3. During
small-group discussions after Wallis’ remarks, Kammerer said her group
"wanted to emphasize acts of charity, acts of piety and acts of justice,
and be clear that we United Methodists will not allow other people to
separate us." The group also wanted "to be sure that all of these are
joined together in one fabric of our Wesleyan faith." Sojourners,
founded in 1971, is a nonpartisan, Christian organization that focuses
on faith, politics and culture. In March, it organized peace vigils
around the United States to mark two years of the war in Iraq, and
during the 2004 elections launched a media campaign proclaiming that God
is not a Republican or a Democrat. The
Council of Bishops comprises the top clergy leaders of the United
Methodist Church, which has about 10 million members in the United
States, Africa, Europe and the Philippines. *Tanton is managing editor for United Methodist News Service. News media contact: Tim Tanton, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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