Who Speaks for God?

by Jim Wallis

Many Americans, religious or not, believe this country is facing a moral and spiritual crisis, one that has fundamentally to do with values. For people across the political spectrum, restoring moral values to our public policies and discourse has become a critical issue. But while the Religious Right has successfully portrayed itself as the exclusive protector and purveyor of moral values in politics, "Who Speaks For God?" illustrates that, in fact, the policies and positions it espouses fly in the face of Christian values and doctrine, and have had a harshly divisive effect on our society.In "Who Speaks For God?, " Reverend Jim Wallis examines what historical Christian values, teachings and scriptures tell us about how to reinstate the sense of spirit, soul and meaning to our public policies and debates, and why it matters now more than ever before--as poverty and homelessness increase and racial rifts tear us apart while our political leaders grow more fractious and their debate more partisan. "Who Speaks For God?" is a manifesto that presents an alternative vision for infusing a sense of meaning and values to our politics, a vision built around Compassion, Community and Civility.

Compassion is the first test of politics, from a religious perspective: How it treats the poor, the vulnerable, the weak, the children, is a virtual measure of a nation's righteousness according to the prophets, and in that light the material will look at our social policies and welfare reform. Whether it builds or destroys Community is a second test of a nation's politics, and the proliferation of gangs and urban violence attests to the need for a new approach. Civility--the character of politicaldiscourse and decision making--is clearly lacking from the highly divisive political debate, characterized by the "politics of blame" in which the Religious Right has blamed the poor, the homeless, blacks, gays, feminists, and liberals for a striking array of sins; this section will reject the extremes from both the Right and the Left to envision a "moral center" for politics.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Politics, Christianity

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

JIM WALLIS is a globally respected writer, teacher, preacher, justice advocate, regular international commentator on ethics and public life, and mentor for a new generation. He is a New York Times bestselling author of twelve books, including Christ in Crisis, America's Original Sin, God's Politics and The Great Awakening. Wallis is the Founder of Sojourners. He served on President Obama's White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and has taught faith and public life courses at Harvard and Georgetown University. "Coach Jim" also served for 22 seasons as a Little League coach for his two baseball playing sons.

Reviews

[Gerry Czerak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1996, this book is just as relevant in 2012 because not much has changed since then with the partisanship of the country and Congress.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1996, I expected this book to be a little dated. Ironically (and sadly), it wasn't. Wallis argues that instead of the Religious Right and the "liberal" left, evangelicals should eschew political parties and create a compassionate, civil, and community-focused middle way.(Sound familiar?)

The writing style is vintage Wallis - clear, precise, and mostly controlled. His burning anger at the outrageous and dangerous commentary of Pat Robertson slips through in more than a few places, but for the most part he practices the civility he preaches.

The Moral Majority and Christian Coalition don't officially exist anymore, and their political power has definitely waned, but the point of this book remains fresh (and disappointingly) still needed.

[Darin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read for a rather bull-headed right-winged conservative like myself. I think that I will read some more of his books. I really liked that he points out the "false dichotomies" that the political parties would have us all believe....if you are conservative or republican you have to believe one thing and if you are liberal or democratic you have to believe the opposite. Instead of focusing on these mostly false opposites and fighting, he wants to find the middle ground (where most of us live and believe) and work together.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about Jim Wallis's view that we are too divided in a political, religious, and cultural sense to face the moral and spiritual crisis in our nation.
He proposes a balanced society: compassion, community, and civility as a start to finding solutions.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this right after the 2004 election and it was like the author knew what was coming down years in advance.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in late 90's during Clinton presidency and before George W and Obama. Lays out a place for evangelical Christians that are NOT right-wing Pat Robertson groupies.

[Alex McHaddad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is as relevant in 2016 as it was when it was written... in 1996. Excellent resource for Christians who love politics but tend to see through the lies a little too easily.

[Steven]

I really liked this. I thought it was a very fair approach to how the right and the left are getting it wrong relative to religion in politics. It is a little dated, but I think it shows that his speculation turned to be true.