Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 May 2005 19:04:50
Finally I had my visit yesterday from relative who had been to the states and bought me back "The Book". Now I know I could have got it off Amazon, but that involves having money to order when you're about for it to be delivered. Anyway now I have it and have started plouging through, (it's a bit thicker than I expected).
What am I rambling on about? God's Politics, Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it by Jim Wallis (of Sojo net). Is it living up to expectations? Yes, so far.
There are a set of questions that appeared in adverts in America prior to the election there last November, which make interesting food for thought prior to Thursday. Oh and so I don't infringe copyright by would like to stress this is a positive critical review of a book which whilst American, and looking at a different culture still makes interesting reading.
" We believe that poverty - caring for the poor and vunrable - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' budget and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion to poor families? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt cancellation for the poorest countries?
We believe that the environment -caring for God's earth - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies protect the creation or serve corporate interests that damage it?
We believe that war - and our call to be peacemakers - is a religious issue. Do the candidate's policies pursue "wars of choice" or respect international law and cooperation in responding to real global threats?
We believe that truth telling is a religious issue. Do the candidates tell the truth in justifying war and in other foreign and domestic policies?
We believe that human rights- respecting the image of God in every person - is a religious issue. How do the candidates propose to change their attitudes and policies that led to abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners?
We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue. Do the candidates adopt the dangerous language of righteous empire in the war on terrorism and confuse the roles of God, church and nation? Do the candidates see evil only in our enemies but never in our own policies?
We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue. Do the candidates' positions on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass distruction, HIV/AIDS - and other pandemics - and genocide around the world obey the biblical injunction to choose life?" Wallis, J. (2005) God's Politics, Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it, Harper Collins, New York (pp xxiii - xxiv)
There were some relevant bible verses to go with these questions, but if I put those in we would never have got to the end. Anyway the basic gist of the book so far seems to be getting back to the prophetic voice and well because I want to get back to reading it I'll stop now and only post on it again when I've finished reading it.