Keeping God's politics honest

26 June 2006

God's Politics: Why the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn't get it, Jim Wallis. HarperCollins, 2005, ISBN 0060558288, RRP $35.00

Jim Wallis' God's Politics is a timely examination of how American neoconservatives have monopolised religious activism. The interesting thing is that while this should sound familiar--after all, in the past year Australia has seen conservatively driven debate on subjects like abortion and intelligent design--it forces the reader to realise just how alien American politics can seem.

Years of alliances and cultural imperialism may lull us into believing otherwise, but Wallis' analysis of his country's political idiosyncrasies cannot help but highlight our differences. Put simply, God's Politics identifies the way in which many Americans' faith is conflated with their status as global superpower. This gives rise to the idea that the USA is literally a chosen nation. It breeds what Wallis terms ‘easy certainty’: a lack of interest in self-critical reflection, and ultimately a nation with a God complex.

When this 'chosen nation' is proved mortal after all, things get even more dangerous. One of Wallis' most incisive observations is how the American vulnerability exposed by 9/11 felt so painful and so unnatural. The comfort of easy certainties was cast shockingly into doubt, and the hatred of this unfamiliar vulnerability demanded the swift re-establishment of the 'natural' order. In pursuit of this goal, faith and patriotism were bound even more tightly together. Bad theology led to worse politics.

In an environment so dominated by fundamentalism, a book like God's Politics gives progressive Christianity a much-needed American accent. But unlike so many critics of the Bush administration, Wallis demonstrates a commitment to provide alternative political solutions. He does not merely voice his discontent. This kind of pragmatism is rare in contemporary political criticism. It is combined with Wallis' commitment to putting himself on the front line (among other things, he is active in combating poverty, and has visited Palestine in an attempt to find a non-violent solution). Together these qualities give him a credibility that few of the usual commentators enjoy.

Wallis decries the ways in which wedge politics have made reasoned religious debate almost impossible. In particular, he notes that although abortion and gay rights are important issues, they crowd out debate on any other topic in an extremely frustrating way. He may appear squeamish in burying his discussion of both these issues at the back of the book. But his argument that subjects like

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Keeping God's politics honest

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