From the Family Research Council...In an attempt to showcase their newfound comfort with appeals to people of faith, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Democratic Party asked the Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal writer-activist, to deliver last Saturday's weekly national radio address. Wallis used his two minutes of air-time to discuss how the religious community "has no monopoly on values" and how politics requires spiritual commitment.
During the address Wallis went out of his way to declare, "I am an evangelical Christian" and said, "To be an evangelical means to preach and live and act in a way that is good news to poor people." It means "overcoming poverty." Wallis is a veteran Washington figure and he has been a frequent and consistent critic of conservative Christians who put priority on issues like the sanctity of human life and marriage.
Interestingly, none of the people Wallis has criticized has delivered, or is ever likely to deliver, the GOP's weekly radio address, no matter who is President. Instead, they are best characterized by their willingness to speak the truth, to anyone willing to listen, on the essential issues of hearth and home that are the surest route to peace and prosperity.
Bishop Harry Jackson of New Hope Christian Church in Maryland, president of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, typifies this kind of leader. He speaks with equal passion about the sanctity of marriage and the need for religious leaders to boldly address both parties, knowing that sometimes this will make them less welcome behind a partisan microphone.
