{"id":108,"date":"2006-10-13T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-13T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godspolitics\/2006\/10\/jim-wallis-top-ten-gods-politi.html"},"modified":"2006-10-13T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-13T12:00:00","slug":"jim-wallis-top-ten-gods-politi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2006\/10\/jim-wallis-top-ten-gods-politi.html","title":{"rendered":"Jim Wallis: Top Ten God’s Politics Epiphanies"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When I first went out on the book tour for God\u2019s Politics<\/span>, I often got asked the standard media question, \u201cWhy did you write this book?\u201d I answered, \u201cBecause the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn\u2019t get it!\u201d It worked. Now reporters tell me it\u2019s \u201cthe book that changed the conversation.\u201d The new essay in the paperback edition of God\u2019s Politics<\/span> talks about all the ways the conversation has changed.<\/p>\n

But now that God\u2019s Politics<\/span> is out in paperback and the publisher has me on another book tour, there is a new question I\u2019m getting asked\u2014both by the media and by people who come out to the events and talk to me at the book signing tables. The new question is, \u201cWhat gives you the most satisfaction about the success of God\u2019s Politics<\/span>?\u201d Or, \u201cWhat makes you feel best about having written this book?\u201d I\u2019ve thought a lot about this and here are the top ten things that give me the most encouragement from the impact that God\u2019s Politics has had.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Young people are streaming out to the God\u2019s Politics<\/span><\/a> events and, invariably, one of them says to me, \u201cI came to faith because of this book; what\u2019s next?\u201d I now realize how much the church\u2019s lack of commitment to social justice has been an obstacle to faith, and am thrilled by so many young people now coming to faith\u2014it must be the evangelical in me. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Parents tell me they are giving the book to their children\u2014some of whom have lost their faith, or are seeking to make the connections between personal faith and social justice. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Many pastors tell me their church is studying God\u2019s Politics<\/span>, and that it is bringing together people from all sides of the political spectrum. (To help them do that, we\u2019ve now published a new companion study volume designed for small groups called Living God\u2019s Politics<\/span><\/a>.) <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Young evangelical pastors and students tell me they are searching for \u201cnew options\u201d beyond the Religious Right and Secular Left. And the hold of just one political party (the GOP) on the religious community has dropped significantly even since the 2004 elections. Why? Because more and more Christians are demonstrating their concern for more than just two \u201cmoral values\u201d issues. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. Jon Stewart<\/a> was interested in what Jesus’ words would mean to politics, and his millions of fans now know that Jesus’ top priorities might not have been a capital gains tax cut or the occupation of Iraq. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
              \n
            1. Many progressive and Democratic political leaders are coming out of the closet with their faith, and opening up to faith communities and the role of faith in movements for social change; and Sen. Barack Obama<\/a> is speaking so clearly about faith and Sen. John Edwards so passionately about poverty. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                \n
              1. There are Republicans now who want to take back their party from the Religious right, and are voting against cutting effective programs for low-income families. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                  \n
                1. The American people can now hear Katie Couric<\/a>, Tim Russert, and many of their media colleagues fairly profiling the diverse views of faith leaders across the spectrum, and not just from the Relgious Right. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                    \n
                  1. The bestseller tables and shelves at the book stores across America don\u2019t only feature Ann Coulter, Bill O\u2019Reily, and Sean Hannity anymore; now they display progressive religious voices too. I was especially pleased that two books on progressive faith (God’s Politics <\/span>and Jimmy Carter\u2019s Our Endangered Values<\/span>) both made The New York Times<\/span> best-seller list for four months each during the same year! <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                      \n
                    1. The release of God\u2019s Politics<\/span> simply revealed what was already there\u2014a large and growing constituency of faith-inspired people who had felt unrepresented by a small group of narrow, vitriolic, and partisan religious voices. That they feel their voice is now being heard is one of the greatest satisfactions for me. The best thing I hear after God’s Politics<\/span> events from so many people is, “I don’t feel alone anymore.” As I say at almost every stop, \u201cThe monologue of the Religious Right is finally over, and a new dialogue has just begun.\u201d Now all our voices are changing the conversation. Amen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      When I first went out on the book tour for God\u2019s Politics, I often got asked the standard media question, \u201cWhy did you write this book?\u201d I answered, \u201cBecause the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn\u2019t get it!\u201d It worked. Now reporters tell me it\u2019s \u201cthe book that changed the conversation.\u201d The new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nJim Wallis: Top Ten God's Politics Epiphanies - God's Politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2006\/10\/jim-wallis-top-ten-gods-politi.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jim Wallis: Top Ten God's Politics Epiphanies - God's Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I first went out on the book tour for God\u2019s Politics, I often got asked the standard media question, \u201cWhy did you write this book?\u201d I answered, \u201cBecause the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn\u2019t get it!\u201d It worked. 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