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Archive: Jim Wallis
When Your Enemies Fall
Pumping our fists in victory or celebrating in the streets is probably not the best Christian response to anyone's death, even the death of a dangerous and violent enemy. The world can be relieved that a leader as evil as bin Laden can no longer plot the death of innocents. We can be grateful that his cynical manipulation and distortion of Islam into a message of division and hate is finally ended. Even if we sharply dissented from the moral logic or wisdom of the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan of the last decade, we can be glad that a mass murderer has been stopped and brought to justice. And we can be hopeful that the face of the Arab world might now become the young non-violent activists for democracy rather than a self-righteous smirk of a self-promoting video character who tells us he is going to kill our children if we don't submit to his hateful agenda.
By Jim Wallis | May 3, 2011; 03:13 PM ET | Comments (0)
It Takes a Movement: A Post-Election Analysis
Inauguration Day was highlighted for our family by a visit from Dr. Vincent Harding, the eminent African-American historian, and a member of Martin Luther King Jr's inner circle during the Southern freedom movement. Despite health concerns and the dangerous weather, "Uncle Vincent," as my two young boys call him, traveled across the country to witness this moment of a history in which he had been so deeply involved. As we stood on the mall clutching our inauguration tickets in our mittens, Harding said, "It was a movement that started all this."
By Jim Wallis | November 8, 2010; 10:11 AM ET | Comments (0)
Abuses of faith in this election season
You have to wonder. When political ads focus on a college prank pulled by your opponent what else could that money have gone to? When candidates make the case to voters based on the title of an article written by their opponent after a semester abroad in college aren't there more pressing issues they could be talking about?
By Jim Wallis | October 21, 2010; 05:40 PM ET | Comments (3)
Christians and bullying: standing with gays and lesbians
My mother used to give us kids two instructions: If there is a kid on the playground that nobody else is playing with -- you play with them. If there is a bully picking on other kids -- you be the one to stand up to him or her. There is disagreement within the Christian community when it comes to issues of human sexuality. But, there should be a united front against all who would disrespect, disparage, or denigrate anyone created in the image of God.
By Jim Wallis | October 21, 2010; 05:11 PM ET | Comments (2)
It's time to end this immoral war
Soldiers who are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are dying for a wrong-headed, ineffective, failed, doomed, arrogant, theologically unjust, and yes, immoral war policy.
By Jim Wallis | July 1, 2010; 02:49 PM ET | Comments (25)
A Time for Moral Reckoning
I am watching unbelievable pictures tonight of endless swaths of brown oil mixed with the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, of dying wetlands and marshes, of miles of contaminated coastlines, of dead birds and animals, of helpless and hopeless Gulf Coast residents sadly witnessing their livelihoods and their lives slipping away.
By Jim Wallis | June 3, 2010; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (0)
Loving our neighbors
Our religious obligation is to welcome and show compassion for the "strangers" among us. That is very clear from the biblical texts. Leviticus actually says that "The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you" (Leviticus 19:34). Jesus says that he will regard the way we treat the stranger as how we treat him. Immigrants are also our neighbors, and scripture tells us to "love our neighbors as ourselves," and to show hospitality to our neighbors in need.
By Jim Wallis | May 26, 2010; 03:06 PM ET | Comments (4)
It's about Biblical social justice, not Wallis or Beck
Several heads of church denominations have called to tell me that their pastors are actually preaching more about social justice because Glenn Beck has told them not to, and that thousands of pastors have turned themselves in to them (as church authorities) as "social justice pastors."
By Jim Wallis | April 14, 2010; 10:46 AM ET | Comments (10)
God suffers with those who suffer
Today, in Haiti, God is suffering with those who are suffering. God's heart breaks with the heart of those survivors looking for their families, the injured crying in pain, the orphans weeping for the parents they will never see again.
By Jim Wallis | January 20, 2010; 03:59 PM ET | Comments (31)
Healing America's Sick Soul
The creation of a better health care system that guarantees full access to affordable quality health care for every American family, all of God's children in this country, would be the moral achievement that could repair, and even heal, our damaged national soul.
By Jim Wallis | August 19, 2009; 11:55 AM ET | Comments (69)
Umpires, Perspective, and the Supreme Court
The claim that any human is able to remain unaffected by their background or have a purely objective view of any case is to claim a quality that belongs only to God.
By Jim Wallis | July 16, 2009; 03:33 PM ET | Comments (1)
Read Them on Our Own and in Community
It is imperative that we both read the Scriptures on our own and read them in community and with clergy.
By Jim Wallis | February 18, 2009; 08:37 AM ET | Comments (66)
Finding the Faith-Based Balance
There must be no proselytizing with public funds, nor funding any worship services or religious activities. In other words, no religious litmus tests, and no required sermons before showers or soup.
By Jim Wallis | February 13, 2009; 02:54 AM ET | Comments (44)
A Renewed Faith in Public Life
I am used to White Houses that want to arrest me--22 times over 40 years. This White House wants our advice.
By Jim Wallis | January 25, 2009; 07:48 AM ET | Comments (2)
So Help Me Allah
The demographics of Congress suggest that someday, America will have a non-Christian President. When that day comes, I hope that they feel free to celebrate as they see fit and to pledge their service to the country as they feel best honors the tradition of the Presidency.
By Jim Wallis | January 19, 2009; 09:22 AM ET | Comments (28)
It's the Morality, Sinner
The strongest critics of the Wall Street gamblers call it putting self-interest above the public interest; the Bible would call it a sin.
By Jim Wallis | September 19, 2008; 01:49 PM ET | Comments (34)
Breaking the "Monopoly on Morality"
When we invited Senator Obama to speak at our annual Pentecost conference in 2006, he used the opportunity to frame his views on the role of faith in politics. It was an extraordinary speech where he said: "[B]because I do not believe that religious people have a monopoly on morality, I would rather have someone who is grounded in morality and ethics, and who is also secular, affirm their morality and ethics and values without pretending that they're something they're not. They don't need to do that. None of us need to do that."
By Jim Wallis | February 21, 2008; 06:06 PM ET | Comments (0)
The Great Awakening on the Right and Left
The agenda of the faith community—especially the evangelical community—is changing dramatically to include issues such as poverty and pandemic diseases, environmental care and climate change, trafficking and human rights, genocide, war and peace.
By Jim Wallis | February 11, 2008; 01:35 PM ET | Comments (13)
Personal and Public Morality in Politics
Ultimately, personal integrity is vital to public trust. Effective leadership is finally sustained not just by what people say but by who they are.
By Jim Wallis | November 29, 2007; 02:41 PM ET | Comments (1)
Politics Pushes Uneven Policies
If most American Christians could see the daily and constant humiliation of all Palestinians at Israeli check points in the West Bank they would think such behavior is wrong
By Jim Wallis | September 16, 2007; 07:41 AM ET | Comments (14)
Faithful Work Both Sides of the Aisle
A broader conversation, with both sides participating fully, will better for the country, for politics, and for the faith community.
By Jim Wallis | June 7, 2007; 09:33 AM ET | Comments (61)
Committed Intimacy, Not Serial Sexual Dating
The quality of the relationship is the critical factor that distinguishes whether sexuality is sacred or profane.
By Jim Wallis | February 16, 2007; 08:12 AM ET | Comments (14)
Evangelicals: A Tipping Point on the Environment?
Concern over global warming is strong among young evangelicals who have made environmental stewardship a mainstream issue among their peers.
By Jim Wallis | February 9, 2007; 08:01 AM ET | Comments (29)
Prayer Can Be the Most Revolutionary of Acts
In the apartheid era, Archbishop Desmond Tutu's prayers constantly affirmed God’s power over the claims of the South African state, and that was a threat to their power.
By Jim Wallis | February 6, 2007; 09:10 AM ET | Comments (11)
Democracy Must Discipline Religion
Religious convictions must be translated into moral arguments, which must win the political debate if they are to be implemented.
By Jim Wallis | January 29, 2007; 07:31 AM ET | Comments (15)
To Escalate The War Now Is Criminal
A surge will simply mean more young Americans in body bags and wheel chairs, more families left without dads, moms, sons, or daughters, and more slaughter of innocent civilians. The war in Iraq was unjust; to continue it now is criminal.
By Jim Wallis | January 14, 2007; 04:33 PM ET | Comments (11)
Christ Should Inspire Humility, Not Arrogance
Jesus being the Son of God does NOT mean that Christians are better, more right, more righteous, more moral, more blessed, more destined to win battles, or more suited to govern and decide political matters than non-Christians.
By Jim Wallis | December 26, 2006; 12:35 AM ET | Comments (66)
The Path of Jesus...and the State
As a Christian, and an evangelical Christian at that, I want to say emphatically that America is not, and should not be, a “Christian nation.”...
By Jim Wallis | December 19, 2006; 05:13 PM ET | Comments (32)
Reinterpreting and Redeeming Thanksgiving
My goodness. No, Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday! And of course, “non-believers” can celebrate it. Just yesterday on our God’s Politics blog, a Native American leader talked about how they can even find ways to celebrate Thanksgiving, despite the...
By Jim Wallis | November 22, 2006; 04:47 PM ET | Comments (0)
Finding Common Ground on Higher Ground
Religion must be disciplined by democracy...meaning that we don’t claim that our religious authority must be everyone’s or dictate their moral or political fate
By Jim Wallis | November 15, 2006; 03:10 PM ET | Comments (11)
