Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507280108
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY NELSON HARRIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The world isn't working."
This is the statement with which social activist and journalist Jim Wallis begins his work, "The Soul of Politics." Subtitled "A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change," the book is a scathing indictment against the liberal and conservative forces in American politics and their failure to accomplish real change and promote viable solutions to society's major ills.
According to Wallis, liberalism has been and is "unable to articulate or demonstrate the kind of moral values that must under gird any serious movement of social transformation." Further, he argues that liberals have removed any notion of "personal responsibility" from societal change. Conservatives, however, still deny "the reality of structural injustice and social oppression," which has led to such things as blatant racism, sexism and poverty.
In a deeper sense, ideologies and political parties are becoming increasingly inept at understanding the core of most social and economic problems, and Wallis believes that core to be spiritual in nature. Although he is a Christian and firmly believes in the social teachings of Jesus as a basis for true reform, Wallis is not in any way connected politically or philosophically with the maneuverings of the religious right.
"We are not calling here for the invasion of sectarian religion or theocratic grabs for power but rather for the contribution of neglected values to the political process," he writes. "Without values of moral conscience, our political life quickly degenerates into public corruption, cultural confusion, and social injustice."
This effort and need to provide a new political ethic that offers a vision of transformation is nothing less than a true conversion of politics itself; thus Wallis asserts we need to discover "the soul of politics."
This discovery will only take place when political leaders become community builders and not polarizers; when the citizenry is able to help shape directions and decisions; when the language and framework of politics are not controlled by the political extremes to the exclusion of an increasingly isolated mainstream; and when a moral sensitivity is created which refuses to separate political ideas from their consequences.
Such an effort will prove fruitful only if, according to Wallis, the values of our religious traditions are reclaimed and allowed to forge a new politics which establishes right relationships between peoples, communities and the earth itself.
For those who would find Wallis' vision too lofty, the author directs the reader to a barrage of statistics and analysis that demonstrate a necessity for real change in our political thinking. Wallis sees America awash in unabated consumerism, a neglect and even disdain for the impoverished, a continuing irreverence for creation, an inability to achieve equality amongst diversity, and a general lack of personal, much less collective, spirituality.
For those challenges to be confronted, he effectively argues for the emergence of effective political leadership, similar to that offered by Gandhi, Mandela and King, which strives "to lead people to where, in their best selves, they really want to go."
Nelson Harris is pastor of Ridgewood Baptist Church.
by CNB