The triumph of Sojourners

In the latest "Sojo Mail," the frequent email newsletter that the progressive evangelical organization Sojourners sends to its subscribers, founder Jim Wallis reports that there was a "substantial shift in religious voters in the midterm elections." Calling the recent election a "moral values election," Wallis can barely contain his excitement as he notes that finally, FINALLY American Christians are beginning to realize that sexuality and "the family" are not the only "moral values" they should be concerned about when visiting the polls. Twenty-nine percent of white evangelicals voted Liberal, up eight percent since 2004. Forty-one percent of evangelicals as a whole voted Liberal, while Catholics voted fifty-five percent Liberal. Polls also show that the war in Iraq was the top "moral issue" for religious voters, who also considered poverty and social justice the most pressing national social concern.

As I digest these stats, I too have a hard time containing my excitement. I'm excited that "Voting God's Politics," Sojourners' massive pre-election pamphlet campaign, was successful in its attempt to get Christians around the country to think outside of the Republican box that's been confining them since the Reagan era. Just two short years ago, during the dark days after Bush was voted back into office, NPR reported stats revealing that the Christian Right and their stance on "moral values" (ie, abortion and homosexuality) had played a notably large role in keeping him there. Now, thanks to the tenacious activism of Jim Wallis and Sojourners, the tide of radical Conservatism is waning, and Christian progressivism is back in the mainstream--perhaps for the first time since the 1970s. I'm impressed that they've managed such a widespread impact. It's great to have idealistic optimists on your side.

I'm an idealistic pessimist, which means that while I firmly--even dogmatically--stand behind the activists of the world and the Liberal values foundational to their causes, it's often difficult for me to mobilize. (It also means that I'm profoundly unhappy most of the time.) Ever since I realized I was a Liberal about five years ago, I've been caught between arguing vehemently with Conservative friends and family members and convincing myself that they'll never change their minds, that America will soon be run by Hitler in a cowboy outfit and there's nothing I can do about it. Most of the time I pull off something in between, asking questions that others avoid asking, throwing in my point of view when it would be easier to stay silent. Mike has done a better job (he's an optimist, after all): he manages to argue in a congenial kind of way and challenges Conservative Christians at church to compare Jesus' values with the Bush administration's. He even--gasp!--placed "Voting God's Politics" brochures next to the Conservative-leaning info the church displays every year. But both of us have, I think, done our share of influencing, and as I read Wallis' comments on the election, I remembered how many friends announced their decision to vote Democrat this time, and, even more importantly, their decision to vote at all in seemingly uninteresting mid-term elections. And while Bush's sinister character makes a pretty good argument against Conservatism on its own, I can't help but think that some of that was our doing. (Correct me if I'm being too egocentric here, OK?)

Either way, I'm excited that there's finally a light at the end of the Bush tunnel. What lies beyond him, and whether that light is natural or artificial, is still uncertain. But my hope for even a few years' reprieve just won't die, even if it is mixed with caution and cynicism.