God's politics offers a refreshing insight from a Christian lobbyist into the US political scene. Wallis argues that a "fight gay marriage and abortion first' strategy has led many US evangelicals to embrace a biblically unjustifiable right-wing platform which includes the war in Iraq and policies which favour the rich over the poor.
His unravelling of George W Bush's distortion of biblical language to promote a pro-war, pro-American agenda is masterful. For example, in a speech on September 11, 2002, Bush said, "This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind… That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it."
Christians will quickly recognise the idolatrous misapplication of the Apostle John's language about our saviour Jesus Christ to American foreign policy. It is difficult for we cynical Aussies to appreciate how this kind of political language could actually work in America. Yet, the belief that America has a "manifest destiny': that God has appointed them as a special people appears to be extremely deep-seated amongst US evangelicals.
Wallis serves up much food for thought, although his take on the Sermon on the Mount made me choke. But in the context of a book that is more about politics than theology, it would be nit-picking to slam Wallis' exegesis of some of Jesus' sayings. Taking a broad view of Scripture he is correct. God does have heart for the "orphans and widows' and is angry at his people when they exploit the poor.
The relevance of this book to the Australian scene is more questionable. Australia is not a church-going society like America, and the dynamics of the religious right do not operate here despite the media hyperbole
The best example of the difference between the US and Australia, is the abortion debate. This issue has not been as polarised in Australia as in the US. Wallis suggested way forward has already gained traction in this country. An Australian campaign to "reduce the number of abortions' has already unified religious leaders across the spectrum.
Wallis approaches more common ground when discussing the issue of gay marriage. It is clear that Wallis upholds the Scriptural view that God intends marriage for "one man and one woman' but his references to Tony Campolo's attempts to reach a political compromise, by arguing from the separation of church and state, are a mistake. It will lead many evangelicals to dismiss Wallis' whole thesis. Campolo believes that "civil unions' are a state issue and marriage a religious issue. This argument is just semantics. Marriage by another name is no "win-win' solution.
However Wallis does have a point that the breakdown in heterosexual marriage has not been caused by the push for gay civil rights. In fact it is the widespread advocacy of de-facto relationships that perhaps the real issue here, which Wallis fails to mention. Though Wallis is also correct in part - it would be helpful if more politically conservative Christians addressed the impact on family life caused by industrial and economic liberalism. Though it must be said again, this criticism does not really hold in Australia. Indeed, so-called "conservative' religious leaders such as Archbishop Peter Jensen, have spoken out passionately about the Howard Government's industrial relations regime and its impact on home/life balance.
If they were wise, it would be left-wing humanists who would be most keenly reading this book. Wallis is at his best when he is addressing left-wing confusion about how they lost the middle ground. It is this aspect of the book that has generated so much interest in the Australian media, because it offers Federal Labor a way out of their current mire. It would certainly help Australia's political health if Labor listened to Wallis' "fourth way' and developed a platform that not only offered a worker friendly economy but sought to protect Australian marriages and reduced abortions.
