Interesting Concept

I recently began reading a new book by a pastor by the name of Adam Hamilton called "Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White". I have found the point of view he expresses, while a little different than mine, to be provoking of thought and prayer. Of the books I have read lately, this is one I would clearly recommend (along with Jim Wallis' "The Great Awakening", and Bill Hybel's "Holy Discontent"). What I have been thinking about the last few days, though, is actually in the foreward by Jim Wallis.

Jim expresses what I find myself feeling very well. I feel a great need to stand up for those things in the world that He tells us we must. In this country we seem to have fallen into a trap of believing that the Republican party is the party of God.... An odd notion given that many groups of American's who I would look to for examples of devotion (the African American church for instance) clearly are not part of the umbrella that the Republican party puts out. Jim often hammers us with the call to stand not for a party, but for what is righteous in God's sight....to be morally consistent. MLK once said that the Church is neither the master nor the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state. How can we be that if we surrender ourselves to partisan politics. My faith is about more than abortion and gay rights. I believe that Lord's words are absolute, and so I agree that the practice of homosexual sex is a sin (as is pre-marital sex...), but is that all we read in the New Testament.....how often did Jesus talk to us of our responsibility to the poor and downtrodden.....many many more times.

So I have had a really difficult time defining what I am. Jim used the term Radical Conservative, which is a focus on the "moral center". This is very different than being a moderate. splitting the difference on the political spectrum of the day is not same as centering our public life and discourse on the morality that He so clearly has provided to us. So Radical Conservative...the reference invokes in me that idea that I am conservative in my beliefs about values, and radical in the pursuit of the social justice that will result (kind of a Dempublican I guess). I brought this up to a great friend of mine, and she didn't think much of the term. That is actually encouraging in a way because she almost always rejects ideas I bring up, but later uses some of them as she thinks about them. I am going to see if she changes her mind and that will let me know if the idea has merit.