This is a Good Thing

I find this video pretty encouraging. Jim Wallis is president of Sojourners, which is a Christian magazine and group that focuses on social justice and addressing humanity's greatest problems such as poverty, war, the environment, and basic human rights. I've been reading his new book lately, and from the Sojourners website I found this video of President Obama's new Faith-Based Council. Like I said, it makes me more optimistic about faith and politics, and I'm looking forward to seeing what these guys do to work on these crucial issues.



First of all, I like to see the cooperation and harmony between these three, all representing different religions on this Faith-Based Council. We've seen in the past so many media interviews with evangelicals on TV being the opposite of humble and arguing about gay marriage, abortion, or whether or not God wanted Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 to happen. Instead of highlighting their differences and creating an ugly scene of bigotry and intolerance for all of America to see, these leaders are finding common ground and trying to use each of their own different faiths to bring a better world.

CNN probably wanted them to argue, because that gets them better ratings and thus more money. I'm still not sure why the interviewer asked the Muslim guy what he thought of the number of Christians in America dropping by 10%. Still, it was refreshing to see religious leaders coming together to try to find ways to help people and not just argue over their differences.

I also liked how Rev. Wallis completely dodged the question about Tony Dungy being on the council. So what if he won the Super Bowl, who cares whether he's on the council or not? Wallis made a simple comment about not knowing who will be on the council and moved on to an issue that actually matters--poverty. Will it net CNN high ratings? Probably not, but it will make a big difference in the world and in peoples' lives.

This is good to see. When there has been so much religious polarization and discrimination in the past, especially in the media, it's good to finally see people of different faiths working together for the common purpose of helping people.

Anyways, I really like this Jim Wallis guy. I was going to post an interview he did on The Daily Show but it wouldn't work. I'm posting the link below. I think that if you can watch it, you should. His message is something that is refreshing and all Christians should hear.

Jim Wallis on The Daily Show