After his Sojourners rejected an ad from a gay church group, progressive Christians are asking whether Jim Wallis of Sojourners be “THE” spokesperson for the Christian Left?
Liberal Christians Attack Obama Spiritual Adviser Jim Wallis
In the Daily Beast
Progressive Christian groups are asking whether Obama spiritual adviser Jim Wallis should still be the face of their movement after his organization rejected an ad from a gay church group. David Sessions reports.
Jim Wallis was a Beltway fixture long before the 2008 presidential election, writing bestselling books articulating a liberal evangelical view of social justice and castigating the rich in the political press. His popularity as an author and speaker made Wallis the face of progressive Christianity in Washington. But President Obama’s victory gave Wallis and his organization, Sojourners, new influence. His message of working beyond ideological lines resonated with the president’s campaign rhetoric about transcending partisanship, and Wallis became one of Obama’s spiritual advisers.
Now that status is in question, after Sojourners rejected a Christian group’s ad with a gay-rights message that was intended for Sojourners’ website and newsletter.
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Jim Naughton, . . . said people inviting Wallis to policy briefings and White House meetings should realize that he “is far to the right of the people he’s allowed to speak for.” And now, when liberal Christians “are making progress by the second,” he added, is a particularly bad time to hedge on the church’s welcome of gays and lesbians.
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Rev. Canon Susan Russell . . . said. “The issue in the ad was, ‘Is there room for a family in church on Mother’s Day?’ If [Sojourners] doesn’t have a position on that, they need to re-evaluate.”