The theme of the book is this questions: How would our policies and political decisions change if we kept what God wants in the center of our minds? Regardless of religious affiliation, most Americans believe in some sort of God with similar values attached to that belief. The respect for human life, belief in helping “the least of us”, love for the environment, belief in the equality of all people, etc. are just some of the values that most Americans can agree on. And Wallis points out that many of our policies (both on the Left and the Right) do not support most of these values. Wallis argues that if we asked ourselves the simple question, “what would Jesus do?”, we would be doing things much differently.

Several examples of what we might do differently – Jesus would want Americans to be MUCH more mindful of the poor than we currently are. Jesus would not agree with our current war in Iraq. Jesus would not agree with the death penalty. Jesus would be upset and horrified with the lack of racial justice that exists in this country in the twenty-first century.

What I liked about God’s Politics is that it really made me think. In no way do I agree with Wallis’s political convictions on every issue, but I did think about some of these issues from a slightly different point of view. For example, Wallis doesn’t believe in abortion, and I am strongly pro-choice. Yet Wallis made it clear that he doesn’t agree with the way the “pro-life” (I’m accustomed to calling the movement “anti-choice”, but the typical term used is “pro-life”) movement gets their point across and he knows that there’s a better way to both prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions. Preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the overall number of abortions (as long as women don’t want those abortions) is definitely something I can get on board with.

There is a lot more about this book I could discuss, but I’ll just leave it up to all of you to read it and tell me what you think. I think God’s Politics is a must-read for anyone who follows and loves God (any God, but the book is pretty Christian-centric to be completely honest). Those of you who have an interest in politics will especially like the book. ( )

Religion and politics seem to be highly polarised in America. Anyone who has spoken at length with American Christians will be familiar with the way that all too often political thought seems to seep into the Christian dialogue, and from the perspective of an outsider, it seems that these notions are frequently unchallenged, and often at odds with the message of the gospel.

This book is then a timely call to Christians to re-evaluate their unchallenged assumptions, and to realise that so much of politics is anti Christian, that they do the church a dis-service in not taking a stand against it. The book has practical ideas of how to make a stand, and is a wake up call for anyone who thinks God would vote for a certain political party!

There is less here for non Americans. The context of the book is clearly America and its politics, and an outsider would be wrong to read this book to feel smug about their own politics. In the UK religion is much less polarised, but the policies of the parties are no more moral for this. Non US readers should read the book with humility, wondering how the lessons and ideas here can be applied in their own context. ( )

The author made his political affiliation a little too obvious, to the point where his credibility became questionable. I was expecting a more academic approach as opposed to an outpouring of personal opinion with a few scattered facts. Perhaps my opinion would be different had I been able to complete the book; I felt I was skimming too much to continue. ( )

Jim Wallis, a progressive evangelical, is a fresh change in his measured opinion on Christianity and politics.

Very interesting and provocative. ( )