c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-Some 200 Protestant and Roman Catholic pastors, theologians and church-based community activists began gathering here Thursday (Feb. 1) to map an alternative strategy to the Religious Right in the 1996 election campaign.”The old categories and polarities-of left and right, Republican and Democrat-have failed us,”Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine, told a news conference preceding the weekend strategy sessions. Wallis is a spokesman for the group of religious activists, named Call to Renewal.

The new group grew out of a 1995 initiative called”Cry for Renewal,”a manifesto signed by more than 100 evangelical and mainline Protestant church leaders as well as Roman Catholic bishops and theologians.

Call to Renewal originally came together to argue that there are Christian views on public policy issues other than those of the Christian Coalition and other Religious Right groups. But criticism of the Coalition was muted at Thursday’s news conference.”We agree with them (the Christian Coalition) that we are in a spiritual crisis,”Wallis said.”But we do not think the answer to the spiritual crisis is to just elect as many right-wing Republicans to Congress as possible.” At the same time, he said,”there are things … we (Christian liberals and conservatives) should do together-to find the common ground by moving to higher ground.” The Christian Coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wallis’ statement.

Wallis and other leaders of Call to Renewal released six principles they will use in creating voter guides by which Christians can evaluate candidates.

A preface to the principles stated:”We refuse the false choices urged on us between personal responsibility or social justice, between good values or good jobs, between strong families or strong neighborhoods, between sexual morality or civil rights for homosexuals, between the sacredness of life or the rights of women, between fighting cultural corrosion or battling racism. We seek the biblical virtues of justice and righteousness.” Panelists at the news conference said the group would not endorse candidates and that religion’s role in the public arena should not be used to further a partisan agenda but provide a spiritual vision.”We want to call both left and right to participate,”said evangelist and author Tony Campolo of Philadelphia.”One of the main things is that this effort is about transcending bitterness and ending the demonizing of your political opponents.” But the group also made it clear that issues of poverty and racism would top its agenda.”We want to introduce a genuinely new conception of how we talk about race in America,”said the Rev. Eugene Rivers, head of the Ten-Point Coalition, a church-based inner-city project in Boston.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

The six criteria proposed by the group to guide voters in judging the morality of the nation’s political policies are:

-“We serve a God who fundamentally upholds the dignity and hope of the poor and a Savior who loved the little children. We must save all our children and not punish those who are disadvantaged.

-“We follow the One who called us to be peacemakers. We must stop the violence that has overtaken the nation, and address its root causes in the distorted spiritual values and unjust social structures in which we are all complicit.

-“We have a faith that invites to conversion. We must revive the lapsed virtues of personal responsibility and character, and repent for our social sins of racism, sexism and poverty.

-“We love a Creator who calls for justice and stewardship. We must begin to judge our economic and environmental habits and policies by their impact on the next generation rather than just our own.

-“We must seek healing from the materialism which has made us less caring and more selfish creatures, isolated us from one another, enshrined the power of money over our political processes, wounded our natural world, and poisoned the hearts of children-rich and poor alike.

-“We are compelled to a lifestyle of services and compassion, and are led by our faith into community. We must rejuvenate the moral values and political will to rebuild our disintegrating family systems, our shattered neighborhoods, and our divided nation.”

MJP END ANDERSON