Jim Wallis was on the campus of Eden Theological Seminary today. Wallis is the editor of Sojourners Magazine and convener of Call to Renewal. He first spoke to a group of progressive clergy in the St. Louis area that have been organizing on the Eden campus and later preached during morning chapel services for the seminary community. I have been fortunate to meet Wallis on several occasions in Portland and Washington, DC and was able to spend time driving him around town this morning. The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon worked to arrange his visit.
There were two important issues that he lifted up today. First, Call to Renewal will be launching a bus tour of swing states next week. The tour is designed to put the issue of poverty before the voters as they make choices in November about which candidates to support. Call to Renewal is a Christian anti-poverty advocacy group that draws their membership from across the theological and political spectrum. Wallis hopes the tour will remind voters that poverty and how we address it is a religious issue for Christians to consider.
Wallis also asked people to take action and write letters to President Bush and the head of the Republican National Committee asking them to apologize and denounce the mailings sent from the RNC to West Virginia and Arkansas voters telling them that Democrats would ban the Bible if elected in November.
Click here to learn more about this action alert.