On May 7, 2008 in Washington, D.C., a group of Christian’s published and presented a paper they call “An Evangelical Manifesto”. This sparked a discussion at Out Of Ur blogsite so I am re-posting my comments from that blog here:

It’s been interesting to read this exchange of thoughts and I have a few observations. Prior to Roe vs Wade (abortion on demand compliments of the Supremes - 1973) few Christians were actively involved in politics, but with the legalization of the killing of innocent babies things had to change. Many Christians opened their eyes to the fact that to some degree they had allowed this to happen because they found politics so distasteful - and it is! Thus was born the “Moral Majority”. Why? because a group of judges who were appointed for life found an unwritten ‘right’ in the constitution that none had found before and the American people (not just the church) were caught completely by surprise. These people were not politically savvy and began to look for representatives who would champion this cause and the only ones they found were in the Republican party. One can hardly call these people ‘useful idiots’ with any degree of honesty. While for some, the life issue has become a form of self-righteousness, this does not diminish the necessity of staying the course.
The Democrat party on the other hand, had already become self-righteous by caring about the poor - with other people’s money. I think this is where Shane Calibourne may find himself a ‘political misfit’. He cannot justify the pro-abortion stance of the Democrats but is drawn to the re-distribution of wealth philosophy they hold. The problem is that if I take money from you that you have rightfully earned by your work and give it to my choice of poor people, I am not thereby made righteous in God’s sight. However, if I allow you to give of your own free will, then it is a different story.
Sadly, the Republican party today is not much better than the Democrat party. Christian people gained a tremendous amount of influence there in the ’80’s, but the old guard has fought back and wants to dump the true conservatives.
So, to the Evangelical Manifesto: After having read it and then Richard Land’s explanation as to why he did not sign it, I would definitely side with Richard Land. Why do we need “manifesto’s” anyway? It sounds so Marxist to me.

Here is the most well reasoned review of Donald Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz , that I have read to date.  It is enlightening without being offensive.