When and where will it all end?  Yesterday, we looked at Faith in Public Life.  Today, we examine another leftist group calling itself Christian, the Sojourners.

And, yes, some Sojourners might be Christians, but what type?  In name only or misguided?

It’s useful to know what Sojourners is about, because they promote a progressive Christian viewpoint on various issues, including all today’s favourites — healthcare, abortion, poverty, social justice.

Sojourners started in 1971 at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ilinois, in response to the Vietnam War.  They set up a publication called The Post-American, which explored the relationship between faith and political issues of the day.  Four years later, the group moved to an inner-city neighbourhood in Washington, DC, to live and work in community.  The group and their magazine took the same name Sojourners.  As one of their website pages explains:

The biblical metaphor ‘sojourners’ identifies God’s people as pilgrims—fully present in the world but committed to a different order … The community also gave birth to a variety of ministries, including the Sojourners Neighborhood Center, which from the early ’80s through 2001 ran after-school and summer programs for local children…

In 1995, they instituted a ‘Call for Renewal’, a programme which brought together the largest number of Christian organisations together in the fight against poverty.  The organisation evolved through the years to the point where it is today, working in partnership with other faith-based organisations:

Sojourners are Christians who follow Jesus, but who also sojourn with others in different faith traditions and all those who are on a spiritual journey. We are evangelicals, Catholics, Pentecostals and Protestants; progressives and conservatives; blacks, whites, Latinos, and Asians; women and men; young and old. We reach into traditional churches but also out to those who can’t fit into them. Together we seek to discover the intersection of faith, politics, and culture. 

Jim Wallis is an Evangelical minister who was instrumental in founding the Sojourners.  He is also a good friend of President Obama, according to the New York Times.  Journalist Stephanie Block has researched Sojourners and recently wrote an editorial for Spero News entitled ‘Hubris before a fall: ending poverty as we know it’.  She explains (emphasis mine): 

… [In the 1980s] it shifted its focus to the political unrest of Central America, co-creating the Witness for Peace Tours to generate pro-Sandinista (Marxist) support in the United States. Delegates were taken to Nicaragua and treated to staged ‘pep rallies’, supposedly demonstrating popular enthusiasm for the Sandinistas. Meanwhile, the magazine wrote glowing articles about liberation theology’s inroads into the spiritual life of Latin Americans, portraying the US military and US Latin American foreign policy as ‘anti-Christ’, and claiming that US economic assistance went exclusively to countries that repress and torture their citizens … By contrast, one researcher observed that, as of 1983, Sojourners had not criticized one Marxist country for human rights violations.

Today, Block says that Sojourners, Faith in Public Life (with which Wallis has had some connection) and their partners:

… helped to get Obama elected by crafting the media message that even if a religiously-minded citizen disagreed with a given candidate on this or that social issue (specifically abortion or homosexual ‘rights’), one had to take into account global warming, foreign policy, and the economy – which Wallis plainly felt trumped the rest.

Clearly, some issues count more than others.  Currently:

To the victor belongs the spoils – which in this case has awarded Wallis a very influential position on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. From that position, for instance, Rev. Wallis has presented the ‘moral case’ … for the Employee Free Choice Act.

He has dined with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. One of the President’s Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is a commitment to these UN goals.

Hmm.  The Employee Free Choice Act seems to be anything but.  It could open the door to union thuggery not only on employers but also on employees who do not wish to join a union.  And how do UN programmes gel with neighbourhood partnerships?  It’s all socialist and globalist.  How good can that be?  And who’s financing all this?  Is some of your church money being channelled — without your knowledge — to support these ’causes’?

Let’s look at some of their positions:

  • Abortion: ‘dramatically reduce the abortion rate’  (Agreed, but do they support the administration’s views on abortion and eugenics??)
  • Capital Punishment: ‘We should not take life to punish wrongful death.’ 
  • Family Values: ‘Strengthening families must become a personal and national priority without scapegoating gays and lesbians for the breakdown of the family.’
  • Gay marriage and same-sex relationships: ‘Pass anti-hate-crime legislation that prosecutes attacks on gays and lesbians’
  • Immigration: ‘Border enforcement and protection initiatives that are consistent with humanitarian values while allowing the authorities to enforce the law and implement American immigration policy.’

You can see the plausibility of the statements.  Who would disagree, right?  But, what lies underneath?

In closing, have a look at ‘A Christian Creed on Health-care Reform’, excerpts of which follow.  I’ve highlighted Alinskyite words and phrases below:

… Sign ‘A Christian Creed on Health-Care Reform’ and a copy of it will be sent to your members of Congress. In addition, after you sign you will be given a link to Sojourners’ free discussion guide about health-care reform, to help guide discussions in your congregation or small group.

‘As one of God’s children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.

‘I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22)…

‘I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).

‘I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).

‘I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7) …’

Yes, and just who will be paying for all this healthcare?  How long will it be before the percentage of tax-paying Americans drops below 50%?  Some say it could be in five to 10 years’ time.

These are highly radical perspectives meant to impoverish every American.  Wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

Is your church participating in Sojourners?  Find out by clicking here.