In the aftermath of a presidential election whose outcome has been largely attributed to the "values" vote, Sojourners editor Jim Wallis has become popular by reminding the nation that "God is not a Republican or a Democrat."

He carries that theme into God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, in which Wallis criticizes both the liberal and the conservative responses to faith in public policy. The book purports to offer a means of accommodating the moral values and religious conviction often attributed to the Right with the social compassion and justice credited to liberal policies.

Wallis says the discourse needs to be rescued both from out-of-control religiosity and from rabid secularism. He argues, from a Christian perspective, that both conservatives and liberals have missed substantial components of America's cultural calling. He comes down especially hard on the "Religious Right," however, which has no doubt helped to boost his celebrity among liberals eager to break the alleged red state monopoly on faith.

In presenting his case, Wallis creates a policy primer that covers a myriad of the foreign policy, domestic, and social issues that have polarized much of the American conversation. One of his main points of contention with conservatives is their tendency to pursue an aggressive U.S. foreign policy and an economic policy that neglects the poor. He also criticizes their disproportional emphasis on moral issues. Yet for all his criticism of primarily conservative policies, the author seems to offer little in the way of concrete solutions. War is not the answer. Tax cuts are not the answer. Eliminating religion is not the answer. But what is?

Thus the relevancy of God's Politics comes less as a policy manual and more as a political platform for liberal ideology. Unlike many of his Democratic party counterparts, however, Wallis contends that the Christian ethic -- at least as he sees it -- can generate support from both red-state and blue-state believers. He writes:

Rather than suggesting that we not talk about “God,” Democrats should be arguing – on moral and even religious grounds – that all Americans should have economic security, health care, and educational opportunity and that true faith results in a compassionate concern for those on the margins.

What makes for good religion isn't made clear, but it must not be "pro-rich, pro-war, and only pro-American."

To be sure, Wallis's obvious desire for peace and prosperity among the people of the world is most admirable, and such compassion is certainly compatible with the Christian faith that he claims as its source. But such noble sympathy does not so easily translate into public policy, nor can an apparent lack of sympathy be necessarily attributed to a failure to understand divine will.

Wallis contends:

God's politics reminds us of the people our politics always neglects – the poor, the vulnerable, the left behind….And God's politics pleads with us to resolve the inevitable conflicts among us, as much as is possible, without the terrible cost and consequences of war.

God's Politics appeals to a few passages of Scripture to defend liberal policy, but even then it seems to obscure the fundamental message that God has put forth -- one not meant so much to dictate the welfare system as to instruct the hearts of His children. The prophets of the Old Testament, for example, did speak often of the necessity to care for the truly disadvantaged, yet their primary cry was for the people of Israel (and of the world) to remain faithful and devoted to their Sovereign Creator. That was the ministry of Christ as well -- to proclaim that God alone holds the keys to life and death, and that only through faith in Jesus can anyone find salvation. 

Wallis uses Micah 4 as the entire basis for a chapter on "Micah's Vision for National and Global Security," although the biblical prophet surely never intended his words to be the basis of a successful foreign policy in which citizens would "beat their swords into plowshares." Instead, Micah referred to the final victory of Christ that will one day establish true global peace. 

Such passing references aside, however, God's Politics largely steers clear of theology, opting instead for broader, more abstract principles of social justice and nonviolence. Wallis accuses the Right of ignoring these concepts, and the Left of failing to credit them to religion. He writes: 

The religious and political Right gets the public meaning of religion mostly wrong -- preferring to focus only on sexual and cultural issues while ignoring the weightier matters of justice. And the secular Left doesn't seem to get the meaning and promise of faith for politics at all -- mistakenly dismissing spirituality as irrelevant to social changes.

Yet to his credit, Wallis emphasizes that removing the Christian worldview from the public square will only hinder America's moral and social progress. Faith is an inextricable component in culture, for a society will always root its political philosophy in a foundational understanding (or rejection) of the Almighty. 

Wallis takes swipes at all sides of the ideological debates -- even lamenting the degradation of pop culture in a way that James Dobson would applaud. He comes down especially -- and unfairly -- hard on the Christian Right, but the terms of debate are often familiar. Thus, perhaps the greatest service of God's Politics is to encourage Christians, regardless of political involvement, to think critically and selflessly about how their faith ought to shape their policy views.