Red Letter Christians: Religious Values Go Beyond Same Sex Marriage and Abortion

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“A debate on moral issues should be central to American politics, but how should we define religious values?”

“We must insist that the ethics of war — and whether we tell the truth about going to war — these are moral values issues too.”

The speaker? Who else but the ubiquitous (you almost want to say omnipresent) Jim Wallis, who today announced plans to establish a grass-roots network of 7,000 moderate and progressive clergy members. Red Letter Christians, a project of Sojurners/Call to Renewal, plans to use voter guides for congregants and briefings for their leaders to a broader definition of morality and Christian values beyond gay marriage and abortion to war, education, and poverty, among other things.

Wallis has just rolled out a new blog at Beliefnet, where this week he (politely) debates Ralph Reed. (Liberals and conservatives engaging with the issues without resorting to insult and invective! What next?) Worth a look.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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