Not a Lost Cause

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Last Tuesday, I marched across Washington D.C. in the pouring rain, hoisting a sign that read, “Poverty is not a family value.” Although at Harvard I find myself in the minority as a progressive Christian, that day I was surrounded by 500 church leaders, activists, and college students who had converged on America’s capital as participants of Pentecost 2006, a conference hosted by faith-based NGOs “Sojourners” and “Call to Renewal.” Unlike conservative Christians, who were mobilized by issues like gay marriage and abortion, we were here to tell politicians that they have a moral obligation to end child poverty in the United States and extreme poverty around the world.

As I looked over my shoulder at the parade of umbrellas processing along D.C.’s Massachusetts Ave., I thought about how I never would have imagined such a sight two years ago. In the wake of John Kerry’s defeat, I wrote an op-ed expressing my frustration that so many Christians had voted for President Bush, despite his policies which hurt the poor, whom Jesus Christ had asked us to care for. I was shocked to receive angry diatribes from Christians around the country telling me that I had misinterpreted the Bible and that I wasn’t a Christian. Not surprisingly, I received little sympathy from secular liberals, who shuddered at any mention of religion influencing politics, even when they agreed with my conviction that poverty is unjust.

While I would never advocate for my religious beliefs to be enforced on others, I want politicians to pass laws based on their moral convictions, which are often tied to their religious beliefs. Hence I cannot agree with my secular friends that any mention of religion should be omitted from policy debates, especially when referring to a creed shared across religions, such as the need for society to care for the poor.

As I glanced over my shoulder at the parade of umbrellas huddled in front of the Capitol, I felt the weight of Rev. Jim Wallis’ sermon from the night before—that we were the foundation for a new social movement that would remind politicians that poverty is a manifestation of a nation’s moral lapse, of its unwillingness to help the poor. This movement would fill a void in the soul of the nation, and provide a home for people who believe that morality should guide policy, but that a “culture of life” extends beyond protecting the unborn and that family values means encouraging marriage, not preventing it.

Despite the movement’s many Democrats, not to mention the evangelical reverend’s appearance on the March 2005 cover of Congressional Quarterly with the words, “Will Democrats Ever Get Religion,” Wallis strives to make his crusade against poverty a bipartisan cause. “We want liberals to start talking about strengthening marriage and family, speaking the language of personal responsibility,” he said. “We want conservatives to agree to strategic investments in housing, childcare, health care, education, and affordable housing.” To reflect Pentecost’s commitment to bipartisanship, the conference featured politicians from both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.). They all spoke about their faith and commitment to overcome poverty.

“These political leaders would not come to meet you if they didn’t believe you represent constituencies that they must pay attention to,” Wallis claimed. Recent polls support his conclusion. In an August 2005 survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 72 percent of respondents said “issues like poverty and homelessness” are important issues facing the United States, compared to 18 percent who said yes to “issues like abortion and gay marriage.” Similarly, a poll last month by the Center for American Progress found that 89 percent of respondents agreed to the premise that “government should uphold the basic decency and dignity of all and take greater steps to help the poor and disadvantaged in America.”

Although our cause resonates with the American public, Wallis warned that we must not mirror the Religious Right by legislating our religious beliefs. On the last day of the conference, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) delivered a groundbreaking speech that was later mischaracterized by the Associated Press’ headline, “Dems must court Evangelicals.” But this isn’t so much about courting “evangelicals” as it is about ending the Democrats’ rejection of religious imagery and ideals. The Network of Spiritual Progressives (led by Rabbi Michael Lerner) more accurately paraphrased the senator’s message: “Obama insists that liberals must stop pushing religious people away and stop demanding that they leave their religious ideas ‘at the door’ when they enter into a liberal or progressive context.” He proclaimed to a wide audience what many of us progressive Christians had been feeling all along: that our faith motivates us to fight poverty, but we want to do so by appealing to common moral principles that are shared across religions. I couldn’t agree with him more.



Loui Itoh ’07, a Crimson editorial editor, is a government and comparative study of religion concentrator in Quincy House. She is working on her senior thesis while trying to get a tan.