New Books on Faith and Politics from Amy Sullivan and E. J. Dionne Jr.

I would love to give you a long and serious discussion of these books, but, for whatever reason, the publishers have not yet sent me a review copy. So, here's the NY Times Book Review version. I know the first paragraph of this review will drive many of you nuts.

Left Wing and a Prayer:
By R. SCOTT APPLEBY
Published: February 10, 2008
The leadership of the Democratic Party, to its misfortune, has tended to confuse the religious right with religion, period. As a result, they can now look back at a long campaign of successful efforts to alienate white Christians, who make up two-thirds of the American electorate.(snip)

Now two savvy, genre-bending, unapologetically faith-based new books take that failure as an object lesson. “The Party Faithful,” by the respected political journalist and progressive Baptist Amy Sullivan, is a kind of sophisticated self-help manual for Democrats who are looking for a way “of leveling the praying field.” Sullivan provides a brisk history of Democratic miscalculations, along with a running commentary. “Souled Out,” by the respected political journalist and progressive Catholic E. J. Dionne Jr., is a deeply personal and searchingly intelligent reflection on the noble history, recent travails and likely prospects of American liberalism. Dionne envisions “a radically new role for religious groups in American politics,” an integration of personal morality with a championing of the common good that, he says, is “not only possible but necessary, for the sake of our public life and for religion’s sake as well.”

Both authors blend reportage, analysis of voting patterns, historical precedents, personal religious testimony and unvarnished advocacy. They lament the reduction of religion to narrow ideological concerns and its identification with one political party. Both explore religious alternatives to the right-wing politics of fear and exclusion, and hold up a wide array of individuals for emulation: stereotype-busting evangelicals like Jim Wallis, Rich Cizik and Rick Warren; influential Catholic liberals like the Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, the architect of major documents on just war and nuclear-era peace; and independent-minded politicians like Tim Ryan and Rosa DeLauro, House Democrats who are attempting to break the pro-choice/ pro-life stalemate by pushing programs to reduce the number of abortions.

Strikingly, both authors announce the demise of the religious right and proclaim the advent of a new era of religious engagement in the direction of what might be called faith-friendly liberalism. “American politics is at a turning point,” Dionne asserts. “Evangelical Christians are an increasingly diverse group,” broadening their political agenda to include environmental issues and a commitment to international human and religious rights, as well as to economic policies that address poverty. Mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics are poised to renew their “rich history of social concern,” Dionne says, and he concludes, “There is very good reason to believe that in the coming years, America’s religious communities will no longer be seen as the natural allies of political conservatism.”

This would indeed be a marked departure from the recent past, when, in Sullivan’s words, “a showdown between the religious left and religious right was like a tricycle going up against a Mack truck.” The disparity reflected a three-decade head start by religious conservatives flush with cash, coupled with the Republicans’ “incredibly sophisticated methods of reaching religious voters.” Meanwhile, according to several veteran Democratic operatives cited by Sullivan, “the only method the party had for identifying Catholics was to guess based on surnames.”