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Although the fledgling Call to Renewal organization skirts endorsement of political candidates, the religious movement is not shy about positioning itself on the issues.

At a mid-September weekend conference that drew 550 people seven weeks before the election, Call to Renewal refocused its attention on two areas:

—Being an alternative forum for Christians uncomfortable with both the Religious Right and the secular Left.

—Searching for civil and nonpartisan solutions to national problems such as racism, violence, poverty, the breakup of the family, the well-being of children, and environmental degradation.

The organization, which formed last year, is composed of evangelicals, mainline Protestants, African Americans, and Roman Catholics. The Call in part aspires to function as a voice of conscience as public opinion takes shape on national legislation.

Jim Wallis, Sojourners magazine editor and a Call to Renewal founder, said at a press briefing that the Call "will have the spirit of a movement and the organization of a network," using as its model the black civil-rights movement. Call to Renewal's leaders say too many Christians let their politics shape their theology rather than the other way around.

The Call is not going to get involved in "precinct organizing and party politics," Wallis said. "We don't want to be a power bloc in either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party."

PRO-LIFE CONSISTENCY: The Christian Coalition, which has had a defining impact upon the Republican Party in the 1990s, came under repeated criticism, especially from Tony Campolo, author and Eastern College sociologist.

"When they say they're pro-life, many of us, if not most of us, would say, 'We're pro-life, too,' " Campolo said in a fiery speech.

"[But] they're not pro-life enough. I contend that if you're going to be pro-life, you ought not only have a discussion about abortion, you also have to have a discussion about tobacco, an industry that kills 450,000 Americans and a million worldwide [annually].

"You're not pro-life if you're not talking about guns," Campolo remonstrated. "You're not pro-life if you're not talking about the Third World; you're not pro-life if you're in favor of capital punishment." Many conservative Christians, while favoring the death penalty, are opposed to more gun control and the expansion of foreign aid.

Wallace Smith, pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church, an African-American church in Washington, D.C., faulted the Christian Coalition for opposing affirmative-action programs.

Preaching from Matthew 25, Wallis commented on government assistance to the disadvantaged, saying that on Judgment Day nations will be evaluated on how they treated "the least of these."

He said, "This is not just a religious text, it is a political one. It affirms the first principle of biblical politics, as all prophets agree, that the best test of a nation's ethics is how it treats the most vulnerable."

Yet, the Call to Renewal also moderates its message by critiquing the failures of big government. Wallis, who lives 20 blocks from the White House, said that drugs, gang violence, teen pregnancy, and lack of jobs are destroying his inner-city neighborhood. He said more personal morality and responsibility are needed, as well as social policies and private enterprise to stimulate economic growth.

On the issue of reforming welfare, the Call's leadership supports new efforts of cooperation between the public and private sectors to deliver welfare services. Under the newly enacted welfare reform legislation, there is a "charitable choice" provision, allowing charitable and faith-based organizations to compete for state contracts in delivering services to the poor.

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October 28 1996, Vol. 40, No. 12