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You're starting to sound like Jim Wallis!

No, because I also don't think the answers can be found in the Religious Left. I don't think we can minimize some of the traditional issues. I don't believe it's possible to be concerned about social justice without being concerned about the weakest members of the human family. I also think that America can play an active and positive role in the world and that we're not at fault for everything.

Many evangelicals are looking for something that's still developing, if you talk to people like Rick Warren or Tim Keller. One thing that's catalyzed it is probably Africa, where so many young evangelicals I know have spent time. They've seen the needs and the extraordinary kind of spiritual strength that's found in the continent, and they've come away changed.

What challenges do you see for evangelicals who want to broaden the movement's social agenda?

It's probably a long-term mistake for evangelicals to be too closely associated with any ideology or political party. The Christian teaching on social justice stands in judgment of every party and every movement. It has to be an authentic and independent witness. It should have an influence in both parties. I would love to see the Democratic Party return to a tradition of social justice that was found in people like William Jennings Bryan. During that period, many if not most politically engaged evangelicals were in the Democratic Party, because it was a party oriented toward justice.

I don't see much of that now in the Democratic Party. Instead of an emphasis on the weak and suffering, there's so much emphasis on autonomy and choice. And so the party of William Jennings Bryan, the party of Franklin Roosevelt, I'm not sure it exists any more. But it would be good if it did.

Is it possible to do this without getting down and dirty in the day-to-day politics of both parties?

You have to. Part of being a citizen in a democracy is participation. But the concern here is not getting down into the details of politics. The concern is identifying the agendas of any party or movement with the Christian agenda, because it traditionally is a temptation, and it doesn't work out well. I think grassroots politics is actually a noble calling.

Don't you have to make tradeoffs with people who aren't natural allies to build political coalitions in order to win elections and pass legislation?

There's no question that you have to. Abolitionists had to do that; people who opposed child labor had to do that; the civil-rights movement had to do that. But they kept their identity and priorities; they kept their goal; they didn't begin to throw away principle and conviction as baggage just for access. So it depends on how you do it. Christians in politics have to be idealists about goals and realists about means.

Where specifically do you think the Religious Right has gone off track?

Some of it is what I would call baptizing policy recommendations, as if there were a Christian view on tax policy or missile defense. These are questions of prudence and judgment on which reasonable people disagree.

Sometimes the agenda has been important but too limited. The goal is to have a Christian worldview that encompasses domestic and foreign policy, that speaks broadly without essentially trying to claim there's only one Christian view on a variety of issues.

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August 2006, Vol. 50, No. 8