Progressives Gather to Reignite Spiritual Activist Movement

c. 2006 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ After wandering the political desert for nearly 40 years, organizers of a “Spiritual Activism” conference here this week said that the religious left is taking tentative steps toward the Promised Land. “We’re talking about first, baby steps here,” said Rabbi Michael Lerner, head of the Network of Spiritual […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ After wandering the political desert for nearly 40 years, organizers of a “Spiritual Activism” conference here this week said that the religious left is taking tentative steps toward the Promised Land.

“We’re talking about first, baby steps here,” said Rabbi Michael Lerner, head of the Network of Spiritual Progressives and editor of the progressive Jewish magazine Tikkun.


For the first time since the Vietnam War, according to Lerner, the “spiritual” or “religious” left is building a viable political coalition. The goal is not to tip elections toward Democrats in 2006, or even 2008, but to develop a grass-roots network that all politicians must reckon with for years to come, Lerner said.

About 1,200 people from 39 states are attending the gathering, which runs through Saturday (May 20), according to conference organizers.

Once here, the sundry peaceniks, green thumbs, poverty busters and civil rights activists were armed with a “spiritual covenant” and talking points with which to engage elected representatives.

They heard speeches by liberal evangelicals like Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis, founder of the Sojourners social justice movement. And they met in small workshops to talk about topics such as global warming, “moving the movable middle” and “using feminine principles to change the world.”

Lerner, author of the new book “The Left Hand of God,” said he learned from experience that “it doesn’t matter to whisper in the ears of the powerful.” During the 1990s, the rabbi said, both Bill and Hillary Clinton regularly employed his rhetoric in political speeches. But without an army of activists to lobby lawmakers, words seldom translated into deeds, according to the rabbi. “It was meaningless,” he said.

Now Lerner puts his faith in men like Dart Westphal, 52, the president of a nonprofit housing corporation in the Bronx. On Wednesday morning, Westphal sat in the office of his congressman, Rep. Eliot Engel, with the spiritual covenant in hand.

In a brief meeting with Engel’s legislative aide, Westphal said Engel must “let justice roll down,” and pick one of the items in the covenant _ he didn’t care which one _ and act on it.


Lerner wrote the covenant and has said it is partly inspired by Republicans’ 1994 “Contract With America.” But instead of the GOP’s conservative platform, Lerner’s covenant includes liberal measures, such as adding a “social responsibility” clause to government contracts.

To Westphal, a practicing Lutheran, the specifics of the spiritual covenant did not matter as much as the liberal ideals that inspired it.

He did have a bone to pick with the Spiritual Activism conference itself, though: It was not religious enough, he said. “The problem is that it’s interfaith. It’s hard to sing hymns without offending people from other faiths,” he said.

That may signal an obstacle to building a cohesive religious left, said Mark J. Rozell, professor of public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Where surveys show religious conservatives are willing to argue there is one correct view on policy issues, religious liberals often view policy from a variety of perspectives, Rozell said.

“The religious right is thus much more unified than its counterparts on the religious left,” Rozell said.


(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

For example, while Lerner’s spiritual covenant might be a document the religious left can carry and coalesce around, Wallis’ Sojourners group is releasing its own separate “Covenant for America” at a conference in July.

According to Pat Casey, 60, who came to the conference from Madison, Wis., the religious left is united on one front: a desire to counter the political influence of the religious right.

Casey, who owns a small communications firm, said he is usually not the sort of person who would attend a rally in Washington. But the father of five said he was concerned that religious conservatives have “hijacked the Bible.”

This week he was happy to lend his voice to any protest song, whether it be “Give Peace a Chance” or “This Little Light of Mine.”

“Something’s happening here,” Casey said. “It’s something that people from all different traditions are saying, `Look, we’ve been quiet for too long and it’s time to speak out.”’

KRE/PH END BURKE

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!