Downfall: E. J. Dionne says that the era of the religious right is finally over.

AuthorWaldman, Steven
PositionSouled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right - Book review

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Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right

by E.J. Dione Jr.

Princeton University Press, 256 pp.

In the last few years we've seen the birth of a new book genre: the Religious Left Political Testimonial. The common theme of these books is that politics has been warped by the dominance of the religious right and the "secular left." The authors describe how their personal commitment to progressive politics was shaped by religion and remind us of the role that religion played in the great progressive movements of the past.

Of late, we've seen a variant of this argument made by a number of writers: Sojourners editor Jim Wallis (God's Politics, The Great Awakening); former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (Failing America's Faithful); News Hour's Ray Suarez (The Holy Vote); Tikkun's Michael Lerner (The Left Hand of God); former Washington Monthly editor Amy Sullivan (The Party Faithful, reviewed on p. 61 in this issue); and political analyst E. J. Dionne Jr. (Souled Out).

This approach has now become the de facto position of the Democratic Party. Behold the stark difference in approaches between the current candidates and John Kerry, who declared, JFK-like, that his faith wouldn't influence his policies, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have said that, on the contrary, faith powerfully fuels their progressive approach.

Perhaps some of this is just political calculation. The candidates and their handlers may have concluded that appearing indifferent to religion is foolish in a country in which more than 90 percent of the voters say they believe in God. But if all that comes of this new consciousness is that Democratic speechwriters now remember to put "INSERT BIBLE QUOTE HERE" in their speech drafts, not much will have been gained. There needs to be some actual thought given to what religion really teaches about our obligations to our neighbors, human nature, and other factors that shape policy.

That's where Dionne's book really shines. In addition to being able to dissect exit polls with the best of them, Dionne is also a student of theology. Writing as a believing Catholic as well as a political pundit, he explains how Catholic doctrine has shaped his own approach to politics and policy.

Dionne makes the obvious point (still worth noting) that Jesus was an anti-establishment figure who admonished his followers to serve the poor and said nothing about abortion or...

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