Jesus Is Not a Republican: The Religious Right's War on America

By Clint Willis

The historical Jesus, by most accounts, was in favor of social justice, peace and compassion. Right wing radicals, including the social conservatives allied with the Republican Party, exploit the name of Jesus to support policies that lead to injustice, war and cruelty. Jesus Is Not a Republican includes several dozen essays and articles, including several original essays, by some of today's most thoughtful spiritual and political thinkers. Rob Boston of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State uncovers the hypocrisy of the Christian Right. Reporter Jeffrey Sharlet goes undercover as a true believer in "the Family," a shadowy, politically well-connected group of fundamentalists with dubious motives. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, explains the Bible's call to work for social justice. Together, they make the case that the religious right has strayed far from a truly Christian path, and reviews the achievements of progressive Christians who actually try to follow the teachings of Jesus. The upshot is that a true follower of Jesus is far more likely to vote for a liberal Democrat than for a conservative Republican.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560257636
• ISBN13: 9781560257639
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 1.3" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Jesus is not a Republican

This is a compilation of essays written by a number of people during the Bush era that demonstrate the thinking that was so prevalent amongst the religious right of that time. It is the fartherest thing from the example that Christ set as one could imagine. In my opinion once again, Christians have done more to hurt Christianity than any other group of people have done to Christians. This book lets the reader come to that conclusion themselves, sometimes with humor and often with righteous indignation.

JesusNoRepublican ?

Until tonight I had never heard of this book, and all I have read of it so far are the five reviews of it, but I can't help but wonder if the authors borrowed the title from my "[...]" web site, which I inaugurated at Christmas time in "the year of the Lord" 2003. By that time, I had already spent seven years publishing a site covering much of the same material, with the same name.org. That site emphasizes the positive, i.e. it shows how very Liberal Jesus was and why those who would follow him in our time should be as well. In 2003 I used the newer, more negative URL for a site that emphasizes the negative, i.e. to show "Christians" how un-christlike so many of today's leading Republicans are, and hopefully persuade some to rethink their allegiance to that party. Now, I'll be recommending this book, and reading it myself.

A Great Book

Jesus is not a Republican is one of the best books I have read this year. It points out the horrible way the "Religious Right" has subverted Biblical texts to advance their agenda, which basically is a war on the poor in this country. I read the entire book in one sitting - I just couldn't put it down. It's that good!!!!!

Interesting, and Sometimes Scary!

Willis presents an anthology of contributions that make a significant case that much of what "Christian conservatives" support is hypocritical; in addition, there were also several writings included that had little/no link to right-wing Christians that I failed to understand their reason for inclusion. The following summarizes some of the material presented (there is no overall logic flow - such a series of short vignettes): Republicans lately have spoken of a culture of life, by which they seem to mean a culture that pursues withholding resources and distorting information (eg. about condoms) that could save millions of potential AIDS victims and stop unwanted prenancies that lead to abortions, prevents girls and women from having safe abortions, but does nothing to sustain their children once they are born, spends huge sums keeping a brain-dead person alive, but next to nothing to provide basic health care to poor children, kills civilians by the thousands in pursuit of political ends that are at best murky, opposes stem-cell research directed at major improvements for those with serious, chronic illness, and does almost nothing to save the thousands of children who needlessly die of starvation or illness every day in developing nations. Polls consistently show that at most one-fifth of the U.S. subscribes to "extremist" (per George Will) regious views in the Republican base (another poll cited concluded that 59% believe in the Bible's apocalypse. Yet, we allow them to bully the majority with intelligent design, Terri Shiavo, Limited means of birth control, the sense that "Freedom is God's gift to the world" (we are doing God's work), droughts, floods, famine, etc. via ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse - therefore, we need not worry about them (aiding Israel is also good as it brings us closer to the desired end). President Bush uses the word "God" in Inaugeral Addresses more than any other President; he also uses it differently - not as seeking guidance or blessing, but as a prophet issuing declarations of divine decisions for the U.S. and world. YUM! (PizzaHut, KFC, Taco Bell, etc.) matches employee donations to radical right-wing James Dobson's "Focus on the Family," while paying drivers $6/hour (includes gas and depreciation), and pulls advertising on "Desperate Housewives." Leaders who emphasize their Christian principles strongly back torture in the War on Terror. "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals" - Jerry Falwell. Kansas' elected leaders are selected primarily for religious positions (despite a weak and sinking economy), and then support economic measures that make the situation worse.

A helpful reminder of how the Gospels contradict the Religious Right

I grew up attending the Geyer Springs Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas and became a diligent Bible reader. I read it from cover to cover in a number of translations. The Living Bible first, then Today's English Version (the Good News for Modern Man version), the King James's Version, the NIV, and the RSV. Parts I read more than others, and parts I read by far the most were the Gospels, especially the sayings and sermons and parables of Jesus. I was not raised in a political family, but my politics were profoundly formed and fashioned by reading the New Testament. I learned some amazing things in the Gospels. Jesus said that if you had two coats, take one of them and give it to someone who had none. If someone struck you, you were to turn and offer them the other cheek. Jesus was constantly reaching out to the poor, was profoundly suspicious of the religious (especially those who loved to prayer in public and put their religiosity on display), and had an extraordinarily low disregard for the wealthy. He displayed an affirmation of the worth of women that was simply unprecedented in the Middle East of the time. And while he sternly avoided the rich and powerful and respected, he spent all his time among the poor, the dregs, the lepers, and the needy. All this stands in stark contrast with today's American churches, especially those in the Bible belt. My bet is that these people in the churches with parking lots filled with Mercedes and Jaguars and BMW are filled with members with lots and lots of coats, not just two. I vividly remember attending First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas where the famous W. A. Criswell utters the astonishing affirmation that the only economic system ordained by God was the free enterprise system. The gap between these teachings and these actions and the portrait of Jesus in the New Testament is gargantuan. Anyone intimately familiar with the Gospels can't help but realize that something has gone seriously awry. I agree with the first reviewer that Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, but neither is he nonpolitical. But that doesn't negate the fact that Jesus made a host of utterances that, if taken seriously by a reader such as I was as a teen, lead one to a nonpartisan ultra left wing political position. But this all misses the point. While my religion leads me to an extreme left wing political position, I do not think that this should be somehow encapsulated in currently political structures. The founders, especially James Madison though also John Adams and Jefferson recognized that forcing a link between the political structures of society and religion is harmful to religion and to politics. I believe this will become progressively obvious in the decades to come, as the current political involvement of the Religious Right in right wing politics will cause both a repudiation of both. History has witnessed such coalitions before, and always when one goes down, the other is affect