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

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.

Library Journal

As coeditor Willis (ed., Why Meditate?) explains in the introduction to this volume, the title refers to his opinion that "Jesus as I imagine and know him would not support policies that profit the strong at the expense of the weak." In a series of chapters with straightforward titles describing what Jesus is and is not (e.g., he is a Progressive; he is not a Killer, a Fundamentalist, or an American), Willis and Hardcastle (ed. & contributor, The I Hate Republicans Reader) cull from books and current periodicals that illustrate their argument that "our Republican rulers often invoke religion in pursuit of aims Jesus would abhor." This compendium is a useful shortcut to tracking the evolution of politico-religious discussion in the contemporary American forum and includes many thought-provoking articles. While the political agenda is obvious, the theological underpinnings of the work are less so. Willis claims that "we find the real Jesus when we find ourselves" but does not develop the critical complexities this statement requires in order to be anything but simplistic. Nevertheless, this collection is a good introduction to the range of current policies that exploit Jesus' name and is therefore recommended for all libraries.-Sheila Peiffer, Acad. of the Holy Names, Albany, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.