Meet The Press to explore faith & politics

This Sunday's Meet the Press will explore the increasing nexus between faith and politics in the U.S.

Guests will be:

Islamic scholar Reza Aslan, author of "No god but God"

Georgetown Law's Rev. Richard Drinan, author of "Can God and Caesar Coexist?"

The Southern Baptist Convention's Dr. Richard Land, author of "Real Homeland Security: The America God Will Bless"

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), the first Jewish American to be nominated for Vice President

Newsweek's Jon Meacham, the author of the magazine's current cover story, "How Jesus Became Christ"

and Rev. Jim Wallis, author of "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It" (a book The Dope intends to read soon)

Apparently, Smokin' Joe is so close to god that he's become a representative of the Jewish faith among other ordained theologians and ministers.

And The Dope is always interested in seeing the Rev. Jim Wallis, though with this crowded panel, he won't likely get the time he deserves.
Wallis is a very articulate scholar who is exploring the crucial area of how the isurgency of so-called Christians from the right has managed to hi-jack the agenda of our country. He is also working with Dems to formulate a strategy and find ways to recover from the losses they've suffered by being flat-footed on the issue of faith.

Any rational person knows that Democrats are no less faithful to religious beliefs than Republicans, and are actually MORE faithful to Christian tenets when it comes to government policies. But the right has managed to turn that fact on it's head and convince millions that the Democrats are a God-less party who share none of their values whatsoever.

They've also managed to equate Democratic positions on matters of choice, individual freedom, and justice for all as being somehow anti-Christian.

This of course, is dead wrong, but deadly to the Dems politically.

Since this issue is so important to electoral politics and policy in this country, Wallis is an important figure in shaping Democratic policy and strategy on this issue, efforts which can begin the struggle back from the losses dealt to Democrats by the scurilous and long running propaganda effort from the right and fundamentalists. With faith being used as a bludgeon to beat Democrats senseless, the Rev. Jim Wallis, his books, and his views certainly deserve attention.