The landmark work of Evangelicals and Catholics Together
(ECT) has been much in the news of late. The Catholic bishops refer to it in
their statement on religious freedom; the cofounder of the movement, Charles
Colson, passed away this weekend; Ross Douthat’s new book on religion and
American life draws on the ECT narrative concerning religion and public life;
and this presidential election may well be marked by aggressive collaboration
between key leaders of the ECT movement. All of these stories are receiving
considerable attention in religious and general media outlets, as well they
should. But another piece of the story of how cultural and political
conservatives from religious communities are coming together to effect change
in America is being missed—a new book by James Robison and Jay Richards that
signals an aggressive effort to link Pentecostals and Catholics together in
culture war efforts. The book, published by the influential Ignatius Press (Fr.
Fessio, Ignatius’ publisher, writes a foreword to the “Catholic edition” of the book), is an explicit attempt to galvanize these two communities in advance of
the 2012 election. Titled Indivisible,
with the breathless subtitle Restoring
Faith, Family and Freedom Before It’s Too Late, the book is backed by a
major marketing campaign and debuted number 5 on the New York Times Bestseller
list. How important a role it will play in the presidential campaign remains to
be seen, but for anyone with a long view of religion in America its importance
should not be missed. Robison, a key figure in the fusion of Pentecostalism and
Evangelicalism, is back from a self-imposed “exile” from political life in
recent years and he has chosen to return in collaboration with a Catholic
leader and publishing with a Catholic press. (UPDATE)His media empire is playing up his return to active culture war engagement with blogs about and major appearances with Glenn Beck as well as David Barton, including a visit on Robison's TV show. The movement of Evangelicals and
Catholics Together is showing resilience and growth and this clear play by a key Catholic leader to unite with Pentecostals is something that reporters and others should take note of.
Talking about the global common good and religion's role in promoting it here and around the world.
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Interesting post and I too am kind of shocked I have missed this. As someone from the Catholic "right" on some issues can't believe I missed this.
ReplyDeleteWill blog on this and link.
Nice blog by the way