Resisting labels

Interview | Ron Sider speaks on abortion, health care, poverty, and calls for Democrats to move to the center on social issues | Gene Edward Veith

Ronald J. Sider, Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry and Public Policy and Director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is also President of Evangelicals for Social Action. He has published 27 books, including Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, called by Christianity Today one of the 100 most influential religious books of the 20th century. He is also the publisher of PRISM magazine and a contributing editor of Christianity Today and Sojourners.

Mr. Sider’s new book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience (Baker, 2005), charges that “blatant disobedience” to the Bible has become “widespread in evangelical circles.” Last year he was quoted as saying he was “within a hair’s breadth of concluding that the [Bush] faith-based initiative is a cynical cover for ignoring the poor.” WORLD has criticized over the years some of Mr. Sider’s ideas, and we wanted to give him an opportunity here to make his case.