Faith in action

Souled Out wants Christians to suport bigger government | Timothy Lamer

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E .J. Dionne writes well, and his latest effort, Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith & Politics After the Religious Right (Princeton University Press, 2008), is no exception.

Souled Out offers a critical and at times discomforting account of the rise and role of the Christian right in politics. A liberal Catholic (who supports same-sex marriage), Dionne also gives an insider's account of the battles going on within Catholicism. But Dionne's larger goal is to argue that Christian involvement in politics should go beyond the "social issues" and that Christians should support a liberal economic agenda.

He's persuasive on the first count: It's hard not to grit one's teeth along with him when he writes, "We have defined economic and foreign policy issues as involving something other than 'moral' concerns." But he runs into trouble on the second count.