Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right

The religious and political winds are changing. Tens of millions of religious Americans are reclaiming faith from those who would abuse it for narrow, partisan, and ideological purposes. And more and more secular Americans are discovering common ground with believers on the great issues of social justice, peace, and the environment. In Souled Out, award-winning journalist and commentator E. J. Dionne explains why the era of the Religious Right--and the crude exploitation of faith for political advantage--is over.

Based on years of research and writing, Souled Out shows that the end of the Religious Right doesn't signal the decline of evangelical Christianity but rather its disentanglement from a political machine that sold it out to a narrow electoral agenda of such causes as opposition to gay marriage and abortion. With insightful portraits of leading contemporary religious figures from Rick Warren and Richard Cizik to John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Dionne shows that our great religions have always preached a broad message of hope for more just human arrangements and refused to be mere props for the powers that be. Dionne also argues that the new atheist writers should be seen as a gift to believers, a demand that they live up to their proclaimed values and embrace scientific and philosophical inquiry in a spirit of "intellectual solidarity."

Written in the tradition of Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr, Souled Out will help change how we think and talk about religion and politics in the post-Bush era.

"The latest from reporter and author Dionne (Why Americans Hate Politics) is a highly worthy alternative to polarizing arguments regarding religion, whether pro or con ('neo-atheist' tracts like Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great). It's also a smart rebuke of those who would divert the faithful with a narrow set of 'values' rather than viewing religion in a broader political context. Declaring that 'the era of the religious Right is over,' Dionne looks to history, tradition, teachers and texts (including recent religious scholarship) to reassert both progressive and conservative views on how religion can play a legitimate role in matters of economics, social justice and morality. Dionne explodes the myth that George W. Bush was elected by evangelicals (he says gains among moderates were far more important); demonstrates the absurdity and unfortunate consequences of restricting religious political concerns to abortion and gay marriage (though he fully explores both); and examines the fate of governmental faith-based initiatives past and present. Along the way, Dionne considers the current crop of presidential candidates and provides a stinging analysis of the president and Congress's intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. Rousing and wry, Dionne's sensible voice makes a powerful case for broadening religious vision and visibility in the public square." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

E. J. Dionne Jr. is a syndicated columnist for the "Washington Post", a regular political analyst on National Public Radio, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a professor at Georgetown University. His books include the best-selling "Why Americans Hate Politics" (Simon &Schuster), which won the "Los Angeles Times" book prize and was nominated for the National Book Award.

Introduction: Is God's Work Our Work? Faith, Doubt, and Radical Amazement 1

Chapter 1: Is Religion Conservative or Progressive? (Or Both?) 25

Chapter 2: Why the Culture War Is the Wrong War: Religion, Values, and American Politics 45

Chapter 3: What Are the "Values" Issues? Economics, Social Justice, and the Struggle over Morality 71

Chapter 4: Selling Religion Short: When Ideology Is Not Enough 92

Chapter 5: John Paul, Benedict, and the Catholic Future 126

Chapter 6: What Happened to the Seamless Garment? The Agony of Liberal Catholicism 151

Chapter 7: Solidarity, Liberty, and Religion's True Calling 183

Notes 205

Acknowledgments 227

Index 235