June 30, 2008

Jesus for President

Posted by Sarah Burris at 12:16AM

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The Jesus for President has been flying under the radar for the past several months until they recently caught up with a CNN reporter, curious about their campaign efforts.

Shane Claiborne, co-author and campaign manager for "Jesus for President" describes past experiences with his faith trying to understand the differences between being a believer and a doer. Believers, he explains at a speaking engagement, are the folks who have been messaged to death with the concept of believing, but rarely do churches focus on how to turn that belief into action.

"This whole project is about the political imagination of what it means to follow after Jesus," Claiborne said. "The language of Jesus as Lord and savior is just as radical as it would be to say 'Jesus as our commander-in-chief' today."

"Young evangelicals represent an important swing-voting bloc. They're not a lock for Republicans as their parents were. Their feet are firmly planted on issues dear to both parties. Traditional family values are, as they have been in the past, an important issue," the CNN piece says.

This information isn't new, I've reported on it here, and here and here. But the distribution of the message is a new one. Claiborne is taking his message to young people of faith in true evangelical style for the 21st Century.

According to the CNN piece, the meetings are met with curious and disaffected faith based voters who are backing away from the Republican leadership.

"There were voters from across the board: Republicans, Democrats and independents. Most were young, Christian by background, evangelical in theology, and they say they're hungry for something more than partisan politics.

Steph Walker and Amanda Widing had to settle for seats in the back.

"I would say that social justice and issues like that have definitely arisen as an important part of my faith and, because of that, it affects how I vote and think of those things definitely," said 21-year-old Walker."

When the book first came out in March, Zach Exley did a thoughtful review on the Huffington Post about it:

"Shane Claiborne has an exciting new book out called Jesus for President, this one co-authored with co-conspirator Chris Haw. It's a beautifully designed, reframing of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation -- sort of an activist introduction to a thing called Narrative Theology, which is all the rage among Christian Revolutionaries."

According to Exley, he's witnessed events consisting mostly of white, Republican, Southern, born-again Christians rose to their feet and recited the Litany of Resistance like some sort of subversive movement that I don't think we could have seen just four years ago when according to CNN "more than 75 percent of evangelicals cast their vote for George W. Bush."

Whether it's a book tour or a movement, Claiborne, has captivated audiences for social causes that is no longer a low-key church thing, it's something CNN agrees is notable for Election 2008. Whether Jesus is really on the ballot or not, the concepts and ideas are there, and this year, they have no partisanship.