The Jim Wallis Podcast

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Bishop Mariann Budde: Our Attention Should Be on the Murderous Sin of Racism Jun 05, 2020

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Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, speaks with Rev. Jim Wallis about our need to focus our outrage on the tragic death of George Floyd and the systemic structures that caused it. She warns against being distracted by Donald Trump's brazen attempt to falsely cloak himself with spiritual authority by staging a photo op in front of St. John's, Lafayette Square.

"I have friends and people that you and I both know who are working so hard to keep the protest for justice engaged and focused on the outrage of George Floyd's death," Bishop Budde says. "That's the work to be done. And as several of our clergy colleagues of color have said to us, 'You know, it's not as if white supremacy was invented yesterday. You may have just come to a deeper appreciation this week, but this is what we've been dealing with for a while.'"

She continues, "Think about the things that need to be done right now, that can be done because of the Kairos moment that we may be blessed with to really move, to push something forward. Every once in a while, you get a window of time and space and serendipity and grace, where you can actually push something forward."

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One Murder of Many: Subverting White Privilege to Save Black Lives Jun 02, 2020

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Whitney Parnell, Founder and CEO of Service Never Sleeps, talks with Rev. Jim Wallis in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd about systemic racism, white privilege, and the hope for our collective future.

Parnell says, "White supremacy is the institutionalization of white dominance and power. And racism is the structural upholding of that[...] Being born as a white person, you are born into that system in a position of privilege."

Parnell continues, "Hope is the belief that we can build a better tomorrow than today. And that just helped bring everything home for me ... Every day I can work towards tomorrow being better. And that just helps me feel like this is a manageable way for me to approach this very difficult work each day."

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Lament: A Day to Mourn By Jim Wallis May 29, 2020

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As we pass the horrifying milestone of 100,000 American deaths to the coronavirus, we’re using the hashtag #Lament100k to urge people to pause — to lament.

Rev. Jim Wallis tells us, "We must stop. We must weep. We must mourn. We must honor. And we must lament."

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Is COVID-19 Changing Evangelical Support for Trump? May 22, 2020

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Robert P. Jones the CEO and Founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (https://www.prri.org/staff/robert-p-jones-ph-d/) and a leading scholar and commentator on religion, culture, and politics speaks with Rev. Jim Wallis on the impact and the importance of polling in the Presidential Election season and the impact of COVID-19 on the perceptions of people of faith.

Jones says, "We've been able to see really as the pandemic has progressed and as Trump has shifted his responses is that he reached a peak of support in March. Now for Trump, peak support is actually just under 50%, 49%. But that was the highest favorability rating we had ever recorded for President Trump...but we saw this really remarkable drop across groups."

PRRI reports, "Currently, two-thirds (66%) of white evangelical Protestants, nearly half (48%) of white Catholics, and 44% of white mainline Protestants hold a favorable view of Trump, a significant decline from their March 2020 ratings (77%, 60%, and 62%, respectively)."

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Did South Korea Get It Right?: Rev. Hana Kim on Keeping Faith During COVID-19 May 19, 2020

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Rev. Jim Wallis talks with Myungsung Church's lead pastor Rev. Hana Kim about South Korea's response to COVID-19 and the moral, ethical, and religious imperative we have to help the most vulnerable as Jesus commands, many of whom are more at-risk during this global crisis.

Kim says, "We have to reclaim Jesus in this crisis. I'm trying to be a true believer and if you're a true believer, you must embrace not only teachings of Jesus Christ, but also the life of Jesus Christ: his character, his disposition, his heart, his love and his willingness to be close to the neighbors and the sick at the marginalized, the poor, ... to reclaim not only the words of Jesus Christ, but the life of Jesus Christ."

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The Theology of Migration May 15, 2020

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Rev. Jim Wallis talks with theologian and immigrant advocate Karen González about the lessons of immigration in the Bible.

The metrics of the COVID-19 pandemic show how disproportionately affected our immigrant and refugee neighbors have been.

González says, "The story of the Bible isn't just a story of moving from being lost to being saved, but it's one of being a foreigner and moving toward being part of the family of God to belonging. And that's a trajectory we can see throughout the scriptures from the very beginning when we meet Abraham — God is asking him to migrate, and we see he and Sarah's vulnerability in Egypt. Over and over again the scripture restates some 83 times ... that we're to treat the immigrant as ourselves, we're to love the immigrant as ourselves, we're to do justice for the immigrant. And there's judgment. There's a whole book of the Bible, Obadiah. And it's judgment for those who did not treat the refugee and immigrant well, for those who did not do justice for the immigrant."

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Does Faithfulness Require Political Advocacy? A Conversation w/ Eugene Cho May 12, 2020

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President-elect of Bread for the World Rev. Eugene Cho talks with Rev. Jim Wallis about the need for faith leaders to speak out about politics in the time of the coronavirus.

"I think the word 'politics,' for lots of reasons, it's grown to become this difficult, challenging word in our culture and context. Especially I think in the evangelical context," Cho said. "... That's not the only thing that we as Christians do. But it is one way, a significant way, in which we try to live out this calling to be a good neighbor, because politics, it shapes and informs policies that impact people. And the last time I read the Bible, God really cares about people. ... I share in that prayer that more Christians would get engaged in advocacy, in speaking up and to urge our lawmakers and leaders to lead with moral courage, and to lead with empathy and compassion."

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How to Embrace COVID's Uncertainty in a Culture of Invincibility May 08, 2020

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Ahead of Mother's Day, New York times bestselling author and historian of Christianity at Duke Divinity School, Kate Bowler and Rev. Jim Wallis dig into a meaningful discussion about what being human looks like amid a global pandemic. From waking up in the morning to parent and raise a child to navigating the inevitable suffering life brings, Kate provides a clarifying voice and perspective for how to live through these trying times.

Her scholarship in American heresies, like the fallacy of the Prosperity Gospel, make for an interesting investigation into America's unique, and sometimes upsetting, response to our current crisis. Bowler says, "In the end, bad things happen to good people because there is no cure to being human. And the world will not mete out its punishments in relationship to our faithfulness or whether we don't cheat at golf. And if there is math, we don't get to see it. So the problem is of course, is that we're left with suffering without apparent meaning. That's scary for us because we derive a lot of purpose from meaning."

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Lessons from the Pandemic: A New Definition of National Security May 05, 2020

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Marie Dennis, senior advisor and former co-president of Pax Christi International, and Rev. Jim Wallis analyze the importance of government social programs to provide true security to our nation.

Dennis says, "What we're seeing in this pandemic is the result of a distorted sense of priorities for years in our own country, and that is echoed in the rest of the world. What we're seeing is the need to rethink what we mean by security and talk about security in a different way. ... According to a new definition of security, our investment [needs to be] in health care, in the safety of children, in ending hunger, in reducing food insecurity and on and on and on."

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The Importance of Observing the Sabbath in Times of Crisis May 01, 2020

Show notes

Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale, the founder and senior pastor of the Ray of Hope Christian Church talks with Rev. Jim Wallis about the need to observe the Sabbath during this time of the COVID-19 crisis.

"The emotional strain of this experience has been undeniable. The uncertainty is a beast. One day when I was feeling overwhelmed by it, all my Apple watch vibrated and when I looked at it, it simply said, breathe. All of us need to receive this message on a regular basis and particularly right now we all need to take time to breathe because as ministers we spend our lives in perpetual motion sometimes without stopping to even catch our breath."

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