CBS recently reported on the rise of the Christian Left in politics. These are Christians who feel strongly that the mingling of Christianity with the Republican political machine has gone on far enough, and want to return Christianity to the left (or center-left, as is likely most appropriate) so it can take on the social issues that the bible addresses, particularly poverty/homelessness.

Among some of the primary figures is Tony Campolo - an author of some of my favorite Christian books. In the CBS report, Campolo had a bit to say:

"We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That's idolatry," Campolo said. "To recreate Jesus in your own image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus' image is what's wrong with politics."

It's interesting, really. I know that the response from reasonable conservatives (and by that, I mean folks on the right who genuinely care about the poor and the weak) regarding social issues is that we don't want to create a crutch for people and create a dependency on the system. I couldn't agree more. I also don't think that the Christian Left is interested in doing that.

It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. I'll be honest - I'm a little skeptical of it all, just because I'm not a fan of mixing Christianity with any sort of politics, be it left, right, or center. However, knowing that Christianity may begin to be associated more with helping orphans, widows, and the poor (as Christ instructed Christians to do) instead of with bashing gays, abortion, and promoting intelligent-design (Jesus never mentioned those issues), I'm kind of excited about all of it.