Jim Wallis, Christians, people of faith

When I was at Princeton, Jim Wallis author of God's Politics spoke as a guest of the Seminary and the University. I was impressed by his message that we need to stop living in a world of fear, but live in one of hope. He said the answer to terrorism is not military might, but the deeper issue of poverty around the world. While he is more progressive than the President and those who take the view that military might is the answer, I thinnk he says things that would appeal to most Christians. As a Christian sometimes I am disapointed at how a vocal group have narrowly defined what it means to be a Christian. I have a bumpersticker that says " Christian and a Democrat" , but is this truely the oxymoron that the religious right would have us believe? I think too often in society in general we like to use labels to clearly define others, but how often do these labels only create unrealistic divisions? Writing this it would be easy for me to use scripture to defend my beliefs just like those who have differing opnions than I do, but yet they claim those who do not agree with them are not Christians or people of faith, how does that work? I was surprised whe I read that Sen. Bill Frist is a Presbyterian, but there are those labels and the notions we have about them clouding our views of others again.