Put Your Faith Into Action for Social Justice

Jim Wallis, the public theologian and President and CEO of Sojourners, is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Change.org asked Wallis to respond to questions to provide context for his work and the causes he supports.

Change.org: What cause would you most like to promote as a Changemaker and why?

My goal is to encourage individuals to put their faith into action for social justice. If people would take this cause seriously, it would make an enormous difference in their lives, their communities, the nation and even the world. All of our faith traditions evaluate the integrity of a society by how we treat the most vulnerable. But, let's not restrict working towards social justice to people of faith, because religion has no monopoly on morality. If all of us put our deepest beliefs into everyday operation, our world would change.

Change.org: If you could ask one million people to all do one thing to advance causes that matter to you, what would it be?

I would ask people to put their faith into action by changing three concrete ways in which they interact with their family, their neighbors and their government: trade in screen time for face time, trade in isolation for simple acts of kindness and trade in cynicism about political leaders for joining a movement that forces them to improve their leadership.

Change.org: When did you first know you wanted to dedicate your life to creating change and helping others?

When I was a teenager, I realized life was so different in white Detroit where I lived, than in black Detroit just a few blocks away. That seemed wrong to me. But nobody in my school, neighborhood or church seemed to have given it a thought. Since I wasn't getting answers to my questions in my community, I went into the city, met the black churches and took jobs alongside young African-Americans, who while living in the same city had really grown up in a different country than I had. From there everything changed. I knew there had to be a better way and my life begin to change.

Change.org: If you could ask President Obama and the U.S. Congress to do one thing to advance you cause, what would it be?

Find the courage to lead over the heads of the elites and the special interests in Washington, D.C. and make an appeal directly to the people to change their country.

Photo credit: JBCurio