Two great books for religious progressive activists--that both share a lot of similar observations about religion, culture, and politics--are Rabbi Michael Lerner's The Left Hand of God and Jim Wallis's God's Politics. Both see in the Religious or Christian Right a threat to both government and religion. They see them as more than just 'bad theology' but as a sinister distortion of the best of what religions have to offer. At the same time, neither let the left off the hook, challenging the liberals who seem to choke on words like "God", "faith", and "values"--who, in fact, seem downright hostile to religion and disipute its place in the political arena. Lerner goes further than does Wallis, I believe, in laying out a plan for future direction in reclaiming religion and America for the people. He spells out a detailed, step by step, "Spiritual Contract for America" that can be found in depth in his book and should be available on line at the website for Tikkun magazine, which Lerner edits.

Both books should be must reading for anyone who sees working for justice as the only true response to God's call in Christ to serve "the least of these".

I just came across another good one at the local library worth adding to the ones above: The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God: a Political, Economic, Religious Statement by David Ray Griffin, John B. Cobb, Jr., Richard A. Falk, and Catherine Keller. From the back of the book: "Four distinguished scholars here level a powerful cirtique of the rapid expansion of the emerging American empire and its oppressive and destructive political, military, and economic policies. Arguing that a global Pax Americana is internationally disastrous, the authors demonstrate how America's imperialism inevitably leads to rampant irreversible ecological devastation, expanding military force for imperialistic purposes, and a grossly inequitable distribution of goods--all leading to the diminished well-being of human communities. These four prophetic voices--three Christians, one Jew--persuasively indict the American empire as being diametrically opposed to divine values and powerful enough to threaten the purposes of God."