In their pre-election statement "Faithful Citizenship," the U.S. Catholic bishops wrote, "Politics in this election year and beyond should be about an old idea with a new power - the common good. The central question...should be ‘How can we - all of us, especially the weak and vulnerable - be better off in the years ahead? How can we protect and promote human life and dignity? How can we pursue greater justice and peace?’"
A dialogue among Christians on those questions may be more important now than talking to policymakers.
Perhaps people in the red and blue states are closer on some issues than we are led by the media to believe. In the days following Nov. 2, the "moral values voter" became the defining story line of the election (as Jim Wallis discusses in this month’s Hearts & Minds,) National exit polls showed that when asked to choose "the most important issue" that influenced their vote, 22 percent chose "moral values." Media pundits declared that the "moral values" meant gay marriage and abortion, and that the Religious Right had won the election.
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