America's youth aren't apathetic, they just need help changing the social fabric of the country, said a leading Christian commentator.
Preaching social justice, Christian leader and best-selling author of "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It" Jim Wallis spoke Thursday night to about 1,100 people who packed the pews at The Peoples Church, 200 W. Grand River Ave.
"People are tired of the dialogue of the religious right," he said before the event. "Our faith has been hijacked by the religious right. They use issues to divide people and win elections.
"Faith is turning away from the politics of the religious right."
Wallis, an MSU graduate in social science, has gained support from both Democrats and Republicans for addressing poverty and world hunger. Wallis said he's worked with U2's Bono to eliminate world hunger and Hillary Clinton on other issues.
"Some of the best years of my life were here," he said of MSU.
Fusing religion with the need to improve the quality of life for people around the world can make a difference, Wallis said.
"A lot of people tell me they are people of faith and the religious right doesn't speak for them," he said. "They didn't know they could be a Christian and care about the war in Iraq and poverty.
"They were excited to know you can be a person of faith and care about social justice."
Hannah Ferenchick, a health studies junior, said Wallis brings a fresh perspective to ongoing debates about religion, faith and politics.
"Faith and religion surround God, and you can't ignore God," she said. "It's hard to know what is right today."
Lauren Anderson came from the University of Michigan to hear Wallis speak and said Christians are either equated with President Bush or the conservative movement.
"Being a Christian on campus can be bad sometimes," Anderson said.
As a student at MSU, Wallis was involved with several activist movements, such as organizing demonstrations opposing the Vietnam War.
"The president would deliver his statement about what was happening, and we would counter his letter with a leaflet," Wallis said. "Students were able to read it on their way to class.
"We can't ignore politics, we have to change politics. Young people at this university and around the country changed the policy in Vietnam."
Before his talk, he walked around campus and said the tour brought him back to the 1970s when he lived in Armstrong Hall as a residential aide.
"Everything I studied was about social science," he said. "My real major was stopping the war in Vietnam."
