Notes from the Road

March 27-April 3 - Spring Break

Finally, I took some time off from the book tour and went on spring break with my wife Joy Carroll, two-year-old son Jack, and six-year-old Luke who had a week off from the first grade. We all went to Florida, and stayed at the El Caribe in Daytona Beach, where our family often goes and the place where I wrote some of God's Politics. I turned down all the interviews and speaking invitations last week and only did one book signing at the hotel itself, a remarkable place owned by my good friend Mary Ann Richardson and staffed by people who have become family friends. But this became a very special book signing when people began to ask my son Luke to also sign their books, since the book is dedicated to him. Before long, Luke was sitting right next to me at the book table, carefully printing L-U-K-E right under his Dad's signature in each and every book. Nothing could feel better. The rest of our week was spent on the beach, at the pool, on the go-carts, playing mini-golf, eating shrimp, and visiting nearby Orlando for Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. And the whole week with my family felt like the kingdom of God to me.

March 16 - Washington, D.C.

I came home in time to hear my friend Brian McLaren speak at the monthly Sojourners potluck service. Pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church and the spiritual leader of the Emergent Church movement, Brian preached a Palm Sunday message entitled "Jesus the rebel." He drew a big crowd that night of mostly young people often alienated from the traditional churches. Afterwards, two of these young seekers came up to me and one of them said, "I just wanted to shake your hand. Thanks for being the only Christian I see on TV and don't want to throw up afterwards." High praise indeed.

March 15 - Louisville, KY

The crowd in the Caldwell Chapel at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary continued to grow as the time neared for their annual Festival of Theology and Reunion Greenhoe Lecture, which I was doing this year. It soon became clear that this too, like all our other book events, was becoming a town meeting in Louisville. Soon the pews in the large chapel were all full, then the balcony, then the side aisles and window wells, then the choir rows behind the pulpit. More chairs were set up on the platform surrounding the pulpit. As I stepped up to speak, I looked at the crowd and saw them looking at each other and sensed the excitement in the room that people feel when they realize they are a part of something that might be important. So I began, "People of faith who are driven to justice and peace have often felt alone. When all the political events and decisions in your country go the other direction from your own convictions, it makes you feel alone. When you never see your own voice and faith represented in the media, it makes you feel alone. Well, my friends, look around tonight, you’re not alone anymore, "I told the enthusiastic crowd. Between the two Seminary lectures, I also led a forum at a local Catholic high school.

March 10-11 - Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN

The Twin Cities has always been a favorite place for me with lots of supporters and many friends. The evening event at Macalester College filled the chapel and I could feel the energy of a new generation of faith-inspired young people eager to make a difference in the world. I talked especially about the difference between career and vocation. The next day featured an important conference at the University of St. Thomas Law School called "The Future of Pro-life Progressism." I was impressed by the quality of the discussion led by people like John Carr of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops offering a prophetic vision which challenges both the political Right and Left. This "consistent ethic of life" at the heart of Catholic social teaching could be a key to America's political future. That same night, we had another book signing, this time at Wayzata Community Church that drew a full house of people who kept talking about a "new movement."

All along the way, I've been signing lots of books, not only for college students but also for high school age young people and even middle schoolers. I've signed books for students, age sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, and even thirteen. In Minneapolis, I looked up from the book table and saw a tiny little girl waiting with her book to be signed. I asked her how old she was. "I'm eleven years old," she replied. I stopped the line to talk to her and asked, "What did you get from tonight?" The very poised and articulate little girl said, "Well, I think we are just going to have to change the world." I asked her further, "And who is going to do that?" She thought for a moment and then told me, "I suppose people like me." So do you understand why I am so feeling hopeful from these weeks on the road?

March 8-9 - Boulder/Denver, CO

The Boulder Bookstore drew more than 300 people and again felt more like a revival than a book signing event. We did lots of radio in the Denver area and had a great dialogue with the community. The next day I spoke at an event sponsored by the Center for American Progress on "budgets as moral documents" and joined with some dynamic local clergy and community leaders. The auditorium at the University of Denver was packed and again seemed like another town meeting. That night I did another book signing at the Tattered Cover book store, one of the finest independent book sellers in the country. A big crowd again turned up and we discussed a new future for American politics—one based upon values….all our values.

February 24-28 - San Francisco

The San Francisco Bay area turned into a wonderful stop on this tour. The first night we filled the beautiful Grace Cathedral and were hosted by its Dean, Alan Jones, one of the most respected religious leaders in the city. The next night, Cody's bookstore in the East Bay had their event in the First Congregational Church in Berkeley and said it was their biggest book event there ever. Pastor Patricia DeJong gave me a warm introduction and the packed church again felt like a revival was in progress. Some old veterans of the civil rights movement commented that they hadn't felt such electricity and energy generated by progressive religion since those old days. Two nights later we went to Menlo Park Presbyterian, an evangelical "mega-church" near Stanford University. I didn't know what to expect but arrived to hundreds of people waiting in the rain to get into the church (on Oscar night) and filled it with 1,200 people. I told a friend who was with me that the distance from the liberal church in Berkeley to the conservative evangelical congregation here was much greater than the miles between the East and South Bay. Yet, the message was working in both places.

Again, there was time for old friends as my former editor and long-time editorial advisor, Roy Carlisle, hosted one of his famous parties for lots of my friends, including Susan and David Fetcho, Sharon Gallagher, and David Gill. Roy has continued to help me editorially with all my books, long after he was being paid for it. The break-though success of God's Politics is an accomplishment that also belongs to him, having stood alongside me all these years. I also got to see a lot of David Batstone, Sojourners Executive Editor, and to have a wonderful dinner with Dave and his wife Wendy, along with my publisher Mark Tauber and his wife Julie.

Another book signing at Book Passages in Marin County allowed for a good lunch conversation with linguist George Lakoff and provided a surprise meeting up with Annie Lamott, a favorite author at Sojourners. Our family got to spend a whole day on the San Francisco Bay and make the trip across the water to Sausalito. The spectacular beauty of the city, and the chance to share it with Joy and the boys was deeply renewing.

Then it was off to the Call to Renewal Board meeting in Daytona Beach and a welcome weekend back home in Washington.

February 19-23 - Los Angeles and San Diego

The best part of the first West Coast leg of the God's Politics book tour was that my family--Joy, Luke, and Jack--joined me for it! The stress of never ending schedule demands is always eased by the time spent with my two boys and my beautiful and beloved wife.

The rain in Los Angeles was like a monsoon, almost unheard of in sunny Southern California. And people in LA don't do rain, but rather often hide in their houses at the first sign of it. So the organizers were a little worried about turn-out. But the first stop at All Saints Episcopal in Beverly Hills allayed all the fears. In a torrential downpour, a thousand people showed up and as many or more would turn out at every evening book event on the West Coast. And the book store signings continued to draw hundreds, even in the middle of the day. At All Saints, the evening was "produced" by famed musician, composer, and producer T-Bone Burnett who is a parishioner there and is becoming a good friend of mine and Sojourners. The gospel band and choir he put together that first night had the whole place rocking even before I got up to speak. At every event these past ten days, there was a clear feeling of "movement" in the air. The events had the style both of town meetings and revivals.

I also got to speak to the annual Religious Education Conference of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which I have done several times before. I'm not Catholic but it always feels good to be among my brothers and sisters as a friend of the family. There, like every stop along the way, I met Catholics who don't want to be spoken for by a handful of bishops who tell them they can only vote on one issue, abortion, and must ignore all the rest of Catholic social teaching - teachings I wish the Protestants had! Abortion is a crucial moral issue, over which we need a much deeper discussion on all sides; but single issue voting is not in the mainstream of Catholic social teaching.

My friend and Sojourners board member, Glen Stassen, also organized a great event at evangelical Fuller Seminary, where he is Professor of Ethics. Again, the church next door to the campus was full, mostly with evangelicals who don't feel spoken for by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson - and there are millions of them around the country, a fact that the media is just beginning to understand. After the Fuller event, I met with a smaller group of Glen's Fuller students who were asking how they could become involved in this "movement" and spend their lives putting their faith into action. We finally shut down the conversation after 11:00 PM but could have easily kept talking all night. ABC followed us around during the LA days to film a segment or two for Peter Jennings ABC World News Tonight, as yet to be shown.

Before the Fuller meeting, my dear friend Marty Coleman had a dinner for me at her home (which she has done many times before) with some of my best friends from the LA area like Michael and Tina Mata, Ched Myers and Elaine Enns, and my research assistant at Harvard and now medical doctor in residency, Emily Dossett, and her husband. I am finding that spending time along the way with good friends is helping me get through this book tour.

In LA, I also had several meetings with military veterans from Iraq, Gulf War One, and Vietnam about how we are again forgetting the warriors we send to fight, die, and be changed forever - after they come home. I was persuaded that the churches must become the welcoming places that these forgotten soldiers really need.

We then went to San Diego where both Joy and I were speaking at the West Coast Writers Conference hosted by Point Loma College, a Nazarene school where I spoke to 3,000 students in chapel that same day.

February 14 - Memphis, TN - Beyond the usual

I walked out of the Memphis Marriott to look for a cab that could take me to a local studio for an interview with Judy Woodruff for Inside Politics on CNN. The bellhop who rushed over to assist me was a young African-American woman who couldn't have been more than 23 or 24 years old. When she saw the copy of God's Politics I was carrying, she exclaimed, "Oh, that's the book all my friends are talking about! Is it good?" Two older bellhops I had met earlier were also standing there and poked the young woman playfully in the ribs. "He wrote the book!" they told her. The men were from local black churches and had cornered me earlier in the day to ask what text I was preaching on for the Lenten series at the downtown Calvary Episcopal Church, and we had a discussion about Ephesians, chapter 6. The younger bellhop got even more excited. "Could you sign my book if I bought one and brought it in tomorrow?" she asked eagerly. I had to leave before she got in the next day, but I left a signed copy for her at the front desk.

Those are the kinds of experiences that have encouraged me the most on the book tour. When a young African-American woman from the Memphis Marriott and her friends are talking about faith and politics, we are reaching beyond the "usual" audience. The next day, in New York City, I got a long personal note from somebody who worked at the concierge desk and heard I was coming to his hotel. He is also a storefront pastor, had read God's Politics, and wanted to connect to Sojourners. Other hotel desk clerks greet me warmly, say they saw me on Jon Stewart's Daily Show and tell me how much they liked what I said. Makeup artists and sound technicians who powder my nose and wire me with microphones for TV interviews have said: "We saw you on (this or that show). We don't usually listen to the people we wire up but we want you to know that we're all listening tonight." We are now reaching ordinary people in America - people want to apply their faith or values to politics and are eager to talk about how to do that. And I just love those conversations.

February 13 - Washington, D.C. - Another "town meeting"

I was home this weekend for a wonderfully renewing time with my family. We all went to the indoor Amazonia exhibit at the National Zoo where we are loyal members, went to see Racing Stripes, a delightful new movie about a Zebra who wants to be a race horse, did bike and scooter riding in the park, and ate Mexican food at a place that Luke chose. On Sunday night, I did another book signing, this one at Politics and Prose, my favorite bookstore in Washington D.C. The publishers say that a very successful book signing attracts seventy people and the author signs 25 books. But this night we had 400 people show up and they had to pump closed circuit TV into another room of the store. It's been like that at every bookstore and signing event, 300-400 people in Austin, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Winnetka, and Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, and New York. At churches, universities, and conferences, the crowds have been even larger, from 1,000 to 2,500 at each event. These events have virtually become town meetings, involving Christians of every kind - Evangelical, Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Pentecostal, Black, Latino, and Asian Churches - Jews, Muslims, those who don't call themselves "religious" but rather "spiritual," and those who are agnostic about faith but believe that "moral values" should shape our public life. Often people have said, "I am pretty secular, but thanks for making me feel included tonight. I felt spiritually inspired." At every stop, I say that American needs a new moral conversation about politics and needs us all to be a part of it. Not only are the crowds large and diverse, they are also full of young people, which has perhaps been the most exciting thing.

An unexpected thing: bringing families together.

I've reported how the book and media events are attracting a new generation of young people and that many students are coming up to get their book signed. At one bookstore, a young man gave me his book to sign and I asked if he was a student. "Yes, but I'm still in high school." "What year?" I asked. "I'm a freshman," he said, and I noticed he was there without his parents but with a few of his friends. And something else very moving is now happening at many stops. Parents tell me how their son or daughter had lost their faith and left the church. "But my son saw you on Jon Stewart's Daily Show and got the book. He just wrote his mother and me to tell us that he is finding his way back to faith." There was a tear in Dad's eye when he told me that. I've heard many stories like that now, about sons and daughters, husbands or wives, and even parents who hadn't been to a church in many years now taking a fresh look at the issues of faith and how it applies to the social issues they care most about. Reading the book seems to be bringing some families back together again around the issues of faith and social justice.

All the loyal Sojourners folk: Our message is finally getting through

At every event, people proudly tell me that they have been "with Sojourners" for many years. They are long-time readers of the magazine or they have been involved with Call to Renewal and have come to events that we have sponsored in Washington, D.C. They tell me how long they have been subscribers with a real sense of loyalty and how thrilled they are that "our message" is finally getting through. They see the breakthrough of God's Politics as the success of their message, their commitments, their hopes, and their work. They feel a deep ownership of the mission and are so excited to see it becoming a movement. They see that it is not just they who are now coming out to all the events - but their friends and neighbors, fellow congregation members, co-workers, and even family members who haven't considered these issues before. They see the discussion of the book and its topic of faith and politics in their newspapers and in the media they watch. They are finding new openings for discussions themselves at church, at work, at school, and over the back yard fence. Pastors tell me that the book and public discussion around it have opened up new opportunities in their own communities. Many of our Sojourners and Call to Renewal supporters are deciding to start study groups around God's Politics with the desire to draw even more people into the conversation. This is an exciting time for all of us as the discussion we've been having together for many years is becoming a national conversation.

The Right Strikes Back

The success of God's Politics has inevitably started a counter-attack from the religious and political right. Just before I was to appear on the Fox Network's Hannity and Combs show, we were informed that Jerry Falwell would be on too. Sean Hannity and Falwell carried out a blistering attack together, complete with lots of name-calling, about the "manipulation of religion" by "liberals and Democrats." Their assumption throughout was that only political conservatives could be genuinely religious and asked how I could ever have voted against George Bush or Ronald Reagan. Being Republican is, indeed, for them a matter of faith. They both had at me again on Sean Hannity's radio show on Monday. Then Michael Savage wanted me on his show, mostly likely, for another attack. But we are holding our own and getting out the message that the monologue of the Religious Right is over, and a new dialogue has begun.

February 8 - Wheaton College

I showed a packed chapel of 2,200 students what would happen if we cut out of the Bible every reference to poverty and the poor - a Bible full of holes. I told them how we actually did that as seminarians three decades ago (a story that is in the book). What's at stake, I told them, is not just social action or politics but the very integrity of the Word of God - in our lives, our churches, or neighborhoods, and our nation.

Then I said, "They say Wheaton College is the premier conservative evangelical school in the country. 'Conservative evangelical' is an interesting phrase. Let me ask each of you. Are you an evangelical, or just a conservative?" It worked--a thunderous standing ovation, packed sessions the rest of the day, and a horde of students following me around all day wherever I went full of questions about how they could get involved.

I invoked the image of Wheaton College's founder and first president, Jonathan Blanchard, a 19th century evangelical who was both an evangelist and an abolitionist against slavery, a revivalist and reformer who helped lead the major social movements of his time. I told them I was a 19th century evangelical born in the wrong century and that the greatest heresy of the 20th century was the privatizing of faith. Then I called upon them to change the meaning of the term "evangelical," to act in the spirit of their Wheaton founder and become a new generation of 19th century evangelicals for the 21st century. The tremendous response from this next generation of evangelical leaders was a great sign of hope for me on an amazing day at Wheaton.

February 7 - Chicago

At a gathering of supporters in Chicago, I was reminded again of how blessed Sojourners and Call to Renewal are to have such great friends. A big crowd of them gathered for lunch and an exciting discussion together of how the success of God's Politics and the book tour is taking our work to a much higher level of national witness and impact. We talked about how to build the "movement" that seems to be finally breaking through.

We discussed two things: how to create a consistent voice and presence in the media, after the high level of national exposure during this book tour. Some ideas were regular radio commentaries or even a radio show, a syndicated op-ed column in major newspapers or even a new progressive religious op-ed syndicate offering many voices, and more and more effective use of the Internet by growing our online lists (Sojomail is steadily growing and now goes to nearly 150,000 people each week) and the regular use of streaming video. New initiatives for education, action alerts, meet-ups in local congregations, face to face organizing, and mobilizing a growing constituency around key issues were all discussed as possibilities. Already, book studies of God's Politics are being spontaneously organized in churches, synagogues, homes, and schools. How to use these book studies for bringing in new people, for organizing and movement building was also a very good discussion. I came away from this talk with old and new friends full of energy and hope.

February 6 - Chicago

I preached at the Union Church of Hinsdale this morning in Chicago's western suburbs. This is conservative Republican territory yet the adult forum had five times as many people as usual and the sanctuary was packed with people. Best of all were all the new people who had never been to that church before or don't attend any church. Many of them were young people who are being drawn to a vision that combines their hunger for spirituality with their passion for social change.

February 5 - Chicago

I had a few hours off today! And I enjoyed a beautiful Chicago Saturday in my old stomping grounds (we went to seminary here and this was the place Sojourners began). I have always loved this city, especially the Lake Michigan shoreline. But I did another Fox News show tonight where the host wanted to limit religion to "changing hearts." Yes, I said, faith does change hearts - in order to change the world. He wasn't so sure about that part of it but I am convinced that many of his listeners will be as that's what I am finding all around the country.

February 4 - Chicago

This morning I spoke to 1,000 pastors from the Evangelical Covenant Church, and it turned into one of the real highlights of this tour so far. My good friend, Glenn Palmberg, is the President of the Covenant, which I find to be one of the most interesting denominations in America - genuinely evangelical and with a genuine social conscience, something that should be natural but has been all too rare. Like Glenn himself, the denomination serves as an important bridge between the conservative and liberal sides of the American church. I spoke about how ideology is one of the "principalities and powers" (from Ephesians chapter 6, the text of their conference). Ideology has polarized and paralyzed politics in America which now fail to ever solve our most pressing social crisis. Bitterly dividing us into left and right, ideology actually prevents us from finding solutions. But ideology has not only crippled our political discourse, it has also seduced religion.

By squeezing it into narrow political categories it has created ideological religion and deprived us of prophetic faith. And a more prophetic faith could actually help the nation to find paths to the common good - a conversation and commitment almost entirely missing in Washington.

I was unprepared for the response. I appreciated the enthusiastic standing ovation, but the talk at the book signing table afterward convinced me that something new was happening. I suppose I was hoping that this book and book tour would help to mobilize and energize the "non-Religious Right" in America. But I didn't expect several Covenant pastors to tell me with great feeling things like:

"You talked about your conversion, but I had my conversion this morning. I have been a member of the Religious Right and I see now how my religion has become so ideological. I don't want to do that anymore"

"I have been on the Religious Right in this denomination, but understood this morning how I have narrowed by concerns to only one or two issues. That's not right or biblical and I want to change my whole approach."

Glenn told me that one of the most conservative members of the denomination told him "I almost stood up in the middle of Jim's talk and said to the whole denomination, 'I repent.'" Glenn also reported another pastor's reaction from the left side of the church. He said he had been so frustrated with the church's timidity on social justice that he was close to leaving, but after the morning talk was sure that this was his denomination too. The Covenant, like most denominations, has experienced real tension between its left and right factions (the divisions that ideology makes) but this morning, Glenn told me, the whole denomination came together around a vision of faith and action that united them all. "I can't tell you what you have done for this church this morning," he gratefully told me. Organizing the non-Religious Right was one thing, seeing conversions from the Religious Right is something I frankly did not expect. I guess my faith is still too small and God might be doing something in this country beyond any of our expectations.

February 2 - Austin, TX

Tonight I did a book signing at Bookpeople Bookstore in Austin, Texas. When I arrived early for a television interview, I saw the podium and about 30 chairs set up for a typical book signing event. But when I came back into the area after the interview I saw an overflow audience of more than 300, sitting on the floor, standing down the aisles of books and at the back of the room. It reminded me of the turn-out at the University of Pennsylvania bookstore in Philadelphia just last week. They soon ran out of books. The event became almost a rally, with high energy and enthusiastic responses filling the whole book store. After my talk, not just about the book, but also the moral and political state of the nation and the churches, I took questions from the fired up crowd. When one participant said that they just heard the real "state of the union" address tonight, the audience burst into loud applause. Many were clergy and lay people from local churches, activists from the many projects around Austin and, as in all the events so far on this tour, lots of young people.

As I signed books, I heard lots of thanks, not just for the book, but for the work, mission, and faithful witness of Sojourners that many said had literally kept them going for many years. Now people felt like our message and movement was finally breaking through. Lots of personal conversations followed. Earlier in the morning, I spoke to two sessions of the Baylor University chapel, in Waco, and had the opportunity to reach almost 3000 students. Some students said afterward that they had never heard such things in the Baylor chapel before. One young woman said she didn't feel alone anymore. I challenged the students to choose vocation over career and to do something "big" with their lives, "What's the big thing your faith could help you do?" I did an "e-mail altar call" and many students eagerly wrote down their e-mail addresses to sign up for Sojomail. All the events of these first whirlwind weeks of the book tour convince me that we have a movement on our hands. And this book has just opened the door for that.

February 1 - Waco, TX

Tonight I spoke to the annual fund-raising dinner of Mission Waco, the umbrella faith-based organization that has sparked the most hopeful projects in this Texas town. They are feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, nurturing and protecting the young people, and giving hope to those who had none before they met the caring people who make up Mission Waco. I told my story of the Bible full of holes from our seminary days, when we cut out all the references to the poor in the Old and New Testaments. I told the audience of almost 1500 people that Mission Waco is "restoring the integrity of the Word of God" by putting those thousands of verses on the poor back into the Bible.

January 31 - Boston, MA

Today I spoke at an event called "Beyond Red and Blue" at Trinity Church on Copley Square. It started at 4:00 PM on a Sunday afternoon but 1000 people showed up. The audience was large and diverse-evangelicals who have not felt represented by the Religious Right, Catholics who aren't comfortable with Bishops who insist on single issue voting, mainline Protestants who have felt left out of the religion and politics discussion, black Christians who feel excluded by the white religious conversation, Jews and Muslims who want to be part of this dialogue, and people who don't consider themselves religious but "spiritual" and care deeply about the values of politics. One young man in the question line said he was an agnostic but thanked me for making him feel included because he too cared about "moral values."

The Rector of Trinity, Sam Lloyd, told the huge crowd that Episcopal events don't often feel like "tent revival meetings" but this one did and he was ready to respond to an altar call to a new faith-inspired movement for justice and peace. One young man who asked me to sign his book afterwards told me he was gay and felt very included in the afternoon forum, but that it was easier to come out as gay in Boston than it was to come out as religious in the Democratic Party or the progressive movement. Yet, the fact that the secularization of the left seemed to be changing and that progressive religion is being revived was a great source of encouragement to him and to all those in attendance.

January 24 - Thoughts on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

One of the most fun was the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I must first say that our Sojourners and Call to Renewal staffs (more than half of them under thirty) were much more excited about my appearing on the Daily Show than Meet the Press and certainly the OReilly Factor! I really enjoyed meeting Jon Stewart. Before the show, Jon came back to the "green room" to say hello. I soon realized he had read God's Politics from cover to cover (as his producer told me he had) which, I can tell you, is not always the case with talk show hosts. Stewart asked some very good questions about the global poverty issues, the up-coming G-8 Summit in the UK, and the roles of British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair (all of which are discussed in the book). I felt his warmth and receptiveness right away to both the issues of social justice and the spiritual/moral/faith dimension to it all. We then had a good time on the show together, with lots of banter back and forth but also with a good deal of content discussed. And the audience was very responsive. (It was great to see a youthful crowd whooping and hollering for progressive religion, especially when I said that I didn't think Jesus' top priorities would have been a capital gains tax cut and the occupation of Iraq!)

Jon Stewart seemed actually touched by the inscription I wrote in his book, "The biblical prophets used humor and truth-telling to help make their point - often satirizing the political leaders of the day. You do both very well and may be in the tradition of those Hebrew prophets." Sitting there after the segment, we talked more and again I felt his keen interest in this connection between spirituality and social change. While Stewart described himself as "secular," I told him there was a moral edge to what he does and encouraged him to keep on. We both expressed a desire to stay in contact.

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