Ron Sider

I will post things on Mr. Sider as I find them. One thing I am looking for is character references and who he associates with, to see if he is a credible source.

Here is one thing.

Sider helped draft the call to action that was announced in March by the National Association of Evangelicals, which is headed by Ted Haggerd. I know a little bit about Haggerd. He seems to be pretty biblical, but also seems to be pretty deep into self-centered Christianity.

One quote in the New York Times piece about this was from Sen. Sam Brownback, who is a solid Christian, about the socially responsible evangelical movement. He supported the call to action, and said, ""This is a young movement...and it's just starting to get its sea legs. I think you'll now see it spread out into a whole lot of areas."

But others were skeptical.

Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, an influential ministry based in Colorado Springs, stood up at the luncheon and warned the other leaders, "Do not make this about global warming."

"The issues of marriage, the issues of pro-life are the issues that define us to this day," he added.

A. James Reichley, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, warned the National Association of Evangelicals not to travel the same route as mainline Protestant denominations that adopt resolutions at their national meetings on a wide range of questions, from foreign policy to budget cuts.

"We can responsibly disagree" on specific issues, "and that's fine," Mr. Reichley said.