"Does Jim Wallis represent evangelicals or does he represent the leftist, atheist billionaire?" -- Mark Tooley, IRD President

Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Evangelical left voice Jim Wallis, who has boasted of his ties to the Obama administration, finally has admitted that his "progressive Christian" Sojourners movement has received funding from leftist billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute.

According to WORLD magazine, Soros, an atheist billionaire who has financed groups promoting abortion, atheism, and same-sex marriage, bankrolled Sojourners with a $200,000 grant in 2004. Since then Sojourners has received at least two more grants from Soros organizations altogether totaling $325,000, the most recent in 2007. Sojourners revenues have more than tripled -- from $1,601,171 in 2001-2002 to $5,283,650 in 2008-2009.

Wallis originally rebutted a criticism of "religious progressives" for being allied with Soros in 2005: "I know of no connections to those liberal funds and groups that are as direct as the Religious Right's ties to right-wing funders." Earlier this month in Patheos, Wallis wrote, "No, we don't receive money from George Soros."

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

"Wallis' initial denials and then ultimate confirmation of Soros funding for Sojourners is a revealing turning point for the evangelical left.

"Long insisting he represents a mysterious Christian 'third way' more enlightened than the old Religious Right, Wallis now stands exposed as what he always was: a man of the political left. From his days 40 years ago as a radical Students for Democratic Society activist, to his championing of the Marxist Sandinistas in 1980s' Nicaragua, Wallis has always allied himself with secular leftist groups hostile to the historic Church.

"Religious leftists may freely tout their views no less than religious conservatives. But Wallis and his Sojourners, as Soros-funded religious leftists, should heed truth in advertising."