FP's Opening Thoughts: The Cavalry Has Arrived!

In 1997, Bruce Bawer wrote his wonderful book Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity. Like many other moderate and progressive Christians, I cheered that book’s ringing call for “non-legalisitc” Christians to re-claim the word “Christian’ in public life from the narrow view that had managed to associate the word with an intolerant and reactionary political agenda. However, in the peace and prosperity of the Clinton years, there was simply not a sufficient sense of urgency to create a mass movement of moderate and progressive Christians. All of that has changed. The satirical Onion headline just after the 2000 election proved very prophetic: Bush: Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over!

Sadly, the progressive Christians community did little to organize during the first four years of the Administration of George W. Bush and he was narrowly re-elected. Just after the 2004 election, Pulitzer-prize winning Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote a column Christian Left Hard to Find that stuck with me and that is probably one of the reasons I started my blog, Faithful Progressive:

Mr. Pitts wrote as follows:

"... I look at the success conservatives on the so-called Christian right have had in claiming him as their exclusive property and I wonder, where in the heck is the Christian left? Where are the people who preach - and live - the biblical values of inclusion, service, humility, sacrifice, and why haven't they coalesced into an alternative political force? Instead of a movement like that, we have an old peanut farmer building houses.

You wish there was more. You wish there were Christian people shouting from the rooftops that these other people, with their small minds and niggardly spirits, do not represent all of us. And that the faith exemplified by the politics of exclusion is not the faith the rest of us celebrate, not the faith that lifts us and settles us and makes us whole."

Since the election, I’ve made it a point to seek out other Christians who are ready to shout from the rooftops a new and revitalized Gospel message. The first person I interviewed was the Rev. Tim Simpson, who will be a regular Blogger on this site. More on Tim later. First, I want to tell you something about what other progressive Christians and others sympathetic to their efforts feel is important to for such an organization to pursue. These interviews convinced me that the Christian moderate and progressive community is alive and well and full of ideas and getting active support from people of other faith traditions. (Please note: none of these folks have as yet specifically endorsed CAP, but all are aware that their thoughts are being shared on this site)

Rev. Jennifer Kottler, Protestants for the Common Good

I have a deep commitment to justice and the common good, which my Christian faith leads me to understand can best be used in influencing public policy. I believe deeply that it will take structural change, at least changing the hearts and minds of many Americans to bring justice to our public debate. Poverty and deep economic injustices that go hand in hand with racism keep me awake at night.

Father Jake (Episcopal priest)

I think we have to stop allowing the ultra-conservatives to frame the argument. The progressive Christians need to find their voice and take the offensive position. This might mean having to challenge the secular fundamentalists as well as the biblical fundamentalists, which means being willing to be as critical of Democrats as we are of Republicans. When Democrats claim that religion is a private matter, they’re playing right into the game of the conservatives who want to make private morality the only issues that are important. Public morality, which would include war, poverty, the environment and health care, are essential issues for any Christian who knows their bible. It’s not an either/or thing. Private and public moral values need to be taught and lived. And, because of the public nature of many moral and ethical issues, we can never separate religion from politics; they are made of the same cloth.

So what can we do? We can start by honing our communication skills; by proclaiming the Good News in innovative ways that will move us all toward caring action; toward becoming the healing hands of Christ in the world today.

Dr. Bruce Prescott
Mainstream Baptist Leader

The most important thing that moderate and progressive religious people can do to change things is to start standing up and speaking out on behalf of separation of church and state. Religious liberty for everyone – not just Christians – is our first freedom. It’s the first freedom because it is the bedrock foundation upon which every other form of freedom rests. It secures our right to a free conscience and protects the rights of minorities.

Ms. Jacqueline Trussell, Founder BlackandChristian.com and Harvard Divinity School Graduate

The simple answer is to pray--I do believe that prayer changes things. Whether it's Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Clinton, Lincoln or George Washington, this nation has persevered and survived through good leadership and not so good leadership. Black people, led often by Black Christians such as Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, Henry Highland Garnet, Sojourner Truth or Martin Luther King, have survived. If we, as Black folk have learned nothing else, we have learned how to survive…There is potential for great things to happen around an agenda that speaks of "uplifting the race" through social, political and economic change. What remains to be seen is how this will be implemented. The Black Church, whether Baptist, Methodist or Church of God In Christ, has always been at the forefront of any movement for change as it relates to people of African descent.

Ol Cranky of Disenchanted Forest (Progressive Jewish Blog)

Count me as one of those disenfranchised by "religious" people and the Bush Administration. I see Bush as a great divider due to what‚s been done for political expedience in the name of G-d, religion and Scripture; the relationship between the Bush Administration/Republican party and the “religious right” has created such a heated environment in which religion has been used as a weapon…Everyone who really wants some healing needs to do their share to seek out information about and initiate dialogue with those across the aisle. For my own part, I've intentionally sought out blogs of various Christian writers to things in perspective, find out what the ECs really think and, more importantly, to learn-- though, in all honesty, I still do my share of thumbing my nose at the collective "them.’

Bob of I Am a Christian Too
(ELCA Blog)

For me, my Christian faith demands my progressive politics. How can you read the gospels without believing that, as a society, we must do more to care for those in need? This phrase also makes me think of today's "Samaritans" -- the poor, gays, Africans with HIV -- as I imagine them saying "I am a Christian too", or even "I was made in the image of God too.” We need to organize, and we need to be savvy about how we present our message... I am looking for a way to organize that can give focus to this incipient progressive Christian movement, an organization that is both political and religious, that is outside and cuts across existing denominational lines, to speak for those of us that believe in progressive policies because of our religious beliefs, not despite them. We need to advocate policies in authentic, orthodox Christian language so that we can't be dismissed by the majority of Americans that are theologically orthodox. We need to take the moral high ground, but with a deep humility and respect for those that disagree, or we will be just another group of hate-mongers.

Chuck Currie
(United Church of Christ Seminarian)

Progressive Christians started organizing to impact the 2004 elections in 2003. The religious right has been busy building up their movement since the mid-1960s. We need to build from the ground up and build alliances with better established secular groups that share some of our core values. We need to think long term and to develop new leadership. The religious left folks most active in opposing the Bush policies are the same group who fought against the Vietnam war. A new generation of leaders needs to be groomed. The progressive left has a training program for activists called Wellstone Action . We need a program like that to train the religious left.

Rachel Bareblat of Velveteen Rabbi
(Jewish lay leader, liturgist, and poet)

I think the most important thing is not to let frustration sour into despair. There's always something we can do. One of my favorite quotes (from Pirke Avot, a collection of rabbinic wisdom) is "it is not incumbent upon us to finish the task, but neither are we free to refrain from beginning it." I remind myself of that often when I'm thinking about the political sphere. I think we on the religious left need to speak up more. It's easy for the mainstream public to assume that "religious" means "on the right," and that's a fundamental misconception which will only be cleared up if we make ourselves heard.

Matt Sellers UK (British Baptist)

Our church is committed to the local community, and in particular the children, youth and disadvantaged of the area. We have many ongoing projects and the church buildings are used so much we are looking at expansion plans. Current membership of the church is about 550 and rising (probably in the top five biggest Baptist Churches in the country). I think this kind of community view of the church is becoming more prevalent up and down the country, and I'm hoping that some great long-lasting initiatives and reforms will come out of it - just like the great reforms of the 19th Century - we are beginning to see this with the Drop the Debt initiative and Fair Trade movements, and more recently the Make Poverty History initiative.

Ono Ekeh of Ono's Thoughts(Liberal Catholic Blog)

Interview forthcoming

Only time will solve this. What has to happen is for the Catholic and Christian Right to define themselves as extremists, which they are already doing. At the same time, on the left, we have to learn to be more comfortable talking about our faith…Now, while a conservative will have no problem opening up to the world the internal dynamic of his/her faith life, liberals like Kerry are uncomfortable revealing these personal details and then people assume that there are no details. I don't think liberals have to get phoney, but we have to speak honestly about faith and its place in our lives. That's how we'll take back religion.

Carlos Stouffer of Jesus Politics
(Anthology of Readings from former Southern Baptist Missionary)

I like to contrast the political Christians on the Christian Right with the political Christians on the Jesus Left. The Christian Right focuses on an orthodox and institutional interpretation of the Christian Faith whereas the Jesus Left focuses on fresh ways to honor the life and spirit of the historical Jesus. Even though some political Christian leaders are loud, I am pretty sure the vast majority of Christians in the US are not that interested or engaged in politicsAs more Christians get involved and become better informed, I think they will start to question the assumptions of these loud political Christians. I think the Christian Rightists are particularly vulnerable when Christians begin to wake up and discover what is going on in the name of Jesus.

So here we are, Mr. Pitts, and we're up on the roof and we've got a beautiful vision to share! Could this really be the group to spearhead both the reclamation of a more compassionate vision of Christian life, and to transform our political culture? I'm hoping that CAP can be instrumental in achieving both ends. That's why I'm here. I'm going to do what I can to make that happen.We'd love to hear your thoughts on how to make CAP a success.

Now, as for Rev. Tim Simpson, there is no need to for me to quote from his interview because he is here himself to share his penetrating insights with you. Some of you are no doubt familiar with his blog Public Theologian. This wonderful site had been down in recent weeks as Tim has recovered from emergency eye surgery. But it is back now and so is Tim. This is only the first day of the official opening of this site, and already we have been truly blessed.