Progressive Christianity
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Progressive Christianity is the name given to a movement within American Christianity which promotes social justice as a Christian imperative, and opposes the notion that Christians must necessarily take a politically conservative or 'right-wing' stance on issues such as poverty, racism, and the environment. In doing this, it focuses on biblical injunctions that God's people should live correctly and fight injustice, and seeks to act on those injunctions in the public sphere.
This movement is by no means the only significant movement of progressive thought among Christians (see the 'See also' links below), but it is currently a focus of such issues within the United States.
Origins
A priority of justice and care for the down-trodden are a recurrent theme in the Hebrew prophetic tradition inherited by Christianity. This has been reflected in many later Christian traditions of service and ministry, and more recently in the United States of America through Christian involvement in political trends such as the Progressive Movement and the Social Gospel.Since the 1900s, progressive Christianity has been influential in determining what constitutes the values by which a good society is run. It stressed fairness, justice, responsibility, and compassion, and condemns the forms of governance that wage unjust war, rely on corruption for continued power, deprive the poor of facilities, or exclude particular racial or sexual groups from fair participation in national liberties.
Progressive Christianity was most influential in the US mainline churches. It has also been an important influence on student activism globally.
Progressive Christians have been active in the ecumenical movement, for example the World Student Christian Federation and the World Council of Churches internationally, and at the national level through groups such as the National Council of Churches in the USA and Australian Student Christian Movement.
Current situation
The ascendancy of Evangelicalism, particularly in its more socially reactionary forms in the US has challenged many people in mainline churches.Jim Wallis, a progressive evangelical Christian, of Sojourners has provided a focus for many progressive Christians to talk and act to challenge this ascendancy.
At the onset of a new movement to organize Progressive Christians, the single largest force holding together was a webring, The Progressive Christian Bloggers Network. At the same time, dozens of online chat-rooms proliferate, where Progressive Christians find each other by denomination, by locality, or by online network.
CrossLeft, the first nationwide campaign for a united movement, is trying to find them, organize them, introduce them to each other's events. CrossLeft maintains a shared calendar and an aggregated RSS feed that joins headlines from hundreds of progressive Christian bloggers, news sources, and columnists.
CrossLeft joined with Every Voice Network and Claiming the Blessing in October 2005 to stage a major conference, Path to Action, at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Among the speakers were E. J. Dionne, Richard Parker, Jim Wallis, Senator Danforth, and David Hollinger.
Examples of statements of contemporary Progressive Christian beliefs come from The Center for Progressive Christianity (TCPC, Cambridge, MA) and Crosswalk America (Phoenix, AZ):
- TCPC has given out the Eight Points - a statement of agreement about Christianity as a basis for tolerance and human rights
- CrossWalk's Phoenix Affirmations - include twelve points defining Christian love of God, Christian love of neighbor, and Christian love of self.
Social Redemption is organized on a Wesleyan system of circuits, where a single rider distributes news of the movement by visiting different groups and relating those experiences to others.
Circuit Riders share technology, news, and strategy success stories to large organizations and new start-ups. They act as website and networking consultants for larger groups, and they find mentors and assets for smaller startups.
Riders keep up-to-date in their training through regular meetings with other Circuit Riders, where they exchange news, train in technology, and investigate new tools that can be used to link together the movement.
See also
- Christian left
- Evangelical left
- Sojourners
- CrossLeft, organizing the Christian Left
- Social Redemption, providing technology resources for the left
- FDR's New Deal
- Civil Rights Movement for racial justice in the American South
- Liberation Theology
- Liberal Christianity
External links
- [The Center for Progressive Christianity]
- *[The 8 points of belief]
- [The Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity]
- [Christians for Justice and Peace]
- [The Christian Alliance for Progress]
- [CrossLeft] organizing the Christian Left
- [CrossWalk America]
- *[The Phoenix Affirmations - twelve points defining Christian love of God, Christian love of neighbor, and Christian love of self.]
- [Britain - The Progressive Christianity Network for Great Britain]
- [National Catholic Reporter - A progressive Catholic newsweekly]
- [Social Redemption]
- [Transcript of Spirit Wars: American Religion in Progressive Politics, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life December 6, 2005]
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