I'm sorry, but this is just so, so sad: Christian Alliance for Progress [link via Tripp]. What's so sad? Well, this group's stated purpose is "to reclaim Christianity [from the religious right] and transform American politics."
Seems these folks are mad because when it comes to Christianity in the public square, no one thinks of "progressive Christianity."
Here's my question: If you have to "reclaim" it, doesn't that mean you first lost it? In other words, these progressives are feeling a bit panicky because their political influence has been lost/taken from them. Gosh, "conservative" judges (er, I mean radical extremists) might get appointed to the courts! And if you take the courts away from the "progressives" then you take away any political power they currently have. And they would not like that. Yep, they're mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore:
The Christian Alliance for Progress will speak out when conservative Christians misrepresent the gospel to support their misguided political positions. The Christian Alliance for Progress, founded firmly on the teachings of the gospel, will stand for pursuing economic justice; responsible environmental stewardship; equality for gays and lesbians; honoring the sanctity of childbearing decisions through effective prevention, not criminalization of abortion; seeking peace, not war; and achieving health care for all Americans.
Excuse me?!! Help me out here: can anyone "book-chapter-verse" me where Jesus ever, ever, talks about:
Effective prevention [of conception], not criminalization of abortion?!! Wasn't it Jesus who did and said:
And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)
Answer me this: how does this square with preventing the conception of children (or killing them before birth)?
In other words, Christian progressives, isn't it the case not that the religious right have misappropriated the Gospel from the right, but rather that you all have been unsuccessful in secularizing it from the left? Isn't it the case not that the religious right has been whoring after the Republican party, but that your intimacy with the Democratic Party (or other third parties) has left you in the political minority? Isn't it the case that you just haven't been able to successfully argue that your version of Christianity is, on fundamental points, actually Christian instead of left-liberal statism?
Posted by Clifton at June 24, 2005 01:10 PM | TrackBackFeel better?
Posted by: Tripp at June 24, 2005 02:03 PMClifton,
You are Christian, a husband, a father, a scholar. You do not serve any of these roles when you launch these polemics. The government did not take helping the poor from the Church. The Church failed and now with the tax cuts not bringing in the increased donations that many expected, the Church is still failing to meet the needs, not the wants, of the world's poor. Jesus very clearly did not take sides between the political factions of his day and neither should we. There is not a bit more virtue in one party than the other; there is more adept use of the church by one group than the other.
I am not a Christian progessive. I am off the poles as was Jesus. However, Jesus put greater obligations on us than does the government with its highest tax bracket.
I believe you are a very good and bright man, but the next time you feel the way you felt when you wrote the last post, please pray and go hug your wife and children. Then if you still feel the need to post, I will respond. In the meantime, I pray for you and all young families.