A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on January 16th, 2009 in Progressive Faith

I have Debra Haffner to thank for pointing me to this. And, in Debra’s words:

I have written many times that one cannot label oneself progressive without a commitment to sexual justice.

I’d just say “a commitment to justice”, but that’s fine. Debra’s problem with the effort is that it doesn’t really seem to have any Progressive leaders involved. My problem with it is that the rhetoric it uses have sown the seeds of failure from the get-go. For example:

Reducing abortions (reducing abortion through reducing unintended pregnancies, supporting pregnant women, and increasing support for adoption)

I’ve said this before: Supporting pregnant women and increasing support for adoption should be policies because they are, very simply, the right thing to do. The number of abortions just doesn’t matter. And, if the number of abortions increases, how quickly will these efforts be derided as a failure and jettisoned?

Supporting employment protections for gay and lesbian people (protecting the rights of gay and lesbian people to earn a living, while protecting the freedom of religious organizations to follow their own beliefs)

Color me underwhelmed here. This says, “We will support other people not being able to fire people for being gay – but churches are different.” Well, no, you aren’t. Legally, you’re just another employer.

And morally, I think churches are wrong to discriminate. If one believes that it is wrong to be gay; then refusing to hire them is not likely to reform the gay person. If anything works – and I don’t think it does – then bringing them into the circle of believers and showing them that “we love the sinner, hate the sin” is how things work.

Renouncing torture, and
Creating secure and comprehensive immigration reform

Okay, renouncing torture should be a no-brainer. I can’t understand how anyone can purport to serve “The Prince of Peace” and advocate torture. I know some do, but it is insanity. It’s also false religion.

What exactly does “creating secure and comprehensive immigratino reform” mean? Even better, what does it have to do with faith? The Bible, unequivocally, calls for believers to go out of their way to welcome “strangers in a strange land.” The rhetoric is ambiguous at best. At worst, anyone who wants to can claim that it is a total failure because it doesn’t really say anything.

Let’s not mistake activity for progress here. If this is a first step, then it’s a good enough one. If it is an example of cooperation; then it’s simply papering over differences that will rear their heads in years to come – to the detriment of all.

Sphere: Related Content