Over the past decade, our polarization—political, racial, religious—has grown exponentially. Vanderbilt University conducts surveys on American polarization, and in 2024, they released a study showing that both the right and the left continue to increasingly identify as “strongly” left or “strongly” right. Roughly 28% on both sides now identify as either “strongly” or “far” right or left.
We all know the damage the Religious Right has done to the reputation of Christianity around the world, and now it is our time to reclaim the moral power of our Christian tradition, using our faith to inspire and motivate the millions of people of faith across the country who are longing for a message of hope, a vision for a better tomorrow, and a way to connect that vision to the faith that forms the foundations of their lives.
Christianity doesn’t exist. Christianity has never existed. These might seem like radical statements, but they are objectively true. For the past 2,000 years, there has never been a singular, united, global religion called “Christianity,” but rather millions of variations of a spirituality rooted in the person of Jesus that most scholars now refer to as “Christianities.”
This is an excerpt from my book Dry Bones and Holy Wars released by Orbis Books in 2021.
It is essential for progressive Christians to remember that the Bible emerged from the voices of an oppressed and marginalized people, intended to empower and uplift those facing adversity.
A majority of those who are now identifying as “Progressive Christians” are converts, so to speak, those fleeing other Christian traditions that had no real knowledge of Progressive Christianity.
Progressive faith communities are rightfully skeptical of the language of “evangelism.” In modern history, the word has come to mean something like “forceful conversion” rather than a demonstration of and an invitation to the way of Jesus.
You’ve heard it said again and again- “We’re living in unprecedented times”. There’s extreme polarization, increased bigotry, emboldened racists, and virtual mobs seeking to cancel those who don’t align perfectly with the new orthodoxies of whichever side of the aisle you identify with
I, along with many other progressive Christian ministers I know, have grown increasingly cynical about our faith. We no longer feel that the faith that we’ve evolved to embrace has much of a bearing on our daily lives or an impact on the world.
When fragile hope is on the line, people will do anything to maintain it- even revolt against the very democracy they claimed to love.