The Practicing Progressive

Issue 14
March 13, 2007

At a now famous meeting in Texas with Protestant pastors, John Kennedy vowed that his Catholic faith would not unduly affect his decision-making as a president. His diminishment of his religious affiliation helped convince not just the clergy in attendance but the majority of American voters as well.

Similar concerns are being voiced regarding current presidential candidates. I’ve learned more of Mormonism in the past few weeks, thanks to Mitt Romney’s candidacy and the popular press, than I ever learned in seminary. I’ve been educated as to Hillary’s teenage commitment to her youth group, McCain’s attendance at church, Obama’s concern over his out-spoken pastor and the official Catholic view of Giuliani’s multiple marriages. Presidential religion is in the news again and the world is growing restless, restless and worried.

And who can blame us? After six years of an Evangelical Christian president who wore his faith on his sleeve, many folk are looking for a candidate who will keep his or hers under wraps. But as pleasant as that possibility at first appears, it is ultimately antithetical to Progressive Christianity and strikes at the very heart of our faith.

When society turns to the religious and growls, "Mind your own business", every Progressive Christian should sit up and take heed. What is our business? If we believe that the church's only business is a kind of private piety reserved for intimate family discussions or Sunday morning worship then we have no understanding of what it means to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. To be a Progressive Christian is to commit our life to the teachings of Jesus. This is unequivocal. There is no compromise. To be a Progressive Christian is to put our commitment to the compassionate life above everything else.

My point is that our Christian faith must shape all that we do or it is not Christian. It is Christian only if it makes Christ and his life and teachings paramount. This is what it means to be a Progressive Christian. We are shaped by the teachings of Jesus and we are called to take those teachings everywhere we go . . .into our homes, to our work, to the world.

The opportunities are everywhere. Are we embarrassed to stand up for the oppressed when someone tells a racist joke at a party? Do we not want to make a scene when confronted with snide and sexist remarks? Do we continue to allow our children's lives to be filled with violence and pornographic images from TV because we don't want to cause a commotion? Do the millions of hungry in this world and the thousandsof homeless in this country not merit our attention as followers of the one who was born homeless and poor and died the same?

As a Progressive Christian, I find the concern with a “too religious” candidate confusing. What better way to understand a person’s deepest desires and ultimate concerns than for he or she to talk of their faith? Welcome the discussion! Invite the dialogue! Let’s find out what these candidates really believe. In the process, maybe we will discover our own true faith as well.