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Christian Left alliance launched in the USA

-25/06/05

After what it describes as ìthirty years of sustained effort by [US religious leaders] like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson to merge evangelical Christianity with a conservative political agendaî, a new grassroots American organization on the political left has announced its arrival. The Christian Alliance for Progress is a national movement of Christians seeking to reclaim Christianity and transform American politics.

Members in the movement say they want to restore the core values of Christianity while honouring diverse views about religion and Christian life. Many Americans, they say – especially people of faith – are eager to hear from Christians whose faith makes them generous and compassionate.

The Christian Alliance for Progress says that it has come into being to advance a renewed vision of Gospel values and that it will seek to help people express this moral vision in their lives and in their politics.

The Alliance has also unveiled its ëJacksonville Declaration,í an open letter to the political and church leaders of the religious right, which challenges and invites them to respond on core issues. It says it hopes to conduct the conversation with both firmness and respect.

ìThe success of the religious right in appropriating the language of Christianity has led many people to become generally wary of religion in the public sphere and of Christianity in particular,î said a spokesperson, the Rev Timothy F. Simpson, a Presbyterian Church USA pastor and editor of the journal Political Theology.

He continued: ì[They] promote an extreme and divisive political agenda that has helped polarize our nation. But foundational Christian values like compassion, justice and peace are largely absent from our political discussion. And there are millions of Christian Americans who share progressive views, or, at a minimum, are increasingly turned off by the [harsh] rhetoric and political agenda of the Religious Right.î

The Christian Alliance for Progress says it will speak out when conservative Christians misrepresent the gospel to support their political positions. The Alliance stands for pursuing economic justice; responsible environmental stewardship; equality for gays and lesbians; honouring the sanctity of childbearing decisions through effective prevention, not criminalization, of abortion; seeking peace, not war; and achieving health care for all Americans.

The hotly-contested and emotional US presidential election in 2004 has emboldened the religious right in their quest to dominate the public arena. This has included accusing Democrats who oppose Bush nominees of being ëanti-Christianí.

One right-wing pastor in North Carolina recently told his congregants that if they voted for John Kerry, they must repent or resign from the church. Nine members were kicked out as a result.

“As a pastor, I have been horrified and saddened to watch opportunistic religious leaders meld Christianity with extreme conservatism,” Mr Simpson declared. “The agenda they promote does not reflect the values I learned from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.î

The Christian Alliance for Progress was launched at an event in Jacksonville, Florida, last week ñ the state which decided the 2000 US presidential election in the most controversial of circumstances, with some black voters claiming that the poll had been rigged by excluding them from the register.

Until now the best-known spokesperson of the progressive Christian voice in the US has been Jim Wallis of Sojourners, an ecumenical magazine with broad evangelical roots. His book Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesnít Get It has been a bestseller.


Find books now:

Christian Left alliance launched in the USA

-25/06/05

After what it describes as ‘thirty years of sustained effort by [US religious leaders] like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson to merge evangelical Christianity with a conservative political agenda’, a new grassroots American organization on the political left has announced its arrival. The Christian Alliance for Progress is a national movement of Christians seeking to reclaim Christianity and transform American politics.

Members in the movement say they want to restore the core values of Christianity while honouring diverse views about religion and Christian life. Many Americans, they say – especially people of faith – are eager to hear from Christians whose faith makes them generous and compassionate.

The Christian Alliance for Progress says that it has come into being to advance a renewed vision of Gospel values and that it will seek to help people express this moral vision in their lives and in their politics.

The Alliance has also unveiled its ëJacksonville Declaration,’ an open letter to the political and church leaders of the religious right, which challenges and invites them to respond on core issues. It says it hopes to conduct the conversation with both firmness and respect.

‘The success of the religious right in appropriating the language of Christianity has led many people to become generally wary of religion in the public sphere and of Christianity in particular,’ said a spokesperson, the Rev Timothy F. Simpson, a Presbyterian Church USA pastor and editor of the journal Political Theology.

He continued: ‘[They] promote an extreme and divisive political agenda that has helped polarize our nation. But foundational Christian values like compassion, justice and peace are largely absent from our political discussion. And there are millions of Christian Americans who share progressive views, or, at a minimum, are increasingly turned off by the [harsh] rhetoric and political agenda of the Religious Right.’

The Christian Alliance for Progress says it will speak out when conservative Christians misrepresent the gospel to support their political positions. The Alliance stands for pursuing economic justice; responsible environmental stewardship; equality for gays and lesbians; honouring the sanctity of childbearing decisions through effective prevention, not criminalization, of abortion; seeking peace, not war; and achieving health care for all Americans.

The hotly-contested and emotional US presidential election in 2004 has emboldened the religious right in their quest to dominate the public arena. This has included accusing Democrats who oppose Bush nominees of being ëanti-Christian’.

One right-wing pastor in North Carolina recently told his congregants that if they voted for John Kerry, they must repent or resign from the church. Nine members were kicked out as a result.

“As a pastor, I have been horrified and saddened to watch opportunistic religious leaders meld Christianity with extreme conservatism,” Mr Simpson declared. “The agenda they promote does not reflect the values I learned from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.’

The Christian Alliance for Progress was launched at an event in Jacksonville, Florida, last week – the state which decided the 2000 US presidential election in the most controversial of circumstances, with some black voters claiming that the poll had been rigged by excluding them from the register.

Until now the best-known spokesperson of the progressive Christian voice in the US has been Jim Wallis of Sojourners, an ecumenical magazine with broad evangelical roots. His book Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It has been a bestseller.