How Different Are Progressive and Conservative Christians? Part II

Conservatives want to change the individual. Progressives want to change social structures. Might there be a balance?

See part one of this three-part series here. 

Conservative and Progressive/Liberal Christians not only have a different approach to issues, they also have a different emphasis on the Christ Figure. Christ represented many different ideas and many different functions. Although most Christians would agree with all of these representations, different Christians emphasize different aspects. Conservatives tend to see Christ as the Sacrificial Lamb. Their image of Christ as a sacrificial lamb means they see Christ as the one who atones for their sins. They then add the Savior image to this. In many cases, this is seen as individual salvation, rather than social or global.  

If a Progressive or Liberal Christian identifies with this image, they will often re-focus it, emphasizing the Suffering Christ and the Sacrificial Christ. If Christ will sacrifice for us, then we should sacrifice for others. This might mean, for many, that all the broohaha about how terrible it is for us to pay higher taxes doesn't seem to be as much of a problem for Liberals and Progressives because some sacrifice on our parts (especially any of us who are middle-class, upper middle-class or upper class) means a great deal to those who don't have enough food on the table, don't have clean water to drink, don't have a job and have trouble getting one, and have suffered discrimination. We are more apt to take this idea of the Liberating Christ into society, and find that our cozy lifestyle in the richest country of the world leads us to become more responsible to alleviate some of the great suffering in the world.  

The Atonement, which Conservatives are more apt to speak about (and it's an important topic for all of us), is a concept more apt to be about the substitution of Jesus Christ for our individual sins, whereas Liberals/Progressives might think of it as At-One-Ment, to become At One with the love, compassion, care, mercy, and justice of the Christ Figure — to allow the Christ Spirit to work through us and move us into working for a better society. In fact, we believe that the Spirit that works within us moves us naturally into society. We then move to the Resurrected Christ who gives Hope and possibilities for our world.   

The Liberals/Progessives are more apt to also see Christ as the Liberator with a continuing revelation for our society as well as for our individual lives. Conservatives rarely use this term, since this comes from the more liberal theology of Liberation Theology, but when they do, they are more apt to see this on an individual basis. Christ liberates us from our individual Sins, giving us Eternal Salvation. Since they have this emphasis on the personal and individual, they choose the issues of abortion and homosexuality as the "make-or-break" issues when voting, and see them as more important than the social issues about AIDS, disaster relief, health care for children, job training for the unemployed, decent housing, and the environment. I often hear Conservatives talk about the immoral behavior that brought this onto those who are suffering, rather than a deeper understanding of why these problems exist and what can be done to help.   

We find plenty of evidence of this social call in many Bible verses from both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Isaiah 10 says, "Woe to those who enact unjust decrees, who compose oppressive legislation to deny justice to the weak and to cheat the humblest of my people of fair judgment, to make widows their prey and to rob the orphan." And then he goes on to let the rulers of Assyria know what he thinks of their oppressive policies.  

The Liberal/Progressive sees that much oppression occurs because of oppressive social structures — such as the tax breaks for the rich and for corporations, pension plans going broke because of bad corporate management, price gouging of gasoline that is allowed by the U.S. government, pollution that causes sickness because of unjust laws, money spent on war and not on infrastructure that leads to deaths, etc.

Progressive/Liberals think that things can be better for our society. They see that many who are individually oppressed are oppressed because of certain structures in society that keep them in their place. Conservatives want to change the individual, but often think the social structures are just fine. Progressives/Liberals often think too much of the social structures, and not enough about the individual. Might there be a balance?

Dr. Linda Seger is author of Jesus Rode a Donkey: Why the Republicans Don't Have a Corner on Christ.