Christian Progressives Come Out of the Shadows

The NY Times rehash on the religious angle on the election is interesting. There is, of course, the wailing and gnashing of teeth by Bishop Ralph Reed and Bishop Al Mohler about the moral decay of our country and the changing face of the electorate.

Then there’s this sneaky paragraph:

Meanwhile, religious liberals are gradually becoming more visible. Liberal clergy members spoke out in support of same-sex marriage, and one group ran ads praising Mr. Obama’s health care plan for insuring the poor and the sick. In a development that highlighted the diversity within the Catholic Church, the “Nuns on the Bus” drove through the Midwest warning that the budget proposed by Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, would cut the social safety net.

If the Times prints it, it must be true.

Seriously, I think that one cannot deny that progressives have begun to make their voices heard in new ways — at least in ways not heard for several decades. Evangelicals have always been the first to jump on new media trends — electronic PA systems, radio, television, internet — but in the lattermost medium, progressives are starting to catch up.

Patheos is a big part of that, giving equal time to progressive and evangelical Protestants. Rachel Held Evans is a part of that, being the biggest mega-blogger in our category. And every one of you who blogs and tweets and posts on Facebook is a part of that. Collectively, progressive versions of Christianity are gaining a foothold in the landscape of American cultural conversation.

Even my little experiment, which we will reprise after Thanksgiving, called #progGOD, showed that scores of progressive theobloggers want to robustly debate the nature of God.

So, to all of you progressives out there who are adding your voices to the conversation, Keep Calm and Blog On. And to those of you who don’t (yet), start now!