4 Ways Christian Fundamentalists Get Progressive Christianity Shockingly Wrong

[xchrom]

http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/08/07/4-ways-christian-fundamentalists-get-progressive-christianity-shockingly-wrong/33537


1. Progressive Christianity actively seeks to make America a less Christian nation.
America is not now, nor has it ever been a Christian nation — a point even most evangelical figureheads concede.



2. Progressive Christianity’s emphasis on social justice isn’t Christian — it’s Marxist.
The fundamentalist belief that “social justice” is warmed-over Marxism is intellectually lazy. If you can read the gospels and come away believing that Jesus cared only about people’s souls, you’re more cognitively nimble than I am.


3. Progressive Christianity supports obviously anti-Christian political agendas like same sex marriage.
I heard a story once about the progressive Christian activist Tony Campolo. (Whether it’s true or not, I can’t say. If it’s not true, though, it should be.) Campolo was speaking at a conference when he was asked about his views on abortion. He demurred, preferring to stick to the topic at hand. The person persisted, asking twice more.

Campolo said: “You’ve asked me three times. What do I think about abortion? I think it’s an issue dreamed up by rich Christians to distract themselves from the fact that they drive Mercedes Benzes. Because whereas there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible that talk about people’s relationship to money, there isn’t a single one that deals with abortion.”

[regnaD kciN]

1. This section of the story was particularly worth quoting, IMHO...

4. Progressive Christianity rejects the Bible.

The summary indictment of Progressive Christianity is that we don’t take the Bible seriously.

What I find so galling in this charge is the implication that holding progressive Christian positions is an accommodation to culture — a favoring of secular or modern culture over the Bible. On the contrary: whatever Progressive positions I hold, I hold not in spite of the Bible, but because of it.

My progressive beliefs are an embrace of the gospel I find pervading the scriptures. Progressive Christianity actually takes the Bible more seriously than its fundamentalist critics do. Christian fundamentalism emphasizes a “commonsense” or “plain” reading of scripture is sufficient — which usually boils the Bible down to a story about me and how I can avoid going to hell.

[Warpy]

2. Actually, it's more about using the bible as a talisman

which is a weird sort of idolatry in which the book itself is more powerful than the words within it.

Other than that, they tend to restrict themselves to reading passages that feel comforting, like the ones in Liviticus that send people committing sins that don't particularly appeal to the fundies straight to hell.

[okasha]

3. There's even a name for that--"Bibliolatry."

[okasha]

4. Though it's often overlooked,

Progressive Christianity's "preferential option for the poor" begins in the Torah with the much-derided Deuteronomy and Leviticus--yes, there are some brutal things in there, too; everybody here knows that--continues through the Prophets and Wisdom literature and is carried over into the Gospels and epistles of the NT. Along with it goes the gradual abandonment of much of the prescribed ritual of the Torah and many of the punitive elements of the Law.

And here's the last bit of the essay:

So what can progressive Christians do about all this?

For starters, progressive Christians should quit letting Christian fundamentalism be the de facto voice of Christianity.

Progressive Christians should quit being cowed by charges of Marxism. The most damning criticism of a follower of Jesus is not, “You’re a socialist!”but rather, “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me” (Matthew 25:42-43).

Progressive Christians should embrace their love of the Bible, not as a repository of theological and ritual laws, but as the narration of God’s continued pursuit of humanity through the establishment of God’s reign of justice and peace.

Progressive Christians should articulate that reign for a world threatening to tear itself apart due to injustice and violence.

[cbayer]

5. Well done. As he says, it's time for progressive christians to speak up

and speak up loudly.

[Enthusiast]

6. Kicked and recommended!