The Christian Alliance for Progress

The Christian Alliance for Progress is a new national movement to reclaim Christianity from the Religious Right. The Alliance wants America to know that the Religious Right does not represent the beliefs or politics of most Christians and that they reject the Religious Right’s use of the name of Christ and the language of the Christian faith to advance a divisive, radical agenda to erode the separation between church and state.

The Christian Alliance for Progress, which is supported by private donations, began organizing in March of 2005 and has thus far attracted around 3500 members. The Alliance, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, describes itself as a grass-roots organization and has plans for a national membership modeled after the Christian Coalition, a conservative political organization that was begun by Pat Robertson.

The Alliance was founded by Patrick Mrotek, a health management consultant from Jacksonville, Florida. “We can no longer stand by and watch people speak hatred, division, war and greed in the name of our faith,” Mr. Mrotek said in a telephone interview with Lisa Anderson, Chicago Tribune national correspondent, “We believe we can no longer stand by and watch the language of our faith used in that manner, and we think it is time to reclaim our faith.”

There are millions of Christian Americans who hold moderate to progressive views — or who are, at the very least, offended by the Religious Right’s extremist political rhetoric. These Christians have become increasingly aware of how the Religious Right’s appropriation of the language of Christianity has caused many people to become circumspect with regard to the politicization of Christianity and to suspect and question the motives of any and all Christians involved in politics and government.

Mainstream and progressive Christians do not accept the Religious Right’s interpretation of Christian values and they reject the idea of Christianity being usurped by government as a device for the advocation of bigotry and injustice via ostracism and subjugation. They believe that the Religious Right’s misuse of Christianity and misunderstanding of core Christian values has caused the Christian faith to be associated with the radical ideologues and theocrats who have made large contributions to the polarization of our nation.

The Christian Alliance for Progress wants the political and church leaders of the Religious Right to learn a better understanding of basic Christian values, like justice, tolerance and compassion:

How We Seek to Follow the Jesus of the Gospels – Seven Values We Share:

Compassion and Care for “The Least of These”
We follow Jesus’ call to compassion and his command to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Responsibility and Obligation
We heed the call to take up our cross – to transform our lives, but also to do more: to move beyond the “personal” and to take responsibility in our communities and country.

Justice for All
We stand against powerful systems of human injustice in our world as Jesus stood against them in his.

Equality and Inclusiveness
Like Jesus did among women, tax collectors, Samaritans and others, we reject hurtful exclusionary distinctions between “us” and “them.”

Faithful Stewardship
We follow Jesus’ call for responsible stewardship – caring protection for the environment and sharing of our worldly treasure.

Right Use of Power  
We turn away from fear; we use the power of God that flows through us to protect the innocent and build justice in the world, not to coerce others to our will or force others to accept our vision.

Spiritual Foundation
We turn to God as our spiritual foundation.

Christians (and others because the Alliance is inclusive and tolerant, welcoming people of all faiths) who want to let the Religious Right know that they do not speak for them can add their signatures to The Christian Alliance for Progress’ Jacksonville Declaration, a letter in which the group uses relatively strong language (“Know that you do not speak for us. We oppose so many of your words and deeds.”) toward our conservative Christian brothers and sisters, invoking the Scriptures to refute misinterpretations of Biblical wisdom and Christian values.

The Jacksonville Declaration quotes a number of prominent conservative Christians’ statements that the Alliance considers in contradiction with the spirit of tolerance and compassion in the Bible:

“You owe liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ.” — Church Leader Bob Jones, to George W. Bush after 2004 election

“I hope the Supreme Court will finally read the Constitution and see there’s no such thing, or no mention, of separation of church and state in the Constitution.” — House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas)

“Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence…in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.” — Dr. D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries

“…the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated…” — Tony Perkins, Family Research Council

“I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians … the ACLU, People For the American Way … I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen’.” — Rev. Jerry Falwell, on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club discussing the WTC attacks

Progressive to moderate Christians are just now beginning to feel the sting of the backlash that the Religious Right has caused to be visited upon all Christians and many such Christians are sick and tired of being associated with that small, but vocal minority known as the Religious Right. Some are afraid to admit to being Christians for fear of being branded as bigots and fanatics. Others have learned to keep their progressive to moderate political views to themselves inside their own churches, lest they be shunned for failing to toe the Religious Right’s party line as if it is tantamount to the Word of God.

Calling religious and political leaders to task with the Scriptures and demonstrating how their own words reveal their true “moral values” is an approach that has the potential to reach the millions of progressive to moderate Christians who reject the fanaticism of conservative Christian radicals like those quoted above. It will serve the purpose of getting progressive to moderate Christians engaged in discussing these issues amongst themselves so that they may discover that it is they, not the Religious Right, who actually represent the vast majority of Christian Americans.