There are a new breed of believers carving their own to God through Jesus Christ with no deference toward–sometimes even outright contempt for–toward religous institutions or social labels.
WHAT IS IT? (Wikipedia) Progressive Christianity is the name given to a movement within contemporary Protestant Christianity characterized by willingness to question tradition, acceptance of human diversity (including the affirmation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people), and strong emphasis on social justice. Progressive Christians have a deep belief in the centrality of the instruction to “love one another” within the teaching of Jesus Christ. This leads to a focus on compassion, promoting justice and mercy, and working towards solving the societal problems of poverty, discrimination, and environmental issues.
af·fir·ma·tion / ˌæf ərˈmeɪ ʃən / Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation [ af-er-mey-shuh n ] –noun
1. the act or an instance of affirming; state of being affirmed.
2. the assertion that something exists or is true.
This is not the lone movement of progressive thought within contemporary Christianity, but is perhaps the most clearly identifiable and assertive.Like all labels, this one is problematic for a number of reasons. First, it should be pointed out that Progressive Christianity, often referred to as liberal, that is not to be confused with politically liberal stances. Most often Progressive Christians are against (nearly all forms or excuses for) abortion, opposed to capital punishment, and have a wide range of views on national defense, border security, tax code, Welfare and other social programs. The word Progressive in this instance denotes a much different idea of “progress” than that of Secular Progressives. And while a person may generally be in line with the tenants of the movement, they may disagree on some points—such as homosexual or alternative lifestyles. But the defining characteristic of the Progressive Christians versus the much-maligned “evangelical” is the impetus on putting others first, expressing grace, and loving one’s neighbor.
The point is that none of those specific issues or stances on political or social topics are the point itself. With focus on “loving your neighbor” the issues become trivialities compared to the way one lives their every day life. 
On one hand, Evangelical Christians have in many ways not gotten a fair shake from the media, and are often characterized as hateful, self-righteous religious fanatics. In my experience, Evangelicals are generally kind, patient, down to earth, and not vitriolic toward homosexuals, Nancy Pelosi, or uniformly fond of the President or the 700 Club. That notion is a gross exaggeration! To be sure there are some out there who call themselves Christians that fit that mold. But I think the primary shortcoming of Evangelicals as a segment of society is the neglect of informing themselves, mingling with the culture—instead becoming a reactionary activist group and a voting bloc for the mandate of whomever is the most “religious” amongst political candidates. Progressive believers, conversely, seek to break all barriers and stereotypes which hold back and plague Christians and non-Christians alike. They want to apply their minds as well as their wallets and strength in numbers to eradicating morally objectionable aspects of post-modern life. They seek justice in accordance with their conscience and the Word in all aspects of society without force-feeding their message to a mass audience in pre-packaged forms.
This reformed wave of socially conscious and often activist Christians are not easily confused with New Age believers or One World Church-types. There is a distinct contrast between the “emergent church” and those who say that “there are many ways to God” and make virtually no judgments on personal behavior. Progressive Christians, rather, seek to carry out Jesus’ message by simply expressing love and hope through the Gospel message, and also encourage faith in the basic tenants of the Gospel message.
Jesus called on men to mend their evil ways and to come to God, and did it in a loving way. Progressive Christians tend to feel that climate of patient tolerance has been lost on many traditional church-goers who often come off as pushy and close-minded; such believers also sense the unhealthy strain of over-zealous attempts to peg anyone who has strong convictions about morality as “intolerant.” Love, in the secular progressive sense, for instance, seems to mean not helping anyone except by giving them money and social programs (taking from wealthy, giving to poor regardless of merit); and refraining from discouraging behaviors such as promiscuous or casual sex, use of illegal drugs (SPs seek to legalize marijuana), encourage alternative lifestyles (such as in the ACLU’s payment for the defense attorney of NAMBLA, which is an organization that promotes sexual “love” relationships between boys young as ten years as old with adult men).
Progressive Christians, however, are quick to distinguish between right and wrong, and though tending to be less “black and white” or outspoken, and are critical of unhealthy behaviors on either side of the aisle.
Conversely, Progressive Christians are often criticized by more traditional believers for not being firm enough on the fine theological points of Scripture. However, it seems that most Progressive Christians do have strong beliefs in regards to communion, baptism, and how to pray—but they are wary of wasting their breath or sacrificing unity on doctrinal issues. Instead, they prefer the “love your neighbor” approach and focusing on the relational dynamic between God and man—which is the theme of the New Testament as revealed through Jesus and subsequently his apostles.
So it is not at all that these “new Christians” are bereft of theological belief or doctrinal persuasion, but rather that the term Progressive Christian does not entail very specific ideas or arguments about those matters. It simply means challenging traditional religious views, seeking out the message of the gospel afresh, considering one’s culture, matters like social justice, and the political climate through the lens of faith in Jesus—rather than faith in the evangelical establishment. Move over Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell. An entirely new breed of believer is kicking down the door.
Says author and expert Delwin Brown, “It is absolutely urgent that progressive Christians become articulate about the transforming faith that is within them. For the sake of our nation as well as the church, we must be able to say what we believe, and why, and to say so effectively.”
One university Professor (sorry, lost the link) illuminated part of the cause for misunderstandings and the decline of the public’s trust in the American church (there are many reasons, including media bias, and disgusting antics by certain corrupt individuals from within), “Studying Christianity in a predominantly Christian society can pose surprising difficulties. I teach in a religious studies program which, like most of its counterparts in universities across the United States, introduces students to the global dimensions of religious experience. In practice, that means providing a wide range of courses on the World Religions, such as Islam, Buddhism, and so on. The main religion that tends to suffer in this package is Christianity, which receives nothing like the attention it merits in terms of its numbers and global scale. Whatever the value of Christian claims to truth, it cannot be considered as just one religion out of many: it is, and will continue to be, by far the largest in existence. A generation ago, the neglect of Christianity in academic teaching made more sense than it does today, in that students could be expected to absorb information about the faith from churches, families, or society at large. Today, though, that is often not a realistic expectation, and one encounters dazzling levels of ignorance about the basic facts of the religion.”But Delwin Brown makes an important point. “It is the profoundly healing voice of the Christian faith that is important now, not the specific label we give it. And, in fact, there are at least three reasons for hesitating to refer to the voice now needed as a ‘progressive’ Christian voice. First, ‘progress’ is not always good and continuing the past is not always bad. Second, the various ‘progressive’ movements and eras in the United States have been political in character and, though not without merit, they have left a great deal to be desired from a Christian standpoint. Finally, unlike our intention here, in current political discourse the term ‘progressive’ is virtually synonymous with, if not a cover for, the term ‘liberal.’” Brown offers a fitting closing to describing this convulsive trend in outreaching, other-centered faith. It is reminscent of the saying that revolutions swallow up themselves—meaning that once the revolutionary ideals become the norm, they are amalgamated with the usual downfalls of power, human nature, and old prejudices are simply replaced by new ones. He says, “In the end labels should not determine our judgments about any point of view, Christian or otherwise. ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ are not inherently wrong standpoints. Isn’t every person, including every Christian, in some respects ‘conserving’ of the past and in others ‘liberated’ from it? And surely every faithful Christian voice conveys ‘good news’ and thus is in that sense ‘evangelical.’ The issue is not the label; it is the message.”
Sources: Progressive Christianity (Wikipedia) / Progressive Christian Beliefs (Delwin Brown) / Emergent Church / www.Dictionary.com
Links: www.progressivechristianvoice.org / www.relevantmagazine.com /www.progressivechristiansuniting.org
truthmerchant Said:
on November 3, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Progressive Christianity and consistency:
http://truthmerchant.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/yet-another-christian-hypocrite/
hypocritical4u Said:
on November 3, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Discourse requires subjectivity acknowledging itself as such, rather than as something more. I recommend the following post: http://deligentia.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/objective-vs-subjective-a-matter-of-biblical-hyperbole/