The Pew Research Center for People & the Press released the results of their recent poll of American's views of political terms. The term with the most favorable view is progressive. Interestingly, it rates about 33% higher than the term liberal. So What? Many people characterize mainline churches as theologically liberal. Do you think congregations and denominations should move beyond that label and claim the more culturally valued term progressive to describe themselves? Read More …
conservative
Liberal Protestant Decline – Fact Check (#0506)
Yesterday, I wrote a review of Mark Chaves' new book American Religion: Contemporary Trends (2011). In that post, I included a quote that offers a basic overview of something most people take for granted: the decline of liberal Protestant churches over the last several decades. As a result of this shift, there were twice as many Americans who "claimed affiliation with conservative denominations as with theologically more liberal ones" (p. 87). Chaves goes on to Read More …
Most Americans Now Favor Legal Gay Marriage (#0375)
According to Gallup's latest Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 5-8, a majority of Americans (53%) now support equal marriage rights for same sex couples as for opposite sex couples. This graph below shows how opinions have changed over time, with the single greatest percentage gain in marriage equality coming over the last year (9%). So What? For the first time ever, according to Gallup's poll, the majority of Americans now support marriage equality. When one Read More …
What is Progressive Christianity? (#0287)
Progressive Christianity is a relatively new term that might not exist today without the work of ProgressiveChristainity.org. In 1994 when the Rev. Jim Adams (shown at right), then the rector of St. Mark's Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., founded the organization as The Center for Progressive Christianity there "was no known organization, scholar, or church leader publicly using the term, 'progressive Christianity.'" Within eight years, the term was regularly used "by scholars, Read More …