I had the privilege of being the opening keynote speaker at the Institute for Progressive Christianity winter symposium in Cambridge, MA this weekend. I spoke about why it is so important for progressive religious leaders to include sexual justice as part of their agenda.
Dr. Richard Parker from Harvard then gave an inspirational forty five minute talk (without any notes -- a feat that I cannot personally do!) on the history of Christian leadership in social justice movements in the United States. His take away message was that progressive Christians have always been the majority in the United States, and that we need to claim the MIDDLE ground rather than allowing the right to characterize social justice movements as on the left. He encouraged the IPC members to identify themselves as the "emerging majority" as indeed the recent elections demonstrated.
That's true for sexual justice issues as well. We need to remember that the majority of people of faith support contraception, sexuality education, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and non-discrimination laws against GLBT people. It's time for us to reclaim faith, the Bible, the family, and God from those on the right who claim to own them. In fact, it's time for us to declare that we are now the moral majority.
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2 comments:
Amen!
The religious right put tremendous protracted organization and effort into usurping religious terminology.
Maybe that pillar of Christian piety who's still in the oval office has had one positive effect. A great symbol for how untrue the far right is to its religious heritage.
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