After Losing On Same-Sex Marriage, Conservative Christians Find A New Enemy

[Panich52]

ThinkProgress

After Losing On Same-Sex Marriage, Conservative Christians Find A New Enemy
BY JACK JENKINS

For decades, conservative Christians who oppose LGBT equality have singled out the federal government or secular atheists as their preferred enemy in public settings, blasting both groups for supposedly attacking “traditional marriage” or infringing on their religious liberty. Yet in the months surrounding the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the country, right-wing Christians have become increasingly willing to cast blame — seemingly hypocritically — on a group they have often dismissed or outright ignored: Progressive Christians, especially those who support marriage equality.

The first hints of a growing front against liberal Christians came in May, when a coalition of conservative churches in Fountain Hills, Arizona publicly ganged up on a local progressive Methodist community. Unhappy with the church’s teachings, eight congregations launched a campaign entitled “Progressive Christianity: Fact or Fiction?,” a coordinated teaching and preaching series that included op-eds, a half-page advertisement in a local newspaper, and a massive banner with “progressive” written in jagged red letters and hemmed in quotation marks.

"... The good thing about the progressive movement is it gives people a clear choice. The ironic thing about progressive Christianity is that it is neither!”

The source of their outrage? Rev. David Felten, the left-leaning pastor of Fountains United Methodist Church. He reportedly stoked ire by preaching a variety of progressive concepts to his parishioners, such as theological support for interfaith dialogue, scientific discovery, and, of course, LGBT equality.

This same sentiment reemerged in June in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, which was gleefully celebrated by a host of progressive faith groups. Just a few days after the decision, Kevin DeYoung, a pastor in East Lansing, Michigan, published a blog post at the Gospel Coalition entitled “40 Questions For Christians Now Waving Rainbow Flags” that quickly spread through conservative and progressive Christian circles. Many of the inquiries were phrased in an accusatory manner, ...

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http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/07/21/3682661/christians-attack-liberal-christians/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tptop3&elq=039663a5305e43c68d5c755eeede6203&elqCampaignId=3419&elqaid=26459&elqat=1&elqTrackId=7ee4979f6cb34ba19b4964f99f3e1ad6&elqTrack=true

[cantbeserious]

1. Left Unchecked - They Will Eat Their Own - Conservatives Must Have Enemies

eom

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. The "religious liberty" these people are complaining about losing

Is the "liberty" to discriminate against LGBTs. Somehow, I think they shall survive.

[el_bryanto]

3. I don't think this is anything new though

It's a tribal thing within Conservative Christianity; you are required to regularly affirm your commitment to the central tenants of the culture war or you are kicked out.

Bryant

[thucythucy]

4. The sad thing is that progressive Christians (and Jews) are being hit from both sides.

From evangelical extremists on the right, and then right here on DU from atheists on the left. I would think progressives, even atheist progressives, would welcome the support of left-leaning religious folk, hut it seems many of them have as a major concern trashing anyone who isn't an atheist, even if it means losing the support of a large progressive constituency. Some of them will even admit they're on an "atheist crusade'--incorporating the language of the most extreme and intolerant of religionist wars as the moniker for his or her campaign.

I have no idea how anyone can think alienating religious progressives moves forward in any way the progressive agenda. I mean, imagine if Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jessie Jackson, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, the Berrigan Brothers, the Sanctuary Movement, the Metropolitan Community Church, the Wilmington 9, and all the others who were willing to sacrifice their freedom and even their lives in the struggle for social justice, had had to face attacks from left atheists as well as from the right while they campaigned for these progressive goals.

Like Bob Marley (himself a person of faith) used to sing, "So much trouble in the world."