After my last diary and the nearly six hundred comments that followed, I learned some very interesting things about the attitudes of progressive Christians here on Dailykos. Follow me below the fold to hear what I learned.
First, I learned that even when you very clearly specify that you have no problem with progressive Christians, that you're glad that they exist, and that you have no desire to argue with them about their beliefs many of them still get offended when you criticize conservative Christians and claim that you're painting with a "broad brush". So basically, for many progressive Christians, even when you make every effort to not paint with a braod brush and are very specific as to what you're referring to, you're still charged with painting with a broad brush. The lesson I take away from this is that the issue isn't with painting with a broad brush at all, but that for a certain group of progressive Christians, any criticism of Christianity, even when it's clearly about conservative Christianity and directly says this, is off limits. This, incidentally, is exactly what many of us mean by providing cover for the Christian right.
Second, and far more importantly, I learned that many of our Christian progressives are just hunky dory with the idea of giving money to organizations or churches that are actively engaged in assaulting womens equality, womens reproductive rights, sexual equality, life saving contraceptives, etc. I had the temerity to point out that giving money to organizations is a political act and that regardless of your individual voting record and progressive bona fides, if you're giving money to organizations that are actively engaged in assaulting the rights of women and GLBT people renders you partially culpable in the oppression of these people.
Note, in pointing this out, I said nothing about the religious beliefs of the person. If, for example, you're Episcopalian you're in the clear as far as I'm concerned as the Episcople church has a very good track record on GLBT issues and womens equality. All I said is that if you do in fact advocate womens equality and GLBT equality you shouldn't be in the business of giving money to organizations that fight that equality. It's hard for me to see you as a good progressive if you're supporting an organization that is actively fighting this equality and the state, national, and international level.
I really don't see how there can be an argument here, yet never have I seen such acrobatics trying to justify giving money to such organizations. Some people spoke about family issues and how hard it would be to leave a particular church. Hmmm, what of those people who come from strongly republican families? Do they continie to give to the republican party? Some talked about all the other goods that these organizations do. Well I'm sorry but womens equalty and GLBT equality are non-negotiable. They are not some small thing that can be negotiated away for other things. Certainly there are plenty of other churches or denominations that feed and clothe the poor that you can give your money to that aren't engaged in wars against gender equality, abortion, contraception, etc. Yet others talked about how we need to support these institutions for democratic electoral success. I find this argument despicable because it suggests that equality should be thrown under the bus for the sake of winning.
No one is asking you to give up your beliefs. Indeed, you are being asked to truly live and enact your beliefs. In a Marxist turn of phrase, the declaration is "progressive Christians of the world unite!". Stop providing money to organizations that are actively supporting assaults on the least among us. I confess I'm pretty fed up and that my jaw is in my shoes. Were I to give money to the republican party of the Chamber of Commerce, my fellow kossacks would rightly have my hide despite the fact that I reliably vote democrat and ardently defend progressive positions. Yet somehow when it comes to religious organizations that are actively assaulting my equality amd the rights of millions of others it's supposed to be okay. All that's being asked is to particpate in Churches actually in line with your beliefs... Or perhaps these aren't your beliefs after all. If that's the case, then your constant protestations about your progressive bona fides ringnrather differently, now don't they.