The Progressive Christian Message: Am I Convincing You Yet?

The other day I made a criticism in front of a group about how many progressive Christian theologies take out small snippets of scripture and apply them to social issues more or less in the same disingenuous ways that the Christian Right does. However, my beef was not so much against this action in and of itself but that such an approach does little to convince anyone who is already not on the same side.  To this, someone asked if I thought the point of such theologies were to convince an opponent of THE true truth.  This a fair question.  When a progressive Christian, or really anyone for that matter, constructs some sort of argument or makes a particular case, is there an implication that the constructor has THE truth that all others ought conform to?

When I tell people that the Fresh Prince of Bel Air is the best show of all time (click here for all the evidence you need), I believe I am in possession of a truth that all who disagree are too blind to see.  If only they’d open their unfunny eyes.  But in this case, whether or not someone agrees with me is largely inconsequential.  The Fresh Prince has been off the air since the Clinton era and all the DVDs have been released.  I don’t need to convince people lest it be cancelled or Will Smith not become a giant tool.

A progressive Christian agenda is another matter.  In hoping to institute real change in America on behalf of the widows and orphans, both literally and metaphorically, we need to get as many people on our side as possible.  To answer my original question, I think that any rational argument is designed to be convincing to somebody, otherwise we’d just say, “Don’t worry about it.”  Is it THE truth?  There is no way for me to really know, but bringing as many people to our cause is essential.  This is not a matter of being an evangelizing zealot, or a cultural imperialist.  That’s what one liners and guns are for.  So how do we do it then?

Peter Laarman over at Religion Dispatches provides an interesting answer where he champions relationship building, narrative honesty, and interpersonal means of conversation and debate.  Seems like a good start to me.

I should note that my previous post regarding global warming flies in the face of everything I just said.  I won't try to defend myself (but I was genuinely curious!).  I apologize.   


-Tim