|
POLITICS
The religious 'left' reasserts itself
UPDATED
FEB. 6, 2007
IN
THE NORTHEAST
• Dan Wakefield
is a veteran writer and Unitarian in Boston whose newest book is The Hijacking
of Jesus: How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice
and Hate (Nation Books, 2006). Read an excerpt
in the April 24, 2006, issue of The Nation. Contact him through book
publicist Anne Sullivan, anne.sullivan@avalonpub.com.
• Ian
Markham, dean of Hartford Seminary and professor of theology and ethics,
is co-editor of Why Liberal Churches are Growing (T. & T. Clark Publishers,
2006). Contact 860-509-9553, markham@hartsem.edu.
IN
THE EAST
• Interfaith Impact of New York is a statewide coalition of congregations and individuals from mainline Protestant, Reform Jewish, Unitarian Universalist and other faith traditions that work for compassion and justice in New York state public policies. Contact executive director Robb Smith, 518-463-5652.
• Spiritual Progressives of the Hudson Valley aims to “put values back into progressive politics.” Contact 845-758-4119, info@spiritualprogressiveshv.org.
IN
THE SOUTHEAST
• Faith and the City was created to nurture community and shared responsibility in Atlanta. It is made up of the executive leadership of Candler School of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, and the Interdenominational Theological Center, all in Atlanta, and also works with the Center for Ethics in Public Policy and the Professions at Emory University. Contact co-chairs James T. Laney and Andrew Young, 404-523-5554.
IN
THE SOUTH
• The Rev. Rebekah Jordan is executive director of the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice, which partners with people of faith to work toward improved wages, benefits and working conditions. It’s based in Memphis, Tenn. Contact 901-332-3570.
IN
THE MIDWEST
• Formed
in November 2005, We
Believe Ohio includes 100 racially and theologically diverse clergy interested
in social justice. Media contact is Eric McFadden, 614-551-8907, admin@webelieveohio.org.
• Greg Boyd is senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., and author of The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church, in which he says American Christians should seek to build the kingdom of God instead of building political power. Contact 651-287-2079, gboyd@whchurch.org.
IN
THE SOUTHWEST
• The
Dallas Area Christian Progressive
Alliance, formed in November 2005, is concerned with social justice and
the 2006 election. Contact 214-333-7577.
• Kathy Miller is president of the Texas
Freedom Network, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization whose mission is
to advance "a mainstream agenda of religious freedom and individual liberties
to counter the religious right." Founded in 1995, it is a network of more than
23,000 religious and community leaders. It includes the Texas Faith Network,
made up of 600 religious leaders across the state. Contact 512-322-0545.
IN
THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Kety Esquivel is the founder of CrossLeft,
a web-based clearinghouse begun in the San Francisco area in 2005 for grassroots
activism by progressive Christians. Contact kety@crossleft.org.
• Daniel Sokatch is executive director of the Progressive
Jewish Alliance, founded in "to assert an authentic progressive Jewish
presence in the campaigns for social justice in Southern California, home to
the nation's second largest city and second largest Jewish community."
Contact 323-761-8350, dsokatch@pjalliance.org.
• Peter Laarman of Los Angeles is executive director of Progressive
Christians Uniting and an ordained United Church of Christ minister. He
is editor of the just-published Getting on Message: Challenging the Christian
Right from the Heart of the Gospel (Beacon Press, 2006) and knows a lot
of other groups active on this subject. Contact 213-989-1630.
• Fred Plumer, a retired minister, is head of The
Center for Progressive Christianity, a web-based network of progressive
faith communities. It is based in Gig Harbor, Wash. Contact 253-303-0022, fplumer@tcpc.org.
•Jim Burklo is pastor of Sausalito Presbyterian Church and author of Open Christianity: Home by Another Road, a primer on the progressive Christian movement. Read his blog. Contact 415-332-3790, jtburklo@yahoo.com.
|
