PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN VOICES

Christian progressives, we're encouraged to take heart. Our voices are beginning to be heard.

For example, Governor Bob Riley of Alabama proposed a tax increase to help the poor, calling this action his Biblical duty. On CBS News, Gov. Riley said, "we're supposed to love God, love each other, and help take care of our poor." [Ed. note: Riley's bill went down in flames.]

And former US Ambassador to the United Nations John C. Danforth, a former US senator and an Episcopal priest, says he does not fault religious conservatives for political action on high-profile issues like the Terri Schiavo case, but that the Republican Party has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement.  He warns that, aside from obvious First Amendment issues, the work of government and political leaders is to hold together as one people in a very diverse nation in which religion can be uniting influence but is more often highly divisive.