The Christian Alliance for Progress is a new national movement to reclaim Christianity from the Religious Right. The Alliance wants America to know that the Religious Right does not represent the beliefs or politics of most Christians and that they reject the Religious Right's use of the name of Christ and the language of the Christian faith to advance a divisive, radical agenda to erode the separation between church and state.
The Christian Alliance for Progress, which is supported by private donations, began organizing in March of 2005 and has thus far attracted around 3500 members. The Alliance, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, describes itself as a grass-roots organization and has plans for a national membership modeled after the Christian Coalition, a conservative political organization that was begun by Pat Robertson.
The Alliance was founded by Patrick Mrotek, a health management consultant from Jacksonville, Florida. "We can no longer stand by and watch people speak hatred, division, war and greed in the name of our faith," Mr. Mrotek said in a telephone interview with Lisa Anderson, Chicago Tribune national correspondent, "We believe we can no longer stand by and watch the language of our faith used in that manner, and we think it is time to reclaim our faith."
There are millions of Christian Americans who hold moderate to progressive views — or who are, at the very least, offended by the Religious Right’s extremist political rhetoric. These Christians have become increasingly aware of how the Religious Right's appropriation of the language of Christianity has caused many people to become circumspect with regard to the politicization of Christianity and to suspect and question the motives of any and all Christians involved in politics and government.
Mainstream and progressive Christians do not accept the Religious Right's interpretation of Christian values and they reject the idea of Christianity being usurped by government as a device for the advocation of bigotry and injustice via ostracism and subjugation. They believe that the Religious Right's misuse of Christianity and misunderstanding of core Christian values has caused the Christian faith to be associated with the radical ideologues and theocrats who have made large contributions to the polarization of our nation.
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