Christian Left

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The term Christian Left (German: Christian Left ) or Religious Left (German: “Religiöse Linke”) used in English is an expression for (mostly American) Christians who represent liberal theology and left political convictions. The term is especially used as an antithesis to Religious Right . The Christian Left have a lot of correspondence with Left Catholicism and the Evangelical Left , also known as Red-Letter Christians .

Christian Left in American Politics

Like the representatives of the Religious Right, the supporters of the Christian Left see themselves as staunch American patriots and America as a Christian country.

Representatives of the Christian Left can be found primarily in the liberal and mainline churches and in their theological seminars . Locally it is mainly represented in the eastern United States, in California and in the Great Lakes area , but rarely in the Bible Belt and in the south.

The Christian Left has been significantly less influential than the Religious Right in American politics in recent years. Opponents of the Christian Left attribute this to a lower following in the United States. Proponents, on the other hand, see the supporters as much larger than the Christian Right and see the reasons in the fact that Christian Left supporters are less willing to articulate their political views as loudly as the Religious Right.

The Christian Left includes representatives of the Afro-American civil movement such as Martin Luther King , Bayard Rustin , Asa Philip Randolph , Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson .

The former US President Jimmy Carter , the activist Jim Wallis , the Baptist Tony Campolo , the Mennonite Ron Sider , the Quaker Richard J. Foster and the activist Shane Claiborne belong to the Evangelical left or to the Red Letter Christian , as they are in part call yourself.

Recently the Christian left has started to organize itself better to fight the well-organized religious right: The Center for Progressive Christianity and The Christian Alliance for Progress are two such groups that have formed in this situation.

Barack Obama , representative of the Christian Left and former US President, attacked the Christian Right in June 2007, accusing it of " kidnapping the faith and using it to turn Christians against one another".

subjects

Issues that the Christian Left is particularly concerned with in American politics are

  • the civil rights , especially for non-white US citizens. The tradition of the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King is continued here.
  • Social policy : Religious leaders of the Christian Left are on the frontline criticizing cuts in social welfare programs or advocating their expansion
  • Women's rights : Christian leftists advocate equal rights for women and within the churches for women's ordination . They are in favor of the possibility of abortion because they do not see the solution to the "problem" abortion in their ban. Instead, they advocate programs that support pregnant women.
  • Peace : Some Christian left groups are part of the peace movement , against both the Vietnam war and the Iraq war .
  • Death Penalty : Christian leftists are generally opposed to the death penalty and campaign for it, particularly at the state level.
  • Euthanasia : In contrast to the Christian Right, the Christian Left is not against euthanasia in principle, but accepts it under narrow, specific conditions. But she turns against euthanasia .
  • Homosexuality : Representatives of the Christian left in the US advocate equal rights for homosexual couples and their unlimited admission to church offices, and advocate the blessing of same-sex couples . Some left evangelicals such as Richard B. Hays or Stanley Grenz expressly welcome homosexual people to the Church, but reject blessings and expect either heterosexual marriage or sexual abstinence for church office.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.redletterchristians.org/start/
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ idea: US presidential candidate attacks religious rights ( Memento from August 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Stanley J. Grenz: Welcoming but Not Affirming: An Evangelical Response to Homosexuality , 1998
  5. ↑ Richard B. Hays: The Moral Vision of the New Testament , Chapter 'Homosexuality', pp. 379-406, 1996