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January 5, 2012
The Progressive Christian Suspends Publication

One of the nation's oldest continuously published social justice magazines ceased publication Jan. 1, falling to the same social and economic forces that have decimated other non-profit organizations and periodicals in recent years.

One of the nation's oldest continuously published social justice magazines ceased publication Jan. 1, falling to the same social and economic forces that have decimated other non-profit organizations and periodicals in recent years.

The Progressive Christian, a 189-year-old magazine of Christian social witness, suspended publication “indefinitely," according to its Board of Directors, after a winter fund-raising campaign fell far short of the financial resources needed to keep the faith-based social justice periodical afloat.

November 4, 2011
Tweaks

The TPC website is back up, but it can't stay up for much longer without the help of our readers.

Greetings, Netizens! After nearly a month of rocky transition, The Progressive Christian website is back up and running ... sort of. We had to move to a new web hosting provider, and transferring our database of software and content required more work than we anticipated.

Starting today, Nov. 4, you'll once again see the top quality social justice content you've come to appreciate from our contributors. There's quite a backlog of content available, but we'll pick only the genuine cream for your reading pleasure ... or outrage, depending on the topic.

August 22, 2011
Social and Spiritual Capital

One major value of religion is its tendency to build social capital for people, creating networks of relationships that sustain them in both practical and spiritual ways.

July 28, 2011
The Economy of Holiness

When economies forget  "the moral determination to care for the poorest of the poor,"  they become tyrannies that end up destroying the household of human kind, writes F. Richard Garland.

November 28, 2011
Church AWOL on Its Call of Duty

The latest edition of an annual report on church giving shows that American Christians are doing a poor job of caring for the most vulnerable and spreading the gospel.

Adapted from empty tomb release

Unlike video gamers who reported in record numbers to buy  the new "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," the church in the United States appears to be AWOL on its call of duty outlined in Matthew 25 and 28.

That's the conclusion of the 21st edition of The State of Church Giving, produced by empty tomb inc. as a measure of faithful Christian discipleship in America. (empty tomb uses all lower-case letters in its name).

November 15, 2011
Interfaith Groups Plan Budget Super Vigil

Christians, Muslims and Jews across the country plan vigils for Nov. 20 to pray for the members of the congressional "super committee" to create a federal budget that protects the nation's most vulnerable citizens.

WASHINGTON – As U.S. Super Committee lawmakers grind down to a Nov. 23 deadline to slash $1.2 trillion from the federal budget, humanitarian agency Church World Service will be among a gathering of the nation's interfaith leaders in Washington for a Nov. 20 Super Vigil pressing for a budget that preserves what is viewed as vital domestic and international assistance funding.

November 8, 2011
Why Jesus Would Occupy Wall Street

Theologian Aaron Saari draws intriguing comparisons between the aims of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement grows, an increasing number of Republican legislators and media personalities are claiming that the members are overwhelmingly anti-Semitic. From Newt Gingrich to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck to Bill Kristol, the charge of anti-Semitism is becoming a common trope.[i]

November 4, 2011
An Appeal from the TPC Board

October 28, 2011

Dear Friends of The Progressive Christan®,

This is a letter we really never wanted to write: Unless a financial miracle occurs during the next two months, The Progressive Christian® will cease publication on Dec. 31.

October 8, 2011
Technical Update Causes Temporary Shift

Updating content on our TPC website will be temporarily suspended effective Oct. 8 while we work out some technical issues.

Dear Faithful Readers:

Updating content on our TPC website will be temporarily suspended effective Oct. 8 while we work out some technical issues. In the meantime, we'll be posting important news as notes on The Progressive Christian's Facebook page.

We look forward eagerly to returning this website to active status shortly.

Cynthia B. Astle

Editor

October 5, 2011
‘Faithful Budget’ Prayer Vigils Resume

Interreligious prayer vigils to pray for Congress and the nation's vulnerable citizens during budget deliberations have resumed on the lawn on the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The front lawn of the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill has become the site of weekly interreligious prayer vigils for a just, compassionate “faithful budget.” The 15- to 20-minute vigils will be held on Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m. The United Methodist Building faces the U.S. Capitol.

Daily 15- to 20-minute prayer vigils began in July and ran for several weeks while Congress engaged in acrimonious debate over raising the U.S. debt ceiling.

September 15, 2011
The Gospel in Action

Generous Christians in Iowa reach out to Texas ranchers, while Florida churches support farm workers' pilgrimage for labor justice.

Today's Faith & the Common Good highlights the best of denominational outreach as a model for faith-based efforts in society.

* * *

August 1, 2011
Fear Not

Do Washington's antics over America's financial future have you ready to "duck and cover?" Then take heart from the darkly comic wisdom of Pastor Dan about what's truly of value in life.

Caution: The following column contains expletives suitable only for grown-ups.

 

From: Pastor Dan

To: Anyone Tempted to Despair And/Or Mess Themselves in Fear

July 28, 2011
Faith Leaders Arrested

Frustrated that their pleas to the Administration and Congress to protect funding for the nation's most vulnerable are being ignored, nearly a dozen leaders from the faith community were arrested inside the U.S. Capitol Building July 28.

WASHINGTON (NCC News) – Frustrated that their pleas to the Administration and Congress to protect funding for the nation's most vulnerable are being ignored, nearly a dozen leaders from the faith community were arrested inside the U.S. Capitol Building July 28.

Despite repeated warnings from the U.S. Capitol Police, the leaders refused to end their public prayers asking the Administration and Congress not to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.

July 21, 2011
Budget Crisis: Who's Left Behind?

Religious leaders urged President Obama and senior advisers to protect the nation's vulnerable in any federal budget deal during an unusual 40-meeting White House meeting.

 Christian leaders seeking to protect the nation's vulnerable amid America's fiscal crisis urged people of faith to contact their federal representatives July 21 as rumors swirled that President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were close to a budget deal.

July 21, 2011
White House Meeting

Lutheran Bishop Mark Hansen invites the Rev. David Beckmann of Bread for the World to get on the bus taking religious leaders to a meeting with President Obama at the White House.

July 8, 2011
NOW FOR SALE ONLINE!

The Spring-Summer 2011 issue of The Progressive Christian print magazine is now on online with new and different content from the website.

The Spring-Summer 2011 issue of The Progressive Christian print magazine is now on the digital newsstand at MagCloud.com. Purchase of the print magazine delivered by mail for only $10.40 includes a free digital copy as a bonus.

Featured articles include:

May 28, 2011
Should small financial institutions fear the CFPB?

Investor's Business Daily states the American Bankers Association is not happy with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to come. With the new Dodd-Frank Act rules expected, small banks are worried that CFPB bureaucracy will drown them out of business. It's the kind of change small banks cannot see a good reason in which to consider.

Enforcement expected to occur soon

April 29, 2011
Picking the pockets of the poor

Between 1947 and 1979 the income of the poorest 20 percent of people in the United States grew by 116 percent. From 1979 until 2008, however, the poor's income shrank by 4 percent while the rich earned a 73 percent increase. God frowns on this picture.

Between 1947 and 1979 the income of the poorest 20 percent of people in the United States grew by 116 percent. The lowest income growth during those 32 years took place among the richest 5 percent. Their income grew by 86 percent. In other words, the poor gained a little on the rich.

Just 400 people have as much wealth as half of the population.

This changed dramatically from 1979-2008. During those 30 years, the poor saw their income shrink by 4 percent while the rich gained 73 percent, far more than the rest of the population.

April 25, 2011
Capitalism Seen at Odds with Christian Values

Overall more Americans believe that Christian values are at odds with capitalism and the free market than believe they are compatible (44 percent vs. 36 percent respectively), a new national survey finds. 

Religion Press Release Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Overall more Americans believe that Christian values are at odds with capitalism and the free market than believe they are compatible (44 percent vs. 36 percent respectively), a new national survey finds. This pattern also holds among Christians. Among Christians in the U.S., 46 percent believe capitalism and the free market are at odds with Christian values, while only 38 percent believe the two are compatible.

April 25, 2011
Capitalism Seen at Odds with Christian Values

Overall more Americans believe that Christian values are at odds with capitalism and the free market than believe they are compatible (44 percent vs. 36 percent respectively), a new national survey finds. 

Religion Press Release Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Overall more Americans believe that Christian values are at odds with capitalism and the free market than believe they are compatible (44 percent vs. 36 percent respectively), a new national survey finds. This pattern also holds among Christians. Among Christians in the U.S., 46 percent believe capitalism and the free market are at odds with Christian values, while only 38 percent believe the two are compatible.

April 11, 2011
Over the Mountain

If America is to get over its mountain of economic and social problems, Americans must discard the false gospel that individual achievement equals success and regain its historic sense of community sacrifice.

I walk in the Hollywood Hills most evenings after work. Along the way, I almost always encounter tourists. They park their rented cars on Beachwood Drive, at a certain spot near our apartment where they can get a good view of the sign. Many of them pose for a picture with their hands lifted up: the photographer lines up the shot so that it looks like they are holding up the Hollywood sign on the mountain behind them. For at least a moment, the tourists indulge in the fantasy that Hollywood is their town.

April 11, 2011
Philanthropic Colonialism

Can corporate social responsibility help us move philanthropy from the level of charity in giving to the poor and needy to the higher level of development in solving the problems of humanity in our crowded Planet Earth?

Can corporate social responsibility help us move philanthropy from the level of charity in giving to the poor and needy to the higher level of development in solving the problems of humanity in our crowded Planet Earth?

Our need is for more clarity about the social vision or the goals of social transformation – moving from individualism to a sense of community and crossing the boundaries that divide our society.

March 28, 2011
Consumerism Seen as Both Problem and Solution

Book reviewer Robert Cornwall has mixed feelings about a pastor's diatribe about how church marketing has captured the soul of American Christianity.

 

 

Thieves In The Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul, by G. Jeffrey MacDonald (New York, Basic Books, 2010). Xiii + 238 pages.

March 9, 2011
TPC Profile: Ellen LaConte

Ellen LaConte may be little known outside of "deep Green" circles, but the insights of her new book, Life Rules, may hold the keys for humanity to survive its current crises.

People of conscience face two crucial challenges today: (1) Telling the truth about the dire state of the ecosphere that makes our lives possible, no matter how grim that reality, and (2) remaining committed to collective action to create a more just and sustainable world, no matter how daunting that task. It's not an easy balancing act, as we struggle to understand the scope of the crisis without giving into a sense of hopelessness.

February 24, 2011
People of Faith Called to Support Workers' Rights

Religious leaders are urging their constitutents to help protect workers' rights as attacks on public employees' unions emerge as a major tool for balancing beleaguered state budgets.

UPDATED FEB. 25

People of faith across America were urged to stand up for workers' rights during a 30-minute telephone conference call Feb. 24 outlining religious leaders' support for ongoing protests by Wisconsin public employees. Rallies are planned across the nation for Saturday, Feb. 26.