7. Boundaries of Progressive Christians’ Social Identities

Abstract

This chapter unpacks why many progressive Christians see themselves as more closely aligned with Muslims than with conservative Christians and how their more flexible progressivist theology allows for this in-group and out-group phenomenon. Their humanistic ethic of social justice seeks to serve and learn from people, such as religious minorities like Muslims, who are perceived to have unequal access to power in Western culture. Progressives do not feel that Muslims need to accept traditional Christian doctrines in order to share in their humanistic ethic of social justice; in fact, they feel that rigid Christian doctrinal beliefs sometimes get in the way of that ethic. Whereas conservatives hold relatively moderate views of progressives, progressives hold much more negative views of conservatives. A substantial part of how progressives identify themselves is by exposing clearly what they are not—namely, conservative Christians. This chapter argues that the progressives’ strongly negative views of conservative Christians are tied to progressives’ belief that conservatives’ beliefs and behaviors have numerous moral deficiencies, and they are not taking seriously biblical principles of social justice. In contrast to theological conservatives, progressive Christians are more likely to surround themselves with a homogeneous Christian peer group that think like they do about Islam.