Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Christian Civil War - Leaders unite to find common ground on divisive issues

Just edited this to add another link to Jim Wallis' blog post about it. This is the most interesting thing I've read in a while. It's about a paper called "Let us reason together".
  • Read Jim Wallis' blog about it

  • Here's an excerpt: christianpost.com story.WASHINGTON – The line dividing evangelicals from progressives blurred Wednesday as members from both parties joined in a new mission to erase long-held stereotypes of one another and seek commonality on polarizing issues such as abortion, gay rights, and the role of religion in public life.....

Both sides agreed the “civil war” between evangelicals and progressives needs to end and common ground pursued in order for the nation to make significant progress on divisive issues.

“I think the way we have been dealing with differences in this country simply doesn’t work,” said the Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of the 10,000-member Northland Church in Florida......read the rest

Other supporters of the initiative include: Dr. David P. Gushee, distinguished professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology; the Rev. Brian McLaren, author, speaker and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists; Dr. Paul de Vries, president of New York Divinity School; Jim Wallis, president and CEO of Sojourners/Call to Renewal; and Tony Campolo, president of The Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education.

1 comment:

Cheryl said...

Hmmm, did you read the comments at the bottom of the article? Clearly, more of the those posting are more concerned about "compromising their principals" if they engage in this kind of dialogue.

Unfortunately, most fundatmentalist Christians have as their foundation, a house of cards... if they say even one thing is NOT based on an (almost) literal translation of the Bible, then everything else becomes suspect as well, and boom! Down go the cards.

The effort is honorable, but I think it will fall on deaf ears for the most part. I guess it's not too much to hope for, but I'm not gonna hold my skeptical/cynical breath.