“The left is rightly committed to a separation of church and state … but we need to not be afraid to invoke arguments that are convincing on why Christian faith is going to point you in a progressive direction.”
This is a very good brief statement on a “Church and State Separation” articulation that also does not preclude “ANY mention” of how faith can be something of which NO ONE need be “afraid”. (And I have seen plenty of ideas about “God and Country” and “Dominionism” proposals that make me shudder. But “under God” need not stipulate a particular “Taliban-ish” approach. Instead, in our public forum presence and participation, let’s think “Kingdom of God” without saying that name, but use values which focus on equality and justice that emphasize “the common good”. We Christians believe that the Kingdom of God is about this “common good” , don’t we? Not just “anybody’s” common good, but a common good with integrity and universality. Some Christians wince at such wording because it “sounds secular” or “sounds Progressive or Liberal”, but these are values that pre-date American political discourse. They reach back to “Shalom”.
(HT to The Christian Left for linking to this post, and to Vance Morgan for the Blog post on Patheos)
