Progressivism’s Christian Roots
This opinion was posted in the Hudson Star Observer January 18th in response to the January 4th opinion piece.
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Like most kids, I usually turned to my father to help me understand many things. When I heard critical – oftentimes mean – comments directed at others, I would ask Dad about them. Invariably, he would shake his head, often chuckle, and say, “consider the source.” I got a lot of good advice from my dad, but none better than to always consider the source. I decided to study history and eventually earned a master’s degree. I spent a great many hours considering sources. Often, a source seemed reasonable, offering convincing evidence to support their conclusion. Other sources made claims that seemed emotional, hard to believe, and made no attempt to provide supporting evidence. I kept the solid sources in my toolbox, while rejecting those that clearly were without merit.
A great example of “consider the source” can be found in an opinion piece from the Jan. 4 edition of the Hudson Star-Observer, which included this claim. “The progressive forces of evil are always at work to undermine, remove, and replace this Christian cultural framework with a godless one devoid of morality.” Note the complete absence of any supporting evidence for what is obviously either an ignorant statement or a deliberate lie.
A variety of sources, easily accessed with a simple Google search, explain that American progressivism grew directly from the Social Gospel Movement. This movement swept America in the early 1900s. Protestant leaders, as well as members of other faiths, believed that Christian ethics should be applied to deal with issues such as economic inequality, poverty, crime, unclean environment, child labor and a host of other problems.
It is an insult to our collective intelligence, and a calculated effort to distort American History, to suggest that progressives are evil or hostile to religion. It was not by chance that Dr. Martin Luther King and other religious leaders led the fight against segregation and for social justice.
For more than 100 years progressives have applied the teachings of Jesus to solving problems. Conservatives have opposed this in almost every case. It is up to them to explain why they have done so.