Christian Liberals & Progressive People of Faith

A poll taken here several months ago established that a majority of respondents were atheist. That doesn't mean all DUers are, but it certainly would indicate that there's a pretty sizable bloc. More to the point, many are what I would call not just atheist but antitheist, with Christianity the main target for their scorn.

It should be kept in mind that, for many who do not come from a religious background, "Christianity" generally means the fundamentalists and the "Religious Right" who are overrepresented in the media and carry political clout that most mainstream denominations don't. (This is a fact that many of us of "boomer" age fail to understand, coming as we do from a time when Christian leaders were active in the anti-Vietnam and civil rights movements.) And the fact is that, however many of our own denominations/parishes are explicitly inclusive and welcoming, a majority of U.S. Christianity is still anti-gay and, worse, pushes for laws that institutionalize discrimination. Still, I doubt that many of these antitheists would understand my counter-claim that, were I not a Christian, I would most likely have no choice but to become a libertarian conservative -- because, in the absence of a God (and particularly the God revealed in my faith), I would have to conclude that Social Darwinist "survival of the fittest" was the essential natural law, and that those "inferior" examples of the human race (the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, etc.) should die off as quickly as possible so that the race as a whole could progress. It is only by my understanding of God as revealed in scripture and, above all, in Christ that causes me to hold to a higher code of human conduct than merely standing aside and letting "natural selection" take its course.