Progressive Evangelicals See Their Faith as Inspiration

When the progressive civil liberties group People for the American Way was considering civic activist and philanthropist Carole Shields for its presidency, board members liked the idea of a religious Christian at the helm.

“Somebody said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Baptist preacher’s kid as president of the American Way?’ ” said Shields, who was named to the post in April. “It would make it a little more difficult for the religious right to claim we’re a bunch of heathens.”

While progressive evangelicals in religious organizations are raising their voices more frequently in opposition to their cohorts on the religious right, less visible are leaders like Shields, who are making headway in the secular arena, in everything from government agencies to universities to public service organizations.

Like many of their more conservative peers, they believe the Bible is the inspired word of God--albeit recorded by imperfect scribes--and they are committed to promoting what they see as biblically based values, from equal rights for minorities to environmental stewardship.

Some speak openly about their religious beliefs at work, urging colleagues to hear the “good news.” More tend to be “shy evangelists,” like evangelical Quaker Michael Crook, who talk about their faith only when asked.

“You don’t rise [in secular organizations] by being an in-your-face evangelist,” said Crook, senior director of policy communications for the National Wildlife Federation.

Many who support liberal or moderate causes, he noted, avoid descriptions such as “evangelical” or “born-again” because they are afraid of being labeled “Ralph Reed groupies.” Reed is director of the Christian Coalition, which was founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and has become a powerful conservative political force.

Although it is true that conservatives dominate the evangelical scene, “evangelical” and “conservative” are not necessarily synonymous.

According to a newly released study by the Pew Center for the People & the Press, 56% of whites who identify themselves as evangelicals describe themselves as conservative--but 32% call themselves moderate and 10% identify themselves as liberal. Among blacks, only 37% of evangelicals described themselves as conservative, while 39% said they are moderate and 19% said liberal.

Many moderate and liberal evangelicals share some views with their conservative brethren.

Crook is opposed to abortion and has been called “a fundamentalist and a fascist” by people who don’t like his insistence that Christ is the answer for everyone.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology nuclear engineering professor Ian Hutchinson is an environmental activist, but agrees with the Christian Coalition that religion should be taught in schools. In fact, he says, that would probably blunt the conservative campaign to have creationism taught as science in public schools.

And the Christian Coalition’s stance against gay marriage draws support from M. Gasby Greely, vice president of communications for the National Urban League, a civil rights organization with what is considered a liberal social agenda.

But she is critical of the coalition for not making racial equality more of a priority, and she objects to the tendency among some Christians to lambaste homosexuals.

“We cannot make fun of people’s lifestyles and call them swishy and expect them to come to know us as Christians,” Greely said. “Yes, we must stand up for what we believe, but not in a mean-spirited fashion.”

That spirit of tolerance tends to characterize progressive evangelicals and distinguish them from some religious conservatives.

“If my daughter had gone out and gotten pregnant, I would never have advised her to have gotten an abortion. But I would never have called her a murderer if she had felt compelled to do that, “ said Rep. Glenn Poshard (D-Ill.), a Southern Baptist who bristles at the notion that “Democrats are less Christian” than Republicans.

“If my faith compels me to stand where I stand on the issue of life, the same faith calls me to love other people in the way God loves me, unconditionally. Many progressive evangelicals choose to work outside religious organizations--where they can do more than preach to the converted--but choose fields that are in sync with their moral and philosophical views.”

“It would probably be a mistake to huddle in our own institutions,” said MIT’s Hutchinson, who leads a team of 100 people researching controlled nuclear fusion energy. Evangelicals, he said, “should be out in the world being ‘salt and light’ in secular institutions.”

Environmentalist Crook was working as a reporter covering the environmental beat at the Miami Herald when he felt called to a vocation more in keeping with his faith. “I wanted to come out of the closet as an environmentalist and not hide behind a pretense of objectivity,” he said. “I prayed to God for a more direct way to work on the environment.” Months later, he applied for a job at the National Wildlife Federation and was hired within a week.

Even in the secular arena, evangelicals often speak of their work with missionary fervor. “I never look at anything I do as a job,” said Susan Drake, former head of the State Department’s Secretariat for the International Coral Reef Initiative and a lead U.S. negotiator at the United Nations for the Earth Summit.

“I believe in vocations,” said Drake, who is working toward her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. “Everything I do is to glorify God.”