One of the great historical
strengths of the progressive movement has been its resolute commitment
to the separation of church and state. As progressives, we don't want
our government influenced by anybody's religious laws. Instead of
superstition and mob id, we prefer to have real science, based in real
data and real evidence, guiding public policy. Instead of holy wars,
othering, and social repression -- the inevitable by-products of
theocracy -- we think that drawing from the widest possible range of
philosophical traditions makes America smarter, stronger, and more
durable over time.
That said:
while we all want a government free of religion, there are good reasons
that we may not want our own progressive movement to be shorn of every
last spiritual impulse. In fact, the history of the progressive movement
has shown us, over and over, that there are things that the spiritual
community brings to political movements that are essential for success,
and can't easily be replaced with anything else.
Religion
has been central to the formation of human communities -- and to how we
approach the future -- for as long as homo sapiens has been around.
Apart from God-belief (which varies widely between religions), all
successful religions thrive and endure because they offer their
adherents a variety of effective community-building, social activism,
and change management tools that, taken together, make religion quite
possibly the most powerful social change technology humans have ever
developed.
What does religion offer that progressives need to make our movement work? READ MORE
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