Editorial: The Religious Left is Essential to the Progressive Movement

August 10, 2005

Source: Common Dreams News Center / The Nation

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0810-27.htm

On August 10, 2005 the The Nation ran an editorial by its editor, Katrina vanden Heuvel. She was responding to an email written by Rabbi Michael Lerner (founding editor of Tikkun magazine and founder of the new organization, the Network of Spiritual Progressives) to readers of Tikkun urging them to call progressive media outlets such as The Nation who he perceives are hostile to the religious left. Katrina writes, "I traded emails with Lerner after receiving that letter. I pointed out that The Nation has, in fact, been committed to the inclusion of spiritual and religious perspectives since the magazine was founded by men (no women, sadly) devoted to a moral politics which sought the abolition of slavery. I reminded Lerner that leading religious left figures have appeared in our pages over the decades... And, on a more personal note, I published an interview in this space in February in which the Rev. George Hunsinger--the McCord Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and the coordinator of Church Folks for a Better America--argued that reviving the progressive movement 'may well hinge on whether' the liberal left can be more 'hospitable to religious people'... So, The Nation will be following the work of The Network of Spritual Progressives in the days to come and we urge our readers to do the same."

See also: Judaism, Civic