the role of faith in the progressive movement

8/8/2019 The Role of Faith in the Progressive Movement

1/18www.americanprogress.o

The Role of Faith in theProgressive MovementPart Six of the Progressive Tradition Series

Marta Cook and John Halpin October 2010


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The Role of Faith in theProgressive MovementPart Six of the Progressive Tradition Series

Marta Cook and John Halpin October 2010


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Contents 1 Introduction

4 The social gospel tradition

8 Liberal Catholicism and progressive reform

11 Conclusion

12 Endnotes


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Wih he rise o he conemporary progressive movemen and he elecion o Presiden

Barack Obama in 2008, here is exensive public ineres in beter undersanding he

origins, values, and inellecual srands o progressivism. Who were he original progres-

sive hinkers and aciviss? Where did heir ideas come om and wha moivaed heir

belies and acions? Wha were heir main goals or sociey and governmen? How did

heir ideas inuence or diverge om alernaive social docrines? How do heir ideas and

belies relae o conemporary progressivism?

Te new Progressive radiion Series om he Cener or American Progress races

he developmen o progressivism as a social and poliical radiion sreching om he

lae 19h cenury reorm eors o he curren day. Te series is designed primarily or

educaional and leadership developmen purposes o help sudens and aciviss beter

undersand he oundaions o progressive hough and is relaionship o poliics and

social movemens. Alhough he Progressive Sudies Program has is own views abou

he relaive meri o he various values, ideas, and acors discussed wihin he progres-

sive radiion, he essays included in he series are descripive and analyical raher han

opinion-based. We envision he essays serving as primers or exploring progressivism

and liberalism in more deph hrough core exsand in conras o he conserva-

ive inellecual radiion and canon. We hope ha hese papers will promoe ongoing

discourse abou he proper role o he sae and individual in sociey, he relaionship

beween empirical evidence and policymaking, and how progressives oday migh

approach specifc issues involving he economy, healh care, energy-climae change,

educaion, fnancial regulaion, social and culural aairs, and inernaional relaions

and naional securiy.

Par six examines how he social gospel movemen and liberal Caholicism inuenced

he direcion o progressive acivism and hough during he 19h and 20h cenuries.


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1 c am P |t r F P Mm

Introduction

Tere have hisorically been wo primary srands o progressive hough concern-

ing he proper relaionship beween aih and poliicsone secular and he oher

emerging direcly rom religious social values.

Secular progressive hough, associaed wih Enlighenmen liberalism, is skepical

abou paricular religious claims in a pluralisic sociey, and insisen upon keeping

religion ou o poliics and poliics ou o religion. Prominen American liberals

such as Tomas Jeerson and James Madison, among ohers, srongly advocaedreedom o conscience, religious olerance, and sric separaion o church and

sae as represened in he Firs Amendmen o he U.S. Consiuion. Tis classi-

cal liberalism placed a premium on raionaliy, sel-deerminaion, and personal

moraliy above aih, church auhoriy, and public moraliy. I looked o esablish

a consiuional order in America ha would preven he merging o religion and

governmen ha was prevalen in Europe.

Many religious auhoriies during his ime, mos noably he Caholic Church,

viewed liberalism as a sin and worked hard o sop is spread in Europe and

America beore reconciling Caholic eaching wih liberal democracy.1 Tey

disagreed wih he liberal concepion o aih and poliics, which was bes rep-

resened by he religious reedom and disesablishmen clauses o he Firs

Amendmen. Bu hese progressive belies evenually riumphed in his counry

as mos Americans came o accep ha one could reely pracice heir aih while

keeping specic religious belies rom aking over governmen and hreaening he

religious reedom o ohers.

An equally powerul srand o progressive hough emerged direcly rom religious

values during he social gospel movemen. Tese reormers argued ha Chrisiansshould apply heir eachings o public problems. American Proesan minisers and

heologians during he 19h cenury such as Waler Rauschenbusch espoused his

belie, as did poliicians such as William Jennings Bryan, and setlemen ounders

such as Jane Addams and Ellen Gaes Sarr. Caholic social jusice


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leaders such as Fr. John Ryan and Dorohy Day pushed or similar values and

religious acivism, and laer civil righs leaders such as Dr. Marin Luher King, Jr.

ollowed sui. Many o he mos prominen social movemens in American progres-

sive hisory would no have been possible wihou he inspiraional values and moral

auhoriy o socially conscious Chrisianiy and Judaism, an idea ha we explore in

more deail in see par hree o his series, Social Movemens and Progressivism.

Progressives working wihin hese aih radiions applied religious moraliy o

he ask o ransorming American sociey during he indusrial age away rom

he exploiaion o workers and oward more cooperaive orms o economic lie.

Tese aih-driven progressives insised ha sociey and governmens uphold

he undamenal noion ha all people are equal in Gods eyes and deserve basic

digniy, reedom, poliical righs, and economic opporuniies in lie. Religious

progressives promoed he noion o communiy and solidariy above conceps o

individualism and maerialism, and worked o sop unnecessary wars and miliary

aggression across he globe.

Te social gospel movemen and Caholic social eaching played inuenial roles

in he progressive search or economic airness and jusice in he 20h cenury.

Boh radiions promoed he belie ha any rue commimen o he Gospels and

he example o Jesus Chris demanded ollowers o ake concree seps o address

oppression and hardship in his world and o replace he laissez-aire atiudes o

he lae 19h cenury wih a more communiarian oulook. In his amous book,

Progress and Povery, Henry George, a popular economis and social gospel adher-

en, rejeced he radiional noion o religion ha allowed he rich Chrisian o

bend on Sundays in a nicely upholsered pewwihou any eeling o responsibil-

iy or he squalid misery ha is esering bu a square away.

Waler Rauschenbuschs 1907 classic book, Chrisianiy and he Social Crisis,

served as he mos complee saemen o aih-based progressivism and oered

a compelling argumen or he social applicaion o he Gospels. Rauschenbusch

sressed how he essenial purpose o Chrisianiy was o ransorm human soci-

ey ino he kingdom o God by regeneraing all human relaions and reconsiu-

ing hem in accordance wih he will o God. Te purpose o his argumen was o

show people how Chrisian eachings and he propheic radiion o he HebrewBible could be pu o use o omen social change during a period o wan and su-

ering: I anyone holds ha religion is essenially riual and sacramenal; or ha

i is purely personal; or ha God is on he side o he rich; or ha social ineres is

likely o lead preachers asray; he mus prove his case wih his eye on he Hebrew

prophes, and he burden o proo is wih him.2

Henry George rejec

the traditional notio

of religion that allow

the rich Christian to

bend on Sundays in

a nicely upholstered

pewwithout any

feeling of responsib

for the squalid mise

that is festering but

a square away.

Photo: Portrait oF henry george, Public doMain


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Rauschenbusch ook on wha he called he presen crisis wrough by he indus-

rial revoluion and he rise o modern capialism, arguing ha Chrisian civiliza-

ion could no longer wihsand he injusices o conemporary imesinequaliy,

povery, physical deprivaion and hunger, worker abuses. He believed ha desper-

ae imes required genuine moral leadership, and he sough o humanize capial-

ism by encouraging more direc acion. He suppored movemens such as hesetlemen housesurban communiy ceners where low-income people could go

or services and classesas well as labor organizing and solidariy, and Chrisian

voluneerism rom preachers and groups like he YMCA and he Salvaion Army.

Above all, Rauschenbusch counseled people o pu heir heological principles o

work personally by adding spiriual power along he exising and naural relaions

o men o direc hem o ruer ends and govern hem by higher moives.3

On he Caholic side, Pope Leo XIIIs 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, served

as he inellecual and heological basis or a new generaion o social acivism

among American Caholics. Te Popes saemen on capial and labor sougho nd a humane pah or capialism ha respeced workers and avoided he

exremes o boh socialism and laissez-aire conservaism. Rerum Novarum

armed he saes righ o inervene on behal o ciizens, endorsed unionizaion,

and also armed propery righs. Is eachings provided a moral and heologi-

cal basis or generaions o Caholic social jusice reorm mos amously seen in

Monsignor John Ryans Bishops Program o Social Reconsrucion in 1919 and

laer acions during he New Deal.4

Progressives oday come in many sripes, and nonbelievers and believers alike

have managed o nd common ground on key areas rom climae change and

povery o war and social policy. Tis repor seeks o explore he religious roos o

progressivism in more deail, given he primary role ha aih played in he devel-

opmen o he original progressive movemen and in laer civil righs and aniwar

acivism. Tis paper is designed o begin discussions abou he role o aih in

progressive poliics and is no inended o cover every heological nuance or he

wide range o imporan hinking in oher religious and secular radiions.


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The social gospel tradition

I is insrucive o look back on he remendous inuence ha a uniquely

American heology, he social gospel, had on progressivism a he beginning o

he 20h cenury.5 Te social gospel was a once boh a visionary heology and a

reacive one. Te pasors who creaed his new way o hinking abou sin and salva-

ion were horried by he ravaging eecs o he new indusrial economy on poor

and working class Americans. Tey saw Proesan Chrisianiy becoming vacuous

and obsolee as many middle- and upper-class Americans who proessed o be

Chrisians urned heir backs on heir ellow brohers and sisersmany who wereimmigranswho were orced o live and work under horrible condiions.

Social gospel heology oered a radical criique o he individualisic srain o

Proesanism ha had aken roo in America and pu orh in is place a vision o

Chrisianiy ocused on Chriss social eachings raher han ceremony and personal

virue. Is heological roos race back o Horace Bushnell, a Congregaional pasor

and heologian during he mid-19h cenury. Charles H. Hopkins, he rs grea

social gospel hisorian, wries ha Bushnells bookChrisian Nurure did more han

any single acor o break down he exreme individualism o he old Purianism.6

Social gospel heologians like Bushnell atacked he core assumpion in Proesan

heology ha boh sin and salvaion should only be undersood rom a personal,

individual ramework. Te grea social gospel heologian Waler Rauschenbusch

pu orward some o he mos ringing criiques o American Proesanism.

Rauschenbusch spen par o his career minisering in New York Ciys Hells

Kichen and excoriaed American Chrisians or being so singularly ocused on

personal moraliy a he expense o neglecing a Chrisians calling o ollow he

message o Jesus. He wroe inA Teology or he Social Gospel ha:

An unawakened person does no inquire on whose lie juices his big dividends

are atening. Upper-class minds have been able o live parasiic lives wihou

any ellow-eeling or he peasans or enans whom hey were draining o pay

or heir leisure. Modern democracy brings hese lower ellow-men up o our feld

[Horace Bushnells

book] did more tha

any single factor to

break down the

extreme individuali

of the old Puritanism

Photo: Portrait oF horace bushnell, Public doMai


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o vision. Ten, i a man has drawn any real religious eeling om Chris, his

paricipaion in he sysemaized oppression o civilizaion will, a leas a imes,

seem an inolerable burden o guil.7

Social gospel heologians called American Chrisians o accoun, asking hem o

consider wha Jesus spen mos o his ime on Earh doingnamely, caring or hepoor and oppressed. Bapis heologian Shailer Mahews denes he social gospel

as he applicaion o he eaching o Jesus and he oal message o he Chrisian

salvaion o sociey, he economic lie, and social insiuions such as he sae [and]

he amily, as well as o individuals.8 Te upper-middle-class and wealhy Proesan

Americans were proing enormously rom he exponenial growh o GDP wih

he rise o he new indusrial order, and social gospel heologians demanded

ha Chrisians were called o help lif up he poor among hem. Simply pu,

Proesanism had become oo comorable, individualisic, and oherworldly.9

Tis message o social concern could come a no beter momen. Te indus-rial revoluion o he lae 19h cenury had creaed an economic srucure ha

prevened mos working class Americans rom ever reaching a comorable

posiion in lie. American workers in big ciies such as New York and Chicago

were crammed ino lhy enemens, working 14-hour days wihou ever earning

enough o live a lie o decency. Poor children were orced o work in acories ha

posed grea danger o hem.

Rauschenbusch and ohers did no see hese lie condiions as a resul o personal

ailings, since American workers were puting in long, hard hours and no commi-

ing any sor o personal moral ailing. Social gospel heologians argued ha here

were sysemic ailings in he new American economic order, ha he indusrial

capialiss used heir nancial power o creae a sysem ha allowed hem o

accrue enormous wealh, while a he same ime ensuring wha was anamoun o

economic slavery among he lower classes.

Te social gospel began as a heological projec among a ew heologians and

pasors, bu i soon became a popular movemen mainly due o he ineres o

mainline denominaional churches, he inuence o popular novels and muckrak-

ing aricles on he indusrial problems plaguing modern sociey, and is growingconuence wih he broader Progressive movemen.

Te social gospel pasors seemed o srike a chord among he broader public due

o heir belie ha Chrisianiy needed o speak in a reorming, propheic way o

he modern indusrial era. Reverend Charles M. Sheldon penned one such book,

Rauschenbusch

excoriated America

Christians for being

so singularly focuse

on personal morali

at the expense of

neglecting a Christ

calling to follow th

message of Jesus.Photo: Portrait oF Walter rauschenbusch, Public


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In His Seps: Wha Would Jesus Do?,which coined he amous expression ound on

millions o braceles oday and sold 30 million copies, making i he 39h bes-

selling book o all ime. Sheldon argued in his book ha Jesus should be viewed as

a moral guide or acions in his lie and no jus a savior o mankind.

In His Seps direcly inuenced Waler Rauschenbuschs social gospel perspecive.And muckraking journaliss such as Lincoln Seens and Ida arbell, perhaps

unconsciously, also played a key role in urning a small cadre o social gospel

advocaes ino a rue movemen. Tese reporers in he early 1900s deailed he

corrupion rampan in business and governmen and orced Americans o ace he

underbelly o modern indusrial capialism. Many even used he erminology and

imagery o evangelicalism, reerring o wha hey described as sin, greed, guil,

salvaion, righeousness, and soul.10

One o he mos imporan embodimens o he social gospel radiion was he

growh o insiuional churches and religious social setlemens ha supporedall sors o public goods, including kindergaren classes, employmen search oces,

soup kichens, and open orums.11 Tese churches and social setlemens aced on

a spiriual calling o nurure he body, mind, and soul o all who were ineresed

wheher hey were church members or no. Churches began acing as communiy

ceners or he rs ime beginning in he lae 19h cenury, and church praciio-

ners o he social gospel movemen led he American church ino a more progres-

sive direcion, reocusing is eors on winning back he working classes who no

longer el represened by he modern churchs middle-class amosphere.

Jane Addams and Ellen Gaes Sarr ounded perhaps he mos amous social

setlemen, Hull House, o bring he values o Chrisian aih o he poor and dis-

possessed in Chicago. Tousands o local immigrans would visi he house each

week a is heigh or educaional and civic opporuniies. Hull House was no a

chariy bu raher an open environmen or poor amilies o escape he hardships

o work and enemen lie and o share wih ohers ideas abou social problems,

poliics, lieraure, and ar, and advance heir own educaional saus.

Te social gospel achieved ormal religious legiimacy and more widespread vis-

ibiliy when i became an acceped par o he mainline churches eachings andsocial acions. Te Episcopal church leadership ook he rs major ormal acion

by a denominaion when i esablished a Join Commission on Capial and Labor,

charged wih examining labor issues and unres and serving as mediaors beween

bosses and heir workers.12 Te Naional Council o Churches soon ollowed sui,

Hull House was not

charity but rather a

open environment

for poor families to

escape the hardship

of work and tenem

life and to share wit

others ideas about

social problems, politerature, and art, a

advance their own

educational status.Photo: Portrait oF Jane addaMs, Public doMain


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esablishing a Commitee on Labor. Te Presbyerian Church o he USAs labor

minisry, led by Charles Selzle, served as a liaison o he American Federaion o

Labor.13 Tis mediaion was he rs o is kind and helped o bridge he class gap

beween Proesan churches and he working class.

Mos social gospel advocaes did no, however, call or he organized churcho direcly lobby Congress or he sae legislaures abou policy. Teir primary

purpose was o encourage individual Chrisians and reormers o live ou heir

values and belies in he poliical and social realm. Tey saw he churchs role as an

educaor o he Chrisian conscience and a way o insill Jesuss social values and

eachings ino he hears o Chrisians so ha hey could reorm and revoluionize

social immoraliy.14 Tese pasors believed ha Chrisian values were he needed

o roo ou he personal and social sin crippling American sociey.

Te social gospel became a major par o he larger progressive movemen when

is leaders changed heir ocus rom academic argumens o he presen crisiso he lived experience o millions o poor Americans. Rauschenbusch, Mahews,

and oher wriers began using he moi o crisis saring around 1910 o capure

he movemens urgency in American hisory, boh in erms o he danger o doing

nohing and also he opporuniy in reimagining a more socially and economi-

cally jus sociey. Donald Gorrell argues ha his shif in rame and ocus rom he

social quesion o he social crisis was criical in moving rom he absrac o

he concree, rom he academic o urgen realiy.15

Proponens o he social gospel were insrumenal in orming he Progressive

Pary in 1912 and helped o craf he parys social reorm agenda o air wages,

workplace regulaions, social securiy and unemploymen measures, naional

healh care, conservaion, and indusrial reorm. Tese social gospel progressives

pressed noions o broherhood and social solidariy above individualism and

greed, and paved he way or signican legislaive reorms during he Wilson and

Roosevel presidencies. Tis ghing aih was reeced in he pary s unocial

anhem, Onward Chrisian Soldiers, and eddy Roosevels amous proclama-

ion during his accepance speech o lead he Progressive Pary, We sand a

Armageddon and we batle or he Lord.16


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Liberal Catholicism and progressive reform

Te Caholic Church was a radiionally conservaive insiuion ha had been

hosile o liberalism in he 19h cenury. Bu a new spiri o reorm ook hold a

roughly he same ime as he social gospel movemen. Pope Leo XIII issued wha

is ofen considered o be a ounding documen in Caholic social eaching in

1891. Te encyclical Rerum Novarum, which ranslaes o On he Condiion o

Workers, oers specic reecions on how he Churchs belies applied o sociey,

he sae, and he economy a ha ime.

Pope Leos primary concern in his documen was o ocus Caholic atenion on

he appalling sae o workers in modern lie who aced increasing hardship, oppres-

sion, and inadequae wages during he indusrial age. He called his condiion an

aron o human digniy and he common goodhe noion ha he maerial and

spiriual good o each person is conneced o he good o ohers. He argued ha he

sae had a duy o ake he needy under is care and ha indusrialiss had a respon-

sibiliy o rea heir workers airly and o pay hem a decen wage:

Equiy hereore commands ha public auhoriy show proper concern or he

worker so ha om wha he conribues o he common good he may receive

wha will enable him, housed, clohed, and secure, o live his lie wihou hard-

ship. Whence, i ollows ha all hose measures ough o be avored which seem

in any way capable o benefing he condiion o workers. Such soliciude is so

ar om injuring anyone, ha i is desined raher o benef all, because i is o

absolue ineres o he Sae ha hose ciizens should no be miserable in every

respec om whom such necessary goods proceed.17

Te Caholic Church was hoping o build consensus around a middle ground

beween revoluionary socialism gaining seam in Europe and a laissez-aireapproach o economics ha argued agains any eors o address he condiions o

workers. Tis communiarian vision o individual righs, privae propery, and coop-

eraion among he classes, coupled wih sae concern or he poor and he righs o

labor unions, ormed he basis o he early welare sae in Europe along wih many

o he ideas ha ourished in he Unied Saes under Franklin Roosevel.

Pope Leo XIII argue

that the state had a

duty to take the ne

under its care and

that industrialists ha

a responsibility to tr

their workers fairly

and to pay them a

decent wage.

Photo: Portrait oF PoPe leo Xiii, Public doMain


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Pope Pius XI laer expanded upon hese hird way ideas in his 1931 encycli-

cal, Quadragesimo Anno, which ranslaes o Te Forieh Year. He argued ha

saes could avoid he excesses o individualism and collecivism by applying he

principle o subsidiariy, where necessary sae acion o secure individual dig-

niy works primarily hrough he radiional social srucures o amilies, neigh-

borhoods, and local parishes. He saed, Jus as i is gravely wrong o ake romindividuals wha hey can accomplish by heir own iniiaive and indusry and give

i o he communiy, so also i is an injusice and a he same ime a grave evil and

disurbance o righ order o assign o a greaer and higher associaion wha lesser

and subordinae organizaions can do.18

John Ryan, a Caholic pries deeply inuenced byRerum Novarum, urned he

churchs emerging social docrine ino a concree se o poliical demands. He

rs oulined hese policies in he bishops Program o Social Reconsrucion in

1919, and hey included advocaing or a living wage, housing, social insurance,

labor righs, and co-parnership o workers in he managemen and ownershipo business. Ryan and he bishops called or a reurn o Chrisian values and new

spiri o alruism and cooperaion beween rich indusrialiss and heir workers:

Te laborer mus come o realize ha he owes his employer and sociey an hon-

es days work in reurn or a air wage, and ha condiions canno be subsan-

ially improved unil he roos ou he desire o ge a maximum o reurn or a

minimum o service. Te capialis mus likewise ge a new viewpoin. He needs

o learn he long-orgoten ruh ha wealh is sewardship, ha prof making is

no he basic jusifcaion o business enerprise, and ha here are such hings as

air profs, air ineres, and air prices. Above and beore all, he mus culivae

and srenghen wihin his mind he ruh ha he laborer is a human being ,

no merely an insrumen o producion; and ha he laborers righ o a decen

livelihood is he frs moral charge upon indusryTis is he human and

Chrisian, in conras o he purely commercial and pagan, ehics o indusry.19

Ryans pioneering work played a criical role in he developmen o he New

Deal program, which grealy expanded labor righs, creaed an American-syle

welare sae, and shifed he balance in poliical hough away rom conserva-

ive individualism and oward new ideas o cooperaion and solidariy.20

DorohyDay and Peer Maurin complimened his heoreical and policy shif by launch-

ing he Caholic Worker movemen during he heigh o he depression in 1933.

Tey sough o provide direc suppor or he poor (mosly in urban areas) and o

encourage a larger Caholic ehic o nonviolence, concern or human digniy, and

solidariy wih he leas well o.

Ryan and the bisho

called for a return to

Christian values and

new spirit of altruism

and cooperation

between rich

industrialists and

their workers.

Photo: Portrait oF Monsignor John a. ryan, the cauniversity oF aMerica archives


14/18


Te Caholic worker movemen was designed, like he Proesan social gospel, o

bring he lie and eachings o Jesus ino direc acion agains exploiaion and vio-

lence in he lives o he poor. Caholic worker communiies oday choose o live in

volunary povery in order o be more direcly involved in he lives o he needies

and o be ree o pracice nonviolen acions agains oppression in governmen or

sociey. Caholic worker groups and heir oshoos play prominen roles in com-baing povery, racism, war, and miliarism.21

Te Caholic Churchs inuence on progressive poliics grew again during he

papacy o Pope John XXIII and he reorms o he second Vaican Council. Pope

Johns 1963 encyclical,Pacem in erris, which ranslaes o Peace on Earh, or-

mally commited he church o an expansive vision o human righs similar o he

ones oulined in he Unied Naions 1948 Universal Declaraion o Human Righs.

Pacem in erris aligned Church eachings wih concree righs o poliical and

individual reedom, sel-deerminaion, and social and economic securiy declar-ing ha, Any human sociey, i i is o be well-ordered and producive, mus lay

down as a oundaion his principle, namely, ha every human being is a person

because one is a person one has righs and obligaions owing direcly and

simulaneously rom ones very naure. And as hese righs and obligaions are

universal and inviolable, so hey canno in any way be surrendered.22Pacem in

erris was writen a he peak o he Cold War and he major ransormaions o

American lie in he 1960s, and i wen on o inspire progressive acions in sup-

por o civil righs and he Caholic Churchs eors o comba communism and

promoe human righs or people across he globe.

Te relaionship beween Caholicism and progressivism has grown more acri-

monious since he upheavals o he 1960sparicularly around discussions o

reproducive righs, homosexualiy, he deah penaly, and he role o women. Bu

Caholic social eaching has played a cenral role in he developmen o progres-

sive poliical acion over he years and has conribued o he progressive search

or a more humane social and governmenal order. As Presiden Roosevel saed

in honor o John Ryans conribuions o he New Deal, Wih voice and pen you

have pleaded he cause o social jusice and he righ o he individual o happi-

ness hrough economic securiy, a living wage, and an opporuniy o share in hehings ha enrich and ennoble human lie.23 Tis legacy o Caholic social acion

may no be well known o many conemporary progressives, bu i is a criical one

worh considering oday.


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Conclusion

Te secular radiion will always play a prominen role in progressivism, as i has

since he incepion o he counry, bu he ideas o he social gospel and liberal

Caholicism can coninue o serve as propheic voices in he modern era. As

Chrisopher Lasch noes, [I]n many ways, he mos imporan conribuion o

religion o social movemensis a ype o hopeulness a once more modes

and more durable han he hopes associaed wih he idea o progress ound in

various secular ideologies.24 Religion should never be pu in he service o specic

poliical agendas, bu i can play an imporan role in driving public discourse anddeermining wha occupies our public ocials atenion.

Te moral call-o-acion provided by he progressive religious radiion is des-

peraely needed and warraned a a ime when povery is a record highs and

economic inequaliy reaches levels no seen since he Gilded Age. Te core values

o human digniy, compassion, cooperaion, and solidariy buil ino hese radi-

ions can serve as powerul correcives o he rampan maerialism, selshness,

and greed ha hreaen working- and middle-class amilies oday. Jus as religious

voices helped spark he grea ransormaions o he Progressive and New Deal

eras, similarly inspired voices oday can ake he lead in orming a renewed vision

o individual righs, socieal duy, and he common good.


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Endnotes

1 e.J. d, J., Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after theReligious Right(P: P u P, 2008), p. 31.

2 W r, Christianity and the Social Crisis (nw yk:hpc, 2007), pp. 4243.

3 J P w J hp, The Power of Progress: How AmericasProgressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, and OurCountry(nw yk: cw P, 2008).

4 J ob, George G. Higgins and the Quest for Worker Justice: TheEvolution of Catholic Social Thought in America (lm: s W, 2005), p. 40.

5 c hw hpk, The Rise of the Social Gospel in A merican Prot-

estantism: 1865-1915 (nw h: y u P, 1940), p. 3.

6 hpk, The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism, p.5.

7 Wm r,A Theology for the Social Gospel (nw yk:t MM cmp, 1917), p. 19.

8 s Mw g b sm,A Dictionary of Religion andEthics (nw yk: t MM cmp, 1921), p. 416.

9 W J. dm ew, c d sw gf, Gender andthe Social Gospel, (u c: u i P,2003), p. 3.

10 d g, The Age of Social Responsibility: The Social Gospel in theProgressive Era (M: M u P, 1988), p. 37.

11 hpk, The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism , p.155.

12 g, The Age of Social Responsibility, p. 29.


14 g, The Age of Social Responsibility, p. 74..


16 s Mk, Progressivism and the New Democracy, (am:u M P, 1999), p. 71; d, Souled Out:Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right, p. 30.

17 Pp l Xiii, Rerum Novarum (1891).

18 Pp P Xi, Quadragesimo Anno (1931).

19 n c W c, bp Pm s r- (1919).

20 lw d, i s cmm g: t c o nw d, Boston Review, M 2007.

21 a b i c Wk Mm t cWk Mm, p://www.wk./x.m?nm=4, ( spm 25, 2010).

22 Pp J XXiii, Pacem in Terris,(1963).

23 d, Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the ReligiousRight, p. 158.

24 cp l, r c s Mm:W r, s gp, c,Journal ofReligious Ethics, 1990.
http://www.catholicworker.org/historytext.cfm?Number=4http://www.catholicworker.org/historytext.cfm?Number=4http://www.catholicworker.org/historytext.cfm?Number=4http://www.catholicworker.org/historytext.cfm?Number=4


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About the authors

John Halpin is a Senior Fellow a he Cener or American Progress ocusing on

poliical heory, communicaions, and public opinion analysis. He is he co-direc-

or and creaor o he Progressive Sudies Program a CAP, an inerdisciplinary

projec researching he inellecual hisory, oundaional principles, and publicundersanding o progressivism. Halpin is also he co-auhor wih John Podesa

oTe Power o Progress: How Americas Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our

Economy, Our Climae, and Our Counry, a 2008 book abou he hisory and uure

o he progressive movemen.

Marta Cookis a Fellows Assisan o he Faih and Progressive Policy Iniiaive

and he Progressive Sudies Program. Beore joining American Progress, Mara

was campaign manager or a Board o Superv isors candidae in Albemarle

Couny, VA. In 2008, she served as a Common Good Fellow on om Perriellos

campaign or he 5h Disric congressional sea o Virginia, during which shehelped organize church leaders o suppor Perriello across he disric.

Acknowledgements

Te auhors would like o hank Annie Schute, Ed Paisley, Lauren Ferguson,

Conor Williams, and Ruy eixeira or heir valuable insighs and assisance in

shaping his paper.


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The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute

dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity

for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to

these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values.

We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and

international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that

is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

the role of faith in the progressive movement

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