Progressives Conspire to Co-Opt Jesus Christ

The suspension of Duck Dynasty’s patriarch, Phil Robertson, is another salvo against traditional America and Christian orthodoxy.  For decades, progressives have bastardized our founding, the first amendment, laws and language as means to secularize the country.  Devout Christians are to be shamed and shunned.  And if that doesn’t work, the progressives will co-opt the religion itself.

There is a movement to redefine Christianity.  Those who live questionable lifestyles want nothing more than to be accepted by traditional America.  They need to manufacture a doctrine that is permissive and tolerant.  And the best way to accomplish this is by remaking Jesus Christ.  Here is an excerpt from a report entitled:  Redefining Christ and Christianity:

This questioning for the most radical progressives has resulted in a complete re-orientation of the traditional Christian discourse (Hall, 2011). The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Son of God for the salvation of mankind would be a key doctrine to the vast majority of Christians. Yet progressive Christianity seeks to rid itself of any kind of soteriology and the related concepts of the Original Sin, guilt, judgement and inherent worthlessness of humans. They see these ideas as extremely negative, destructive and oppressive in the sense that they lead people to needlessly despise themselves sometimes leading to self-flagellation; one leader even felt that the promotion of such an ideology was the worst injustice committed by Christianity. Not content with the rejection of Christian soteriology, progressive leaders also seek to jettison traditional Christian eschatology; progressive leaders reject the view of heaven and hell as existing separately from and beyond this life. If they believe in such concepts it is in a very abstract way, more as states of mind which can be achieved in this life by anybody (see Sanguin, 2011; Plumer, 2011b; Lawton, 2011) so that ‘heaven’ can be found in this world by a variety of methods (see the section below on progressive spirituality).

Progressive theology goes even further in its rejection of orthodox Christian doctrine to the redefinition of both God and Jesus. In the same way that they cease to view heaven and hell as existing outside the universe, many progressives reject any theistic model of God preferring to see him as part of the universe thereby allowing us to touch the divine in this life. God is no longer the big man in the sky who controls the world, makes demands of us and can be petitioned. Prayer is now seen more as a therapeutic activity, a way finding the inner strength to solve our problems for ourselves. That God is the universe or the universe is part of God means that each of us is also in some small way sacred or even divine; we are all sons (or daughters) of God, which reinforces the emphasis on the inherent worth of human beings. The actual word ‘God’ has become an issue for progressives because of its theistic connotations and so there is no agreed label for this new concept which may reflect a wider confusion over what ‘God’ actually is to post-theistic Christians.

This movement is slowing making its way into mainstream America.  The militant LGBT community is their foot soldiers.  Political correctness is their weapon of choice.  And Duck Dynasty is just one of many casualties.

Source:  https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/redefining-christ-and-christianity-what-can-progressive-christianity-tell-us-about-modern-religion-secularisation-and-the-future-of-spirituality/