Vote Common Good - Faith Based Politics
Christianity has been a major force in the western world in ministering to humans spiritual explorations and informing their political and cultural choices. For example, in the time of feudal kingdoms the relationship between monarchs and church leaders was a constant source of creative tension with the Christian Church providing monarchs with the divine right anointment. Literally God has chosen them to rule. In modern times, blocks of Christian voters are courted by candidates of all political positions.
In the United States, fundamentalist Christianity has had a major impact on political movements since its inception. That is why when we consider the future, the role of Christianity has to be included. Although fundamentalist evangelicals continue to be a major force in US politics, a new group of pastors and congregations self-identifying as “progressive” evangelicals are emerging as a new force asking the question “what would Jesus do” in a very different way.
At the moment the more religious right elements of the evangelical movement support Republican policies under President Trump. Progressive evangelicals find these policies and actions to be out of alignment with what Jesus really taught. For example, Jesus would not have separated children from their parents, he did not turn his back on the poor and underprivileged and he administered to the sick no matter who they were.
In the 2018 mid-term elections we tracked a group of these progressive evangelical activists as they took their message on the road to RED districts across the country in a outrageous old time Vote Common Good bus tour. We helped them get their story out to the press through videos and the results were quite satisfying. In the 2020 elections, they will continue to evangelize under the banner of Vote Common Good. They are targeting white evangelical voters who normally vote Republican and inviting them to take a more progressive stance based on the true teachings of Jesus.
Below are videos from the Vote Common Good 2018 bus tour and interviews with two of the leading lights of this movement, Frank Schaefer and Doug Pagitt.
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Vote Common Good Bus Tour Invitation
Doug Pagitt headed up the Vote Common Good 2018 bus tour in selected congressional districts attempting to flip 5-10% of the white evangelical voters to progressive candidates. The result was that VCG contributed to flipping 45% of these red districts to Democratic candidates.
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Inside the Vote Common Good Bus Tour
Doug gives the rational for the VCG bus tour that asks the question "what would Jesus do" when faced with the modern challenges of immigration, income equality and health care. VGG is promoting the acceptance of these more progressive Christian views in white evangelical audiences.
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Frank Schaeffer Interview
Frank comes from a long line of evangelical royalty. His father Francis Schaeffer was a compatriot of Billy Graham and wrote best selling books that established the basis for the next generation of fundamentalist evangelical leadership. Frank joined his father in this movement, writing his own books and making Hollywood movies until he woke up to a more progressive understanding of the teachings of Jesus. Neither a Republican or Democrat Frank speaks out these days for humanistic values that will create the generative world he wants for his grandchildren.
Doug describes his original community of faith and what has brought him to self identify as a "progressive" evangelical. Doug is the leader of the VCG organization and in this interview spells out what it stands for and why he thinks it can become a potent force in our political considerations.
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Doug Pagitt Interview