It’s a internal divide that’s forced some progressive evangelicals to part ways with the name. Just this week, co-founder of the progressive Red Letter Christian movement, Tony Campolo, told Premier that “A lot of people who are evangelical in their theology, do not want to be called ‘evangelicals’ anymore.” Being evangelical in the United States means “you're anti-gay, you're anti-women, you're pro-war,” he adds. [...]
Robertson accepts evolution, climate change, the reality of systemic racism, and that “black lives matter.” He’s “somewhere in the middle” of the pro-life/pro-choice debate. He longs for the end of “gender binaries” and patriarchy; he also hasn’t been afraid to make his progressive evangelical spirituality known. His activism has garnered attention—he’s spoken at the White House Summit on Bullying, been interviewed on NPR, and has bylines in TIME, The Washington Post, and Religion News Service.
But it hasn’t been all smooth-sailing for him; he once lost a book contract when his evangelical publisher asked him to disavow his bisexual identity and his work for marriage equality. There are Christian distributors who have blacklisted his name. He’s lost friends and was called a heretic in college.
Brandan is representative of a small and less-explored demographic of religion in America; one that is currently overshadowed by prominent, straight conservative evangelical leaders who openly oppose progressive, liberal thinking.
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