Foreign Policy Blogs

The Religious "Left'

From all the media coverage of the current U.S. presidential election, it seems that the "liberal" or "progressive" voice has once again entered U.S. politics. According to a recent Q&A at the Pew Forum, "the religious left" is more active. John Green, the Senior Fellow in Religion and American Politics, provides clear definitions of the religious right and religious left in the interview. He distinguishes "red-letter Christians" from "progressive centrists" and the "core religious left." Despite the subgroups in the body of people making up the religious left, John Green says that they are united by social welfare issues, environmental protection, and foreign policy. Other issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage are "potential points of division." The religious left also has "in common a negative reaction to the religious right." Based on a 2004 Survey of Religion and Politics, the Senior Fellow estimated in the interview that the religious left totaled a little more than one-quarter of American adults.   

 

Author

Karin Esposito

Karin Esposito is blogging on religion and politics from her base in Central Asia. Currently, she is the Project Manager for the Tajikistan Dialogue Project in Dushanbe. The Project is run through the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies with the support of PDIV of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The aim of the project is to establish practical mechanisms for co-existence and peaceful conflict resolution between Islamic and secular representatives in Tajikistan. After receiving a Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law in 2007, she worked in Tajikistan for the Bureau of Human Rights and later as a Visting Professor of Politics and Law at the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research (KIMEP). Ms. Esposito also holds a Master's in Contemporary Iranian Politics (2007) from the School of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran and a Master's in International Relations (2003) from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (GIIDS) in Switzerland.

Areas of Focus:
Islam; Christianity; Secularism;

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