Americans are involved in a debate over truth. After decades of the “alternative facts” of FOX News, Trump 1.0, and COVID-denialism, surely no one can deny this.

But there is a small subset of this debate very near and dear to my heart: A debate about what it means to be “Christian.”

And right now, in today’s news, Americans are are witnessing perhaps a example of that debate: The sermon delivered by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde in the Inaugural Prayer Service, and by the response of Donald Trump and his Evangelical friends.

Bishop Budde ended her sermon with a passionate plea directly to President Trump: to show “mercy” to the LGBTQ+ community, and to immigrants. If you haven’t seen the clip, here it is.

The public reaction has been swift, and predictably polarized.
Republicans, Evangelicals, and even President Trump, have lambasted Bishop Budde.
The broad political Left —and some independents— have cheered her words.

Along with that polarization has come a second and very predicable (to me) response: Incredulity that any Christian preacher could/would say such words.

Among Trump and Evangelicals, the incredulity is the claim that she’s not even Christian.
Among the broad Left and Independents, the broad surprise that ANY Christian could/would ever say such things in any setting.

What I am here to remind you today —through my personal testimony, and also through data— is what I always remind you about in these moments:

Budde’s sermon is classic “Progressive Christianity,” and not at all unusual or unique.

Progressive Christianity can be found among a significant, and stable, minority of American Christians.
Progressive Christian thought, theology, and witness, has *always* been part of American’s cultural identify.
Progressive Christian thought *will* always be here, just as religion is also likely to be here.

Like Bishop Budde, Progressive Christianity is my Christianity too. It’s been my Christianity for more than thirty years now, and I have been blessed to serve theologically Progressive local United Methodist Churches in that period. That’s my personal testimony today.

Here are words Bishop Budde said that mirror words WE say at Kessler Park all the time:

“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world.”

Budde specifically named the fear of the Queer community, and the immigrant community. We also do this, fairly regularly. I have, personally, thirty years of writing on immigrants and the gay community, expressing God’s love and mercy for them.

This is not at all to compare myself to her, nor to steal her well deserved spotlight for her courageous words.

But it IS to frame the truth that is often missed: While the bold courage of Bishop Budde in that specific setting is indeed remarkable, this theology is not at all unusual or unique.

Almost every week, in our church, Kessler Park United Methodist Church in North Oak Cliff Dallas, we name these truth.

More than this, thousands of other American Christian churches do too.
Millions of American Christians do.

Again, this is not an attempt at pulling the spotlight away from Bishop Budde. But it is to make a point I’ve made dozens of times over the years: Theology like this is normal, common, and consistent; among a sizable and stable minority of American Christians.

Please do applaud Bishop Budde’s heroic courage for “taking her shot” in that setting. It was BOLD!
But please do NOT believe she is alone…or that you are alone, if these are your Christian beliefs….or that this represents some new or radical form of Christianity. Yes, the courage of the setting was incredible.

But, no, the theology OF the statements: very normal for Many American Christians.

Always has been.
Always will be.

But, I’m here with data too. Because on the broad Right and Left, we tend to reduce ALL Christians to Evangelicals.
Or, we regularly dismiss the data that show the relatively stable non-Evangelical Christian community, in favor of shaking our fists against the Evangelical majority.

Datawise, however, we can see the relative strength of this minority part of American Christians, as expressed in 2024 exit polling data. As I always remind you, this is a clumsy way of “proving” the existence of non-Evangelical Christian voters. Not all voters like to identify with either “Team Red” or “Team Blue.”

But polling and exit data is almost always a reliable stand-in of what people broadly believe in the culture.

So, here are the facts:
In my own part of the Christian world (White non-evangelical Protestants) 42% voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.
37% of White, and 35% of Hispanic, Catholics did too.
17% of White Evangelicals voted against the broad Evangelical majority and supported Harris.
Finally, as hopefully is unsurprising, a whopping 86% of Black Protestants voted for Harris.

Are any of these numbers the “majority” of voters in these categories?
Except for Black Protestants, no they are not.

But let’s cut the data in a slightly different way. Let’s look at support for “Democrats” who identify as ANY KIND OF CHRISTIAN.

Asked as a question: “What portion of the Democratic coalition calls itself ‘Christian?’”
(Again, I understand this is clumsy, in that many Progressives would not identify as “Democrats.” But it’s clear DATA we can use to understand the picture…)

If you look at exit polling among the Democratic coalition (2023), you see this:
38% of the Democratic coalition identifies as some form of “Christian.”
That number is jumps to 51% if Latter Day Saints are included (and, yes, this inclusion is debated by some…)

Either way, here is my point: That number is still HIGHER than those who identify as “religiously unaffiliated” !!!
(33% of the Democratic Coalition)

Said in the simplest terms: however you slice the data, Christians who vote Democratic are still a sizable share of the Democratic coalition, and still a larger share than those who are “Unaffiliated.”

But, as we’ve already noted in this essay, our broad cultural debate about Christianity always flattens down these truths. Both “sides” of our political debates do this.

We all apparently broadly believe that to be “Christian” is to be “Conservative” or “Republican,” and that to be Progressives or Democrat is to be “non-religious.”

Again, sure, the data might be shifting toward this. But at this cultural moment, Democrats who identify as “Christian,” still outnumber those who identify with “none of the above.”

“Why do you always pound on this point, Eric?”

Because for thirty years, I’ve had a front-row seat for how the cultural assumption is that to be “Christian” is to be “Evangelical.” I’ve witnessed significant parts of the broad Left lambast ALL religious belief.

Friends, when they do that, simply be aware: They are literally lambasting the MAJORITY of Democratic voters!

Do I know why they do it? Do I know why people on the broad political Left lambast “Christians?”
Of course I do. Because I lambast that theology too. Because there is plenty of extremely harmful Christian theology out there, that supports the White Supremacy that led us to Donald Trump 2.0. I speak against this all the time.

But Progressive politics is always coalitional. And until Progressive offer a more nuanced approach to religion —beyond the binary rejection of Evangelical theology— the Progressive coalition will continue to be divided against itself in a way that the Conservative coalition never is.

Progressive Christians like me, other Mainline Protestants, Jews, Catholics, and most especially Black Protestants, all express a faith and a theology that tends to broadly align with Progressive values.

No, none of these groups add up to a majority of American Christians.
But, yes, we are here, and we have always been here. Our faith compels us to this social action, not the other way around. We are ready, as always, to walk hand-in-hand, side-by-side, with all people of good will in the fight for justice. No, we do not demand that everyone ascribe to our beliefs. In fact, quite the opposite, we try to express and inclusive love that meets people where they are, as we believe Jesus always did.

And after making all the points of this essay yet again, one final point I often make in a moment like this, is directly to Christians, or Christian-adjacent people, on the broad Left or Center of our Nation:

If you are a Christian, or former Christian, with any desire at all to support an organized Church, JOIN US.

Join a Progressive Christian local church in your city or town.

Don’t simply boycott what you find to be harmful among Evangelicals, and stay home; but proactive participate with us, in our witness to a loving, compassionate, and more inclusive vision of humanity. Give of your time, your talent, your resources.

Yes…stop attending local churches with harmful anti-queer or anti-immigrant messages. Proactively choose to support Progressive Christian congregations.

Donald Trump called the service yesterday “boring.” This is a common complaint.

Yes, Progressive Churches are smaller. We’re less likely to have fog machines, or praise bands. Like all Progressive organizations, we fight amongst ourselves, which often limits our reach and scope. Our congregations are very UN-likely to ever scale-up the way Evangelicals do. (That why Progressive Religion, like Progressive Coalitions more broadly, are always more fragile, and less like to “scale up” to megachurches led by “strong leaders”).

But we are here.
We have always been here.
And we likely always will be.

Progressive Americans are very good at boycotting companies like Chick-fil-A; although, I even know gay friends who eat there. But Americans still always eat lunch, somewhere.
More recently, folks have abandoned “X” for “Bluesky.”
We know how to place our treaure into oganizations that more align with our values.

But we Progressive Americans are far worse at putting our time, talent, and treasure into religious organizations that align with our social and political values.

I fully understand that this last appeal is for a smaller segment of the broad political Left. (Expressed in the statistics from earlier in this essay)
But I hope I’ve shown, through data and personal experiences, Christians, like Bishop Budde, are still an important part of Progressive coalitions.

Bishop Budde’s actions were heroic yesterday. But Bishop Budde’s theology can be found, every Sunday, in thousands of houses of Christian worship, through the normal Christian witness of Progressive Christians.

If you found her words compelling, join us.
Join us a part of your own ongoing spiritual practice and social justice resistance.

Never before will community be as important as it will be during these next few years.
Seek us out, if you need us.

We’ll be here.

We always have been.