On May 1st, a day of protest for immigrants rights, the Institute for Progressive Christianity offers the following declaration.

Immigration As Definer of Our Character: In the context of the May 1st Immigrant Rights Marches

By Kety Esquivel, IPC Board Chair

On the question of undocumented immigrants the religious left have an important choice: Will we act as fearful xenophobes or as enlightened patriotic people of faith?

I write this declaration confident that a politically dynamic religious left will step forward in defense of the stranger among us.

But what should a religious left approach to immigration in 2008 look like? Let us assume that it will be an active, interfaith political movement. The immigration marches of 2006 helped pave the way for us to imagine that this is possible. Religious institutions joined political groups in the street in support of the undocumented alien and in opposition to harsh xenophobic legislation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Progressive Faith Newswire: The Center for Progressive Christianity ............

Press Release .....

The Center for Progressive Christianity to Sponsor Pluralism Sunday
Institute for Progressive Christianity to Co-Sponsor

Gig Harbor, WA April 14, 2008

Join thousands of Christians in Washington D.C. and across that country as we worship and witness together to say “YES” to peace and “NO” to the War in Iraq. Events start Thursday, March 6 and end Monday, March 10. Register today

The board of the Institute for Progressive is please to announce the appointment of Jim Ramelis to the IPC Board of Directors. Jim has already been a huge asset to the organization and the IPC is looking forward to increased involvement. His commitment to Progressive Christianity is an example for us all.

Jim Ramelis’s Bio

Jim was born in Virginia and raised in rough and tumble Detroit. He grew up in a working class neighborhood where drunk factory workers beat each other’s brains out on Friday and Saturday nights over words like “Dago" or “Pollock”. He was raised by his natural mother and an adopted father who was an immigrant.

Jim graduated from high school in 1969 and went straight into the service. He served 13 months in Viet Nam and was honorably discharged . Jim was later part of the downtown Detroit Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) , which operated out of Wayne State University.

Criticism Denies Historical and Current Role of Black Church as Central to the Spiritual, Political, and Social Life of the Community

Washington DC January 21, 2008 On this Martin Luther King Day observance, the Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) rejects the recent media attacks against the black church, specifically Trinity United Church of Christ, where Barack Obama attends.

Investors Business Daily's January 15th editorial decried Trinity Church for its "'unashamedly black' church that preaches the politics of black nationalism. And its dashiki-wearing preacher - who married Obama and his wife and now acts as his personal spiritual adviser - is militantly Afrocentric."

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IPC Calls for End of the Policy of Preemption
Washington DC September 17, 2007 Neoconservatives such as William Kristol, Richard Perle, and Michael Ledeen foolishly still believe that simply by bombing specific targets in Iran, such action will spark a democratic revolution. Their reputations as prognosticators have already been tarnished by an ill-advised war in Iraq; one that resulted in the premature withdrawal of forces in Afghanistan allowing Osama bin-Laden to make his escape at Tora Bora.

How Neoconservatives and the Religious Right Have Joined Forces to Fight Stem Cell Research

By Eve Herold and Frank L. Cocozzelli