Press Release

Washington DC May 16, 2009 Among the most prominent opponents of President Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame is Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City- St. Joseph who in a recent incendiary speech described Catholicism as "the Church militant" and told his audience, "We are at war."

In the course of his speech Bishop Finnhe named as "enemies" in this war, not only those who disagree strongly with the Church on various matters, but those who believe in religious tolerance and who reach out in respectful difference in search of "common ground."

Bishop Finn went on to describe dissenters as "dangerous." He also denounced people "in our own ranks... who claim a certain 'common ground' with us, while at the same time they attack the most fundamental tenets of the Church's teachings...". And who are these dangerous enemies of the Church? Finn singles out Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame for having invited President Barack Obama to speak. The principle problem is that the president is prochoice. Finn also gratuitiously notes that the president,"is, of course, not Catholic."

Washington DC March 9, 2009 The Institute for Progressive Christianity ("IPC') applauds President Obama's long-awaited Executive Order lifting the Bush administration's restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

According to The National Institutes of Health, embryonic stem cells "are derived are typically four or five days old and are a hollow microscopic ball of cells called the blastocyst." They are pluripotent, meaning that they "can become all cell types of the body."

On August 9, 2001 former President Bush restricted the federal funding of the research to stem cell lines available on that day and before. The administration claimed that sixty such lines were available for research when in fact twenty-two could be utilized.

IPC Director Frank L. Cocozzelli commented, "Today reason has prevailed over fear. The President has stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. He brushed aside the neoconservative-led Religious Right's often misleading arguments in opposition.

Washington DC

February 2, 2009

The Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC), a Progressive Christian think tank, today issued a "white paper" that outlines a progressive Christian approach to economics.

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.

Washington DC October 16, 2007 The Institute for Progressive Christianity believes that the plight of the undocumented immigrants is of our concern. Therefore, IPC stands in support of the New Sanctuary Movement in the name of hospitality and justice.

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.

Washington DC June 27, 2007 The Institute for Progressive Christianity condemns recent neoconservative attempts to denigrate mainstream Christians as godless. An eggregious example occurred in an exchange between Andrew Ferguson of the Weekly Standard and host Tucker Carlson on the June 14, 2007 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, when Ferguson claimed that Sen. Clinton, a longtime member of the United Methodist Church does not believe in God.

Carlson: "Can you imagine a scenario, though, where the Democrat gets religious voters? Or is abortion is still the stumbling block?"

Challenges the Opposition of Extreme Conservative Leaders

The Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) both commends the courage and Christian concern displayed by Rev. Rick Cizik and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) for recommending preventive action on the issue of global warming, and challenges their “conservative” detractors who demanded Rev. Cizik be fired for spearheading the effort.

Paper a theological breakthrough

Washington DC March 13, 2007 A new Christian think tank today issued the first articulation of gay marriage as "a moral good" that "spiritually liberates straight people as well as gay people.'" The Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) considers the paper - "The Kingdom of God and the Witness of Gay Marriage " - a theological breakthrough.

Vision of Inclusion, Tolerance, and Respect Challenges IRD

Washington, DC February 6, 2007 Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) Director Stephen Rockwell calls the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest publication Strange Yokefellows, "nothing more than a purely politically- motivated attack upon the National Council of Churches (NCC)."