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Stephen Henderson (left) with Faith Fowler (middle) and Nick Hood III(right)

Many of the major progressive movements of our nation were rooted in the church. Political strategy centered around moral obligation came from religious groups that pushed for an end to slavery, equal rights for women, and an end to Jim Crow laws. But over the past few decades the message of religious obligation and morality has been largely won-over by the Conservative movement. The Republican Party has benefited greatly from the support of the conservative church, which has found political inroads with an anti-abortion, anti-LGBT, evangelicalbase.

But new humanist movements are afoot that have invigorated the liberal church with discussions at the fore over the value of Black and immigrant lives, and the future health of ourplanet.

Can progressive churches and religious messages find their way back into political and social prominence in a way that shapes the future of our country? Or are progressive movements now owned primarily by secularAmerica?

Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for theNew York Times, recently published an article titled Liberals Fighting for their Faith: Seeking to Break Rights Grip on Nations Moral Agenda. Goodstein joins Stephen Henderson onDetroit Todayto discuss the role of faith inpolitics.

Goodstein says after President Donald Trump was elected, she noticed religious people wanting to make their presence known at marches andprotests.

I think what theyre saying is that they want to bring a moral language to the debate, Goodstein says. People of faith and the clergy, she says,believe they have language that can help the country decipherright from wrong.

The conversation continues withRev. Faith Fowler, executive director ofCass Community Social Servicesand pastor ofCass Community United Methodist ChurchandRev. Nick Hood III, pastor and senior minister of thePlymouth United Church of Christ, both inDetroit.

I think the challenge for today is that 65 or 70 percent of Americans dont go to church, says Hood. The people in the progressive movement who are driving the liberal politics right now, many of them are not in church The other issue is that many of the churches in Detroit are fighting for survival [because they] cant pay their water billSo I dont think the church has really forsaken the politics. Its kind of a sleepinggiant.

Many Detroit churches are struggling to stay open, but according to Fowler, theyre still driving charitable work in theircommunities.

Almost every church in the city of Detroit is doing somethingbecause theyre surrounded by such great need, says Fowler. At one of our main campuses, the poverty rate is over 44%, so those mercy ministries are important. But so are justice ministries Part of the problem is if churches receive government money, they feel very limited in what they can do as it relates to justice ministries because your funding comes from the government, the separation of church and state, and all that kind ofthing.

Click on the audio player above to hear the fullconversation.

Jake Neher/WDET

First Unitarian Universalist Church inMidtownDetroit

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Can Religious Progressives Become A Political Force Again? - WDET

Sen. Bernie Sanders has spoken out against the progressive lefts ongoing efforts to suppress free speech on campus, stating that it only contributes to rising political tensions in the United States.

Sanders statements come in the wake of James Hodgkinsons mass shooting of GOP congressmen during a morning baseball practice in Alexandria, VA, which hospitalized Majority Whip Steve Scalise and wounded several others. Following the shooting, Sanders deplored Hodgkinsons actions, describing the violence as despicable and unacceptable in our society.

I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through non-violent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values, said Sanders at the time.

Speaking on CBS, Sanders said that efforts to suppress free speech contributed to the rising tide of political violence.

Look, freedom of speech, the right to dissent, the right to protest, that is what America is about, he said, per PJ Media. And, politically, every leader in this country, every American has got to stand up against any form of violence. That is unacceptable. And I certainly hope and pray that Representative Scalise has a full recovery from the tragedy that took place.

The senator stated that people have a right to speak on campus, even if their speech is considered disagreeable or problematic. In February, leftist activists at UC Berkeley shut down a speech by conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos using violence.

And you have a right, if you are on a college campus, not to attend. You have a right to ask hard questions about the speaker if you disagree with him or her, Sanders said. But what why should we be afraid of somebody coming on a campus or anyplace else and speaking? You have a right to protest. But I dont quite understand why anybody thinks it is a good idea to deny somebody else the right to express his or her point of view.

What is very clear is, we are in a contentious and difficult political moment in our countrys history, he added. I have very grave concerns about the Trump agenda right now.

Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at@stillgray on Twitterand onFacebook.

Link:
Bernie Sanders Tells Progressives to Stop Suppressing Free Speech on College Campuses - Heat Street

ATLANTA The call came earlier than last time for the Jon Ossoff campaign: The Democrat failed to prevail in the special election for Georgia's 6th Congressional District. After the 30-year-old declared defeat, Democratic and progressive leaders said there was nothing more they could have done to beat out Karen Handel, the victorious Republican, in the traditionally conservative district.

With a historic commitment of money and people, Democrats and progressive groups drew a lower level of support for Ossoff on Tuesday night than he attracted in the April primary.

In the campaign's final days, the Democratic National Committee sent 40 staffers and interns to Tuesday's special elections in Georgia and South Carolina, a party aide said. A majority of those party operatives went to Georgia, the aide noted, saying the support was "a significant amount" of staff members for the DNC to commit to a House race.

A progressive organizer in Georgia said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party's campaign arm in the House, sent at least a dozen staffers to the Georgia race, including Steve Sisneros, a high-ranking DCCC official.

The crowd of supporters at Jon Ossoff's campaign headquarters in Atlanta on Tuesday night

"As we look towards key races in 2017 and 2018, its clear that the enthusiasmfor Democratsis growing across the country," said Sabrina Singh, the DNC's deputy communications director, in a statement. A DCCC spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The DCCC alone spent $5 million backing Ossoff's House bid. Tuesday's failure is made more painful by the outpouring of support among local grassroots groups, some of which pointed fingers at the national party for failing to effectively support Ossoff.

Ossoff cited those groups in his concession speech. "It's not been about me. It's about you," Ossoff said, citing the more than 12,000 people who volunteered on his campaign. As he paused in his address to the crowd of supporters, a woman shouted: "Someone has to lead us!"

Isaac Bloom, the national organizing director for Indivisible, said in an interview that he was proud of the work done by grassroots groups he helped coordinate with. "Indivisible Georgia left it all on the field," Bloom said. "No matter what happened tonight, we are changing the map for 2018."

Supporter Jan Yanes, center, cries as Democratic candidate for 6th Congressional District Jon Ossoff concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Adrienne Lever, campaign director for SwingLeft, canvassed for Ossoff and coordinated with her organization's 200 phone banks around the country to push Ossoff toward victory. Lever, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid, was optimistic going into the evening, but later said the Georgia 6th would always be "a very difficult race" for Democrats.

"The fact we had an opportunity to play here says a lot about the state of politics," Lever said. Her organization's 300,000 volunteers work to push Republican-held House districts toward Democrats. SwingLeft is currently targeting 63 districts nationwide, Lever said.

Of those districts, the Georgia 6th "was, by no means, the closest district and the most viable district for Democrats to win," Lever said.

More:
Democrats and progressives on Jon Ossoff's defeat: We "left it all on the field" - Mic

Protesters during the Womens March in Midtown Manhattan on Jan. 21, 2017 in New York City.Joel SheakoskiGetty Images

Flynn is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.

By now its clear the Trump era will be cruel to women . The President and Congress have proposed draconian cuts to the nations most effective health, nutrition, education , and disability programs, eviscerating benefits that have kept families afloat for decades. These cuts would impact millions of American women and their families. However, women of color would bear a particularly heavy burden as conservatives fortify the structural racism and sexism that has hurt them for centuries.

While Trump pursues his dystopian vision for America, some progressives want to abandon so-called identity politics. But that would only further marginalize women at greatest risk in the current political environment and who have long been the engine of progressive politics.

As I demonstrate in Justice Doesnt Trickle Down, a report published recently by the Roosevelt Institute and the Ms. Foundation for Women , women of color experience stark inequities. Compared with white women, women of color have higher levels of unemployment and poverty. They face stark wage and wealth gaps. They are more likely to experience the harsher side of the criminal justice system. They are at much higher riskregardless of their incomeof dying from pregnancy-related causes and having their children die in infancy.

Politicians have often led us to believe that if women can simply earn more they can overcome these obstacles. And of course, paying women a fair and equal wage, guaranteeing them paid sick and family leave, and ensuring access to affordable childcare would all go a long way towards building a stronger economy and a more just society.

But for women of color, economic and overall wellbeing is driven by factors deeper and broader than wage and workplace inequities. For these women, structural inequities will prevent progressive economic policies from being the rising tide that lifts all boats.

Conversations about womens economic security too often exclude the role of wealth. But wealth is a critical buffer in times of trouble and enables investments in housing, education, new businesses, and future generations. Women of color are caught in vast race and gender wealth gaps.

As of 2013, black and Latina women had a median net worth of $200 and $100, respectively, compared to the median net worth of $15,640 for white women and $28,900 for white men. Older single black women with college degrees have $11,000 in median wealth compared to $384,400 among single white women at the same education level. Women of color are less likely to own a home and are more likely to carry high-cost mortgages. They have higher annual percentage rates on their credit cards and are more likely to have credit card debt. They are more likely to be saddled with education debt and take longer to pay it off than white women.

This means the majority of women of color have no cushion in times of crises they are disproportionately likely to experience: illness, job or housing loss, or the incarceration of a family member.

Why do women have less wealth? As the National Womens Law Center has reported , the race and gender wage gaps result in significant financial losses over the course of womens careers: $840,040 for Black women, $934,240 for Native women, and more than $1 million for Latina women.

Conversations about womens financial security often focus exclusively on issues deemed economic in nature. But, as reproductive justice advocates have long argued, health and safety are also economic issues for women and their families. Women cant maximize economic opportunities if they arent able to make decisions about the timing and size of their families, if they cant access preventive health care and treat chronic illnesses, if they experience violence at the hands of intimate partners or the criminal justice system, or if they live in fear of being torn from their families.

This is especially true for women of color, who have long experienced high rates of mortality from cancer and pregnancy, sexual assault, violence against trans women of color, incarceration and deportation. The fact that women of color with higher incomes also experience many of these disparities tells us social justice is not an inevitable byproduct of economic progress.

Conservatives are advocating an agenda that will undoubtedly make women less safe, less healthy, and far less economically secure. Progressives must respond by confronting the challenges of those who most directly and disproportionately experience injustice and inequality. By all measures and standards in the United States, these are women of color. Any agenda to effectively tackle inequality must center their experiences, expertise and aspirations. All of our communities will be better off for it.

Read more:
It's Time for Progressives to Fight for Women of Color - TIME

Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream, long the countrys most overtly progressive company, is now no longer progressive enough for progressives.

Over the weekend, scores of activists marched on Ben & Jerrys Vermont factory, demanding that the company push for better wages and working conditions for migrant workers on Vermonts dairy farms. Social justice warrior blogs excoriated the company for failing to live up to its own progressive rhetoric.

Apparently, two years ago, Ben & Jerrys promised to take part in the Milk With Dignity program (weirdly, not Dairy With Dignity, which would have been catchier). The campaign asks major corporations that use milk in their food products to work to ensure migrant workers who help produce the milk are treated fairly.

But because Ben and Jerry are, at heart, dirty capitalists, they began negotiations with the organizations, to structure their commitment in such a way that it protected their bottom line. They also claimed to theWashington Post that they wanted to get real details on farm worker treatment from the migrants themselves, so that the agreement could be realistic.

It has to work for the farmers, the farm owners, and it has to work for the businesses involved and thats the complex piece, a representative of the company told media.

But the Vermont group Migrant Justice says thats just unacceptable. Realism? Who needs it! Profit? Well, thats just disgusting.

Ben & Jerrys sucks up milk from 80 Vermont dairy farms, and thats a lot of workers who arent being paid a living wage.

Weve been negotiating in good faith, said Will Lambek, director of Migrant Justice. Its an unacceptable delay.

To act like Ben & Jerrys is some sort of corporate behemoth looking to exploit the labors of the proletariat so they can roll around in dollar bills is purely insane. Ben & Jerrys most popular flavors are plays on current events, and even engage in ice cream-based activism: Their Australian branch refuses to sell two scoops of the same flavor to customers until same-sex marriage is legalized there, for example.

These kinds of campaigns are rarely sane, however. TheMary Suepoints out, what good is being able to get a gay marriage if you cant even take the time off of work? Farmworkers can be queer, too, the site exclaims. Who will think of the non-binary migrant workers? ClearlynotBen & Jerrys.

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Progressives Now Angry at Social Justice Icon Ben & Jerry's Over Workers' Rights - Heat Street