The Purity Culture of Progressives
And this “will to purity” doesn’t just manifest in protecting sacred beliefs, it manifests inbehavior as well. Both evangelical and progressive Christians doggedly pursue a vision ofmoral purity.
For evangelical Christians moral purity will fixate on hedonism (e.g., sex, drug use).
For progressive Christians moral purity will fixate on complicity in injustice. To be increasingly “pure” in progressive Christian circles is to become less and less complicit in injustice. Thus there is an impulse toward a more and more radical lifestyle where, eventually, you find yourself feeling that “everything is problematic.” You can’t do anything without contaminating yourself.
.. “A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.”