'Progressive' Christians Promoting 'Different Voice'
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
April 13, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - On Easter Sunday, a group of Christians describing themselves as "moderates" and "progressives" will begin a 2,500-mile walk from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., to promote a "different voice for Christianity in America."

The journey will begin in Phoenix with an ecumenical Easter sunrise service. During the trek, six ministers and lay leaders from the United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church and Metropolitan Community Church will walk from Arizona and through 12 states before concluding in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Sept. 3, during Labor Day weekend.

"We are going on this journey because the Christian values of compassion, a welcoming spirit, acceptance and tolerance are being drowned out in large part by a small but vocal and well-funded minority," said the Rev. Eric Elnes, co-president of the newly formed group, CrossWalk America.

That conservative minority is "using faith in America to create a divisive and polarizing atmosphere of exclusion," stated Elnes, who also serves as senior pastor of Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ in Arizona.

Another reason for the four-month trek is "to affirm that most Christians believe our faith is based on the true values Jesus proclaimed as the three greatest loves -- love of God, love of neighbor and love of self," he added.

"We get into trouble when some Christians conclude that 'two out of three ain't bad,'" Elnes noted.

Members of the group call themselves "CrossWalkers" and hope to refocus the nation's attention on what they consider the core values of the Christian faith.

To accomplish this goal, the organization is dedicated to "spreading the message that Christianity is first and foremost about the just and unconditional love of God for all people and Christ's commandments to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves," Elnes said.

Participants will "walk the walk," symbolic of the walking Jesus did during his three years of ministry while teaching people about love and justice, according to CrossWalk's Jay Taylor.

More than 120 families have agreed to accommodate walkers in their homes, Taylor said.

Fifty-five congregations -- including those from the United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), American Baptist Church, Episcopal Church, Unitarian Universalist and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) -- have offered to provide hospitality and speaking opportunities along the route.

Key partners for the four-month event include the 1.3 million-member United Church of Christ's Stillspeaking Initiative, which states that "God is still speaking" to people today, and the UCC-related Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif.

Homosexual advocacy organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign and No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice will also have representatives participating in the cross-country walk.

"Now why would I quit my job and be away from those I love for an extended time frame to go on this journey?" asked Rebecca Glenn, co-president of CrossWalk America. "I want to help raise awareness that there are Christians who do not believe in intolerance, religious elitism and pointing out the wrongdoings of others, contrary to what some in the media and some well-known religious leaders would try to have us believe.

"There is a silent majority of people who believe Christianity is a path of compassion, acceptance and reaching out to those in need," Glenn said. "At a time when there is so much pain caused by religious polarization, many would like to see a renewed focus on love, and that is what this walk and the CrossWalk America organization are all about."