A lot of them brought up homophobia. We didn’t ask about it, but they brought it up on their own. Some of them brought up fears of a theocracy in our society. So, you put those two together, the fear of cultural progressives is that the Christian Right will take over our society and outlaw homosexuality and turn us back to the Dark Ages. And, this is by their own words.

Among the books written about the culture war, many have sought to explain the motivations of one side, the Christian Right, but few have studied, exclusively and in depth, the other side, the cultural progressives. George Yancey, professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, and David A. Williamson, associate professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, have sought to fill that gap with their new book, What Motivates Cultural Progressives? Understanding Opposition to the Political and Christian Right.

The research is based upon surveys sent to members of progressive political advocacy organizations – in other words, activists on the liberal side of the culture war. Yancey and Williamson developed a typology of cultural progressives based upon what they found in the surveys. They label the subgroups “political activist,” “sexual progressive,” “feminist,” “religion is poison,” “religion has been corrupted,” “Christianity as unevolved,” and “Christianity as political oppressors.”

In a Thursday interview with The Christian Post, Yancey answered questions about debates on homosexuality, the Christian left and the recent controversy over including the word “God” in the Democratic Party platform.

The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.

CP: What was your main purpose for writing this book?

Yancey: While there is a lot of stuff out there on the culture war and conservatives, there is hardly anything out there on the culture war and progressives. So, to really understand some of the cultural issues and the concepts about them in our society, we need to understand both sides of the issues, we need to understand both of the groups that are fighting. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only book that focuses just on progressives from an academic perspective.

CP: When looking at the demographics of cultural progressives, what do you think readers will find most surprising?

Yancey: That they are a very well connected group of people. They are quite wealthy, quite educated, white, male, and a little bit older than normal. Now, our survey is not a random sample, but some of those findings are so out of its normal range, I have to believe it’s true in the general population. I’m pretty certain that cultural progressives tend to be more white, male, educated and wealthier than other individuals in our society. They’re very well connected, even if their numbers may or may not be as large as cultural conservatives.

CP: In your typology, you describe seven different categories, and those categories address three main concerns: political concerns, antipathy to Christianity, and concerns about the influence of religion in general. This book was written before the Democratic convention when there was a controversy over the inclusion of the word “God” in the Democratic platform. How do you think those who hold those concerns responded to that controversy?

Yancey: My suspicion is that some of them were disappointed that “God” was put back in, but not all of them. There were some that, even in their responses would say, “I believe, but I don’t like what Christian conservatives are doing with my religion” – they probably wouldn’t have a problem with it. Those who have problems with religion in general and those who have problems with Christianity in particular, my guess is, that they were disappointed that “God” was placed back into the Democratic platform. I’m certain that many of them were. A lot of them complained about our money having “in God we trust” on it. So, I can’t imagine that they would be pleased about a Democratic platform that contained the word “God.”

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