Just to clarify, we're not talking about the band from Okalahoma, right? Because those dudes put out one heck of an album.
In all seriousness, this week's prompt appears to ask two questions: are Evangelicals becoming more progressive, and if so, what should progressives do to make these Evangelicals feel more at home? While I can claim no expertise with respect to Evangelical political beliefs (if such a monolithic thing exists), it does appear at least anecdotally that some Evangelicals are growing increasingly uncomfortable with the dittohead nature of their movement. However, I can answer the second question somewhat more conclusively: nothing. I don't mean that with any contempt, but I'll explain below why the idea of "accomodation" is anathema to me as an unaffiliated progressive.
I think of "progressive" as a label that is different from party affiliations like "Democrat" or "Republican." While candidates running for office may need to calculate centrist or mainstream positions and choose political stances based on focus groups with the hope of widening the tent, the political activists of the world should feel free to speak as openly and plainly as possible. Much like the avant-garde of the art world must serve as pioneers of the cultural terrain before more mainstream artists can reinterpret their work for a broader audience, so too must activists/progressives/ideologues advocate their positions in a vacuum void of public opinion. Once we figure out what we stand for and why, it's up to the people we choose to support for office to come up with a marketable political brand. In other words, if Evangelicals want to listen to our Steve Reich that's all well and good, but don't expect us to throw in some auto-tune to make it more palatable.
-- Danish Aziz
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