As with any section within the left and right wings of a political spectrum, a label such as "Christian left" represents an approximation, including within it groups and persons holding many diverse viewpoints. The term left-wing might encompass a number of values, some of which may or may not be held by different Christian movements and individuals.
As the unofficial title of a loose association of believers, it does provide a clear distinction from the more commonly known "Christian right" or "religious right" and from its key leaders and political views.
The most common religious viewpoint that might be described as "left-wing" is social justice, or care for impoverished and oppressed groups. Supporters of this trend might encourage universal health care, welfare provisions, subsidized education, foreign aid, and affirmative action for improving the conditions of the disadvantaged. With values stemming from egalitarianism, adherents of the Christian left consider it part of their religious duty to take actions on behalf of the oppressed. As nearly all major religions contain some kind of requirement to help others, various religions have cited social justice as a movement in line with their faith.
The Christian Left holds that social justice, renunciation of power, humility, forgiveness, and private observation of prayer (as opposed to publicly mandated prayer), are mandated by the Gospel (Matthew 6:5-6). The Bible contains accounts of Jesus repeatedly advocating for the poor and outcast over the wealthy, powerful, and religious. The Christian Left maintains that such a stance is relevant and important. Adhering to the standard of "turning the other cheek", which they believe supersedes the Old Testament law of "an eye for an eye", the Christian Left often hearkens towards pacifism in opposition to policies advancing militarism.
While non-religious socialists sometimes find support for socialism in the Gospels (for example Mikhail Gorbachev citing Jesus as "the first socialist"), the Christian Left does not find that socialism alone as an adequate end or means. Christian faith is the core of their belief, which in turn demands social justice.
For much of the early history of anti-establishment leftist movements such as socialism and communism (which was highly anti-clerical in the 19th century), established churches were led by a reactionary clergy who saw progress as a threat to their status and power. Most people viewed the church as part of the establishment. Revolutions in America, France, Russia and (much later) Spain were in part directed against the established churches (or rather their leading clergy) and instituted a separation of church and state.
However, in the 19th century, some writers and activists developed a school of thought, Christian socialism, a branch of Christian thought that was infused with socialism.
Early socialist thinkers such as Robert Owen, Henri de Saint-Simon based their theories of socialism upon Christian principles. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels reacted against these theories by formulating a secular theory of socialism in The Communist Manifesto.
Alliance of the left and Christianity
Starting in the late 19th century and early 20th century, some began to take on the view that genuine Christianity had much in common with a Leftist perspective. From St. Augustine of Hippo's City of God through St. Thomas More's Utopia major Christian writers had expounded upon views that socialists found agreeable. Of major interest was the extremely strong thread of egalitarianism in the New Testament. Other common leftist concerns such as pacifism, social justice, racial equality, human rights, and the rejection of excessive wealth are also expressed strongly in the Bible. In the late 19th century, the Social Gospel movement arose (particularly among some Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Baptists in North America and Britain,) which attempted to integrate progressive and socialist thought with Christianity to produce a faith-based social activism, promoted by movements such as Christian Socialism. In the United States during this period, Episcopalians and Congregationalists generally tended to be the most liberal, both in theological interpretation and in their adherence to the Social Gospel. In Canada, a coalition of liberal Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians founded the United Church of Canada, one of the first true Christian left denominations. Later, in the 20th century, liberation theology was championed by such writers as Gustavo Gutierrez and Matthew Fox.
Christians and Workers
To a significant degree, the Christian Left developed out of the experiences of clergy who went to do pastoral work among the working class, often beginning without any social philosophy but simply a pastoral and evangelistic concern for workers. This was particularly true among the Methodists and Anglo-Catholics in England, Father Adolph Kolping in Germany and Joseph Cardijn in Belgium.
Christian left and campaigns for peace and human rights
Some Christian groups were closely associated with the peace movements against the Vietnam War as well as the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Religious leaders in many countries have also been on the forefront of criticizing any cuts to social welfare programs. In addition, many prominent civil rights activists (such as Martin Luther King, Jr.) were religious figures.
In the United States, members of the Christian Left come from a spectrum of denominations: Peace churches, elements of the Protestant mainline churches, Catholicism, and some evangelicals.
The Christian Left does not seem to be so well-organized or publicized as its right-wing counterpart. Opponents state that this is because it is less numerous. Supporters contend that it is actually more numerous but composed predominantly of persons less willing to voice political views in as forceful a manner as the Christian Right, possibly because of the aggressiveness of the Christian Right. Further, supporters contend that the Christian Left has had relatively little success securing widespread corporate, political, and major media patronage compared to the Right. In the aftermath of the 2004 election in the United States, Progressive Christian leaders started to form groups of their own to combat the Religious Right - such groups include The Center for Progressive Christianity (founded 1996) and the Christian Alliance For Progress.
Members of the Christian Left who work on interfaith issues participate in building the Progressive Reconstructionist movement.
The Christian Left sometimes approaches issues such as homosexuality differently from other Christian political groups. This approach can be driven by focusing on issues differently despite holding similar religious views, or by holding different religious ideas. Those in the Christian Left who have similar ideas as other Christian political groups but a different focus may view Christian teachings on certain issues, such as the Bible's prohibitions against killing or criticisms of concentrations of wealth, as far more politically important than Christian teachings on social issues emphasized by the religious right, such as opposition to homosexuality. Others in the Christian Left have not only a different focus on issues from other Christian political groups, but different religious ideas as well.
For example, all members of the Christian Left consider discrimination and bigotry against homosexuals to be immoral, but they differ on their views towards homosexual sex. Some believe homosexual sex to be immoral but largely unimportant when compared with issues relating to social justice, or even matters of sexual morality involving heterosexual sex. Others affirm that some homosexual practices are compatible with the Christian life. Such members believe common biblical arguments used to condemn homosexuality are misinterpreted, and that biblical prohibitions of homosexual practices are actually against a specific type of homosexual sex act: pederasty, the sodomizing of young boys by older men. Thus, they hold biblical prohibitions to be irrelevant when considering modern same-sex relationships.
A related strain of thought is the (Catholic and progressive evangelical) Consistent Life Ethic, which sees opposition to capital punishment, militarism, euthanasia, abortion and the global unequal distribution of wealth as being related. It is an idea with certain concepts shared by Abrahamic religions as well as Buddhists, Hindus, and members of other religions. The late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago developed the idea for the consistent life ethic in 1983. Currently, Sojourners is particularly associated with this strand of thought. Adherents commonly criticize politicians who identify as pro-life while simultaneously oppose funding for pre-natal vitamins, child nutrition programs, or universal health care.
Jim Wallis believes that one of the biggest problems that faces the left is to reach out to evangelical and Catholic religious voters. (Note however that Jim Wallis denies that his Sojourners organization belongs to either the right or left.) Catholics for a Free Choice has responded that these progressive evangelical and Catholic pro-life people have difficulties dealing with the implications of feminist theology and ethics for Christian faith.
Liberation theology is a theological tradition that emerged in the developing world, especially Latin America. Since the 1960s, Catholic thinkers have integrated left-wing thought and Catholicism, giving rise to Liberation Theology. It arose at a time when Catholic thinkers who opposed the despotic leaders in South and Central America allied themselves with the communist opposition. However, it developed independently of and roughly simultaneously with Black theology in the US and should not be confused with it. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decided that, while liberation theology is partially compatible with Catholic social teaching, certain Marxist elements of it, such as the doctrine of perpetual class struggle, are against Church teachings.
Movement of Priests for the Third World
Enrique Angelelli
Miguel Hesayne
Carlos Mugica
Humanist-Catholic figures of the Argentine military
Edelmiro Farrell
Eduardo Lonardi
Juan José Valle
Other figures
Juan Manuel Abal Medina
Pope Francis
Frank Brennan, Jesuit and advocate for Australia's indigenous peoples
Ben Chifley, former Prime Minister of Australia
Tim Costello, former Baptist pastor and CEO of World Vision Australia
Jock Garden, founder of the Communist Party of Australia
Brian Howe, AM, Australian politician, Deputy Prime Minister in the Labor government of Paul Keating from 1991 to 1995
Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia
Ivan Illich
Joseph Cardijn
Joelle Milquet
Frei Betto, writer, political activist, liberation theologist and Dominican friar
Leonardo Boff, academic and social activist
Sister Maurina, Roman Catholic nun who was tortured during the military dictatorship
Sister Dorothy Stang, Roman Catholic nun murdered for helping the landless and poor
Frei Tito, Roman Catholic friar who was tortured during the military dictatorship
Dom Hélder Câmara, Roman Catholic archbishop
Richard Allen, politician and historian of Christian socialism
Charlie Angus, writer and politician
Bill Blaikie, United Church minister and politician
Andrew Brewin, politician and author
Lorne Calvert, United Church minister, politician, former premier of Saskatchewan, and president of theological seminary
Bruce Cockburn, singer and songwriter
Cheri DiNovo, minister and politician
Tommy Douglas, voted the "Greatest Canadian"; leader of the first avowedly socialist government in North America in Saskatchewan; introduced universal medicare; former Baptist minister
Brent Hawkes, minister and LGBT rights activist
Stanley Knowles, United Church minister and politician
Jack Layton, former Leader of the Official Opposition, former leader of the NDP
James Loney, peace activist
Desmond McGrath, priest, trade union organizer and activist
Bill Phipps, church leader and activist
Frank Scott, poet and constitutional expert
Bill Siksay, politician, former theological student, partner of a minister
William Horace Temple, politician, and trade union activist
J. S. Woodsworth, minister and politician.
Clotario Blest, trade union and human rights activist
Fernando Flores, engineer, entrepreneur and politician
Manuel Jacques, politician
Eugenio Pizarro, Catholic priest and politician
Nora Lam,Protestant Minister,Anti-Communist
Camilo Torres Restrepo, liberation theologian and guerrilla
Philip Agee
Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Archbishop linked to East Timorese independence
Rafael Correa, incumbent president and former finance minister
Leonidas Proaño, liberation theology bishop
Mauricio Funes, former President of El Salvador, journalist
Rutilio Grande
Archbishop Óscar Romero, archbishop
François_Chabot, Capuchin friar and Hebertiste
Bishop Jacques Gaillot, Roman Catholic Bishop of Partenia, social activist
Henri Grégoire
Abbé Pierre, Roman Catholic social activist
Jacques Roux
Personalism (Emmanuel Mounier, etc.)
Christoph Blumhardt, Lutheran theologian
Alfred Delp, Jesuit involved in resistance to Nazi Germany
Eugen Drewermann
Ulrich Duchrow, theologian, global justice movement theoreticist
Rudi Dutschke, student protest leader
Emil Fuchs, Quaker theologian
Helmut Gollwitzer, Lutheran theologian
Nikolaus Gross anti-Nazi labor leader
Adolph Kolping Catholic labor advocate
Johann Baptist Metz, Catholic theologian
Thomas Müntzer
Uta Ranke-Heinemann
Johannes Rau, German President
Hans Scholl, Youth Leader,Student involved resistance to Nazi Germany
Sophie Scholl, Student involved resistance to Nazi Germany
Dorothee Sölle, Lutheran theologian
Stelios Papathemelis, lawyer, former Minister of Interior, leader of "Democratic Revival", a minor Christian-Socialist party
Christos Yannaras, theologist, philosopher
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former President of Haiti
Gérard Jean-Juste, liberation theologian
Ireland
Bono, leader of U2, singer-songwriter
Ciaron O'Reilly, Catholic worker, Christian anarchist
Beniamino Andreatta, economist and former Minister of Treasury, of Foreign Affairs and of Defense
Rosy Bindi, former President of the Democratic Party
Pierre Carniti, trade union leader and co-founder of Social Christians
Danilo Dolci
Dario Franceschini, Democratic Party minister in Letta Cabinet
Giovanni Franzoni
Ermanno Gorrieri, trade union activist, economist and co-founder of Social Christians
Rosa Russo Iervolino, politician, former Minister of the Interior, Mayor of Naples
Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister
Boris Pahor, writer, prominent public figure of the Slovene minority in Italy
Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director
Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi, former Prime Minister
Pietro Scoppola, historian and politician
Isoo Abe, politician and Unitarian minister
Kunikida Doppo, novelist, poet
Toyohiko Kagawa, activist and theologian
Tetsu Katayama, politician and former Prime Minister (1947-1948)
Naoe Kinoshita, activist, author, journalist, lawyer
Netherlands
Huub Oosterhuis, theologian and poet
Andre Rouvoet, former leader of the centre-left Christian Union
Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann
Ernesto Cardenal, liberation theologian
Rosario Murillo, First Lady and Vice President of Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua
New Zealand
David Clark
Lloyd Geering, theologian
Walter Nash, prime minister
Arnold Nordmeyer, minister and politician
Michael Joseph Savage, prime minister
Gustavo Gutiérrez, founder of liberation theology
Gregorio Aglipay, Supreme Bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Aglipayan Church
José Burgos, Filipino priest and independence activist
Alberto Ramento, Supreme Bishop of the Aglipayan Church and advocator of human rights and humanitarian law
Jaime Sin, cardinal, leader of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and pillar of the People Power movement
Poland
Stanisław Adamski, Polish priest and workers' activist
Leo Tolstoy, writer and social reformer
Sergei Bulgakov, Orthodox Christian theologian, philosopher and economist
Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian religious and political philosopher
Fr.Georgy Gapon working class leader
Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet foreign minister
Bogo Grafenauer, historian
Vekoslav Grmič, Slovenian Roman Catholic bishop and theologian
Edvard Kocbek, poet, essayist and politician
Boris Pahor, writer and essayist
Allan Boesak
Dennis Hurley, former Catholic Archbishop of Durban, anti-Apartheid activist and advocate for reform within the Catholic Church
Beyers Naude, anti-Apartheid Dutch Reformed minister
Alan Paton, author, politician and anti-Apartheid activist
Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of South Africa
José Bono, speaker of the low house of Parliament
Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez, former ombudsman and leader of the Democratic Left
Tissa Balasuriya, civil rights activist, theologian
K. G. Hammar, former Archbishop of Uppsala
Lukas Moodysson, film writer and director
Switzerland
Karl Barth, neo-orthodox theologian
Hans Küng, Catholic theologian
Hermann Kutter, Reformed theologian
Leonhard Ragaz, Reformed theologian
Ralph Abernathy, civil rights activist
Martin Luther King, Jr, civil rights Leader
Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights activist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Walt Brown, ex-Oregon state senator, Socialist Party USA
William Jennings Bryan, three time presidential nominee
Jimmy Carter, former U.S. President
Bob Casey, Jr., current U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
Robert Casey, former Pennsylvania governor
Nick Clooney, Roman Catholic activist and Congressional candidate
Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, 2004 presidential candidate, and former DNC chairman
Eugene V. Debs, co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World and Socialist Party of America candidate for President
Peter DeFazio, U.S. Congressman from Oregon's 4th district
Robert Drinan, Congressman and Roman Catholic Jesuit priest
Diane Drufenbrock, nun, Socialist Party USA
Frank Ford, farmer
Dick Gephardt, former Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate
Al Gore, environmentalist, former Vice President of the United States, Tennessee senator (1985-1993), and Democratic presidential nominee (2000)
Thomas J. Hagerty, founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Ammon Hennacy, "Wobbly" (Industrial Workers of the World member)
Hubert Humphrey, former Vice President of the United States
Jesse Jackson, politician and civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist
Dennis Kucinich, former Congressman and past Presidential candidate
John Lewis, U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader
Eugene McCarthy, former Senator from Minnesota and presidential candidate
Walter Mondale, former Vice President of the United States
Brian P. Moore, Socialist Party
Barack Obama, former President of the United States
Hillary Clinton, former United States Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee (2016)
Tim Ryan, U.S. Congressman
Norman Thomas, Socialist Party of America presidential candidate
Frank P. Zeidler, ex-Mayor of Milwaukee, Socialist Party USA
Jay Bakker, pastor of Revolution Church
Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago
Father Daniel Berrigan, Catholic priest (Jesuit) and peace activist
Philip Berrigan, former Catholic priest (Josephite) and activist
Kim Bobo, founder, Interfaith Worker Justice
Leonardo Boff, liberation theology activist
Father Roy Bourgeois, Catholic priest and peace activist
Peter Boyle, actor, studied to be a De La Salle brother
Everett Francis Briggs, POW and labour activist
Tony Campolo, Baptist evangelist and sociologist
César Chávez, Mexican American labour and social activist
Sr. Joan Chittister, Catholic nun and feminist theologian
Forrester Church, Unitarian Universalist minister, author
William Sloane Coffin, Jr., UCC minister and peace activist
Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report and Sunday school teacher
John Cort, writer, editor for Commonweal, Peacework, Religious Socialism
Jerome Davis, labour organizer and sociologist
Dorothy Day, Catholic Worker Movement co-founder, "Wobbly" (Industrial Workers of the World member)
Father John Dear, Catholic priest and peace activist
Rev. Robert Drinan, former U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts
Jane Fonda, actress and activist
James A. Forbes, minister at Riverside Church
Rev. George Foreman
Laura Jane Grace, Anarcho-Catholic and punk rock icon
Jeannine Gramick, Roman Catholic nun and founder of New Ways Ministry
Rosey Grier
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Roman Catholic Bishop of Detroit and social activist
Charles Kekumano, activist Hawaiian priest
Helen Keller
Angelo Liteky, former priest, soldier, activist
Ava Lowery, peace activist
Rev. Joseph Lowery, civil rights Leader
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Pauli Murray, first female Episcopal priest and co-founder of the National Organization for Women
Mike Papantonio
Rev Richard Penniman, aka Little Richard
Father Michael Pfleger, Catholic priest, social activist, pastor of Saint Sabina church
Georges Pire, "Peace University" and Nobel Peace Prize for work with refugees
Sister Helen Prejean, anti-death penalty activist; author of Dead Man Walking, adapted for the film of the same title
Monsignor Charles Owen Rice, Catholic priest, labour leader, and civil rights activist
Fred Rogers
Frank Schaeffer
Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
Cindy Sheehan, peace activist
Martin Sheen, Roman Catholic activist/actor
Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action
Mitch Snyder, convert, advocate for the homeless
Charles Toy, online and social media activist
Carmen Trotta, Roman Catholic pacifist
Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners Magazine
Barry Welsh, Congressional candidate and minister (United Methodist Church)
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, veteran and anti-Iraq war activist
Peter Agre, awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Miguel A. De La Torre, scholar-activist and author of numerous books on Hispanic religiosity
David Ray Griffin, theology professor and 9/11 Truth author
Chris Hedges
Anne Lamott, author
Peter Maurin, Catholic Worker co-founder
Brian McLaren, Emerging Church Leader
Charles Clayton Morrison
Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Church
Walter Rauschenbusch, social gospel thinker
Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver, son of Sargent Shriver, member of the Kennedy family, holds a degree in theology
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics
John Shelby Spong, retired bishop and liberal political activist
Paul Tillich
Kathleen Kennedy Townshend
Randall Wallace, Academy Award nominee, holds a degree in theology
Cornel West, theologian, academic, activist
Jim Winkler, leading member of the United Methodist Church
Art Alexakis, leader of rock band Everclear, has referred to himself as a left-wing Christian
Ray Boltz
Johnny Cash, singer/songwriter, has promoted Christianity in a number of songs and public appearances
John Fugelsang, comedian
Dan Haseltine, singer-songwriter
Dwight Howard, Atlanta Hawks basketball player
Val Kilmer, has done promotional videos for his denomination
Lecrae, Christian rapper
Jeremy Lin, Brooklyn Nets basketball player
Pete Maravich, Hall of Fame basketball player
Barry McGuire, singer-songwriter
Michael Moore, documentary filmmaker
Alonzo Mourning, Hall of Fame basketball player
Bill Moyers, journalist and public commentator
Larry Norman, Christian rock singer-songwriter, advocate of the Jesus Movement
Pauley Perrette, actress and LGBT rights advocate
Ed Shultz, television and radio host
The medieval Lollards, particularly John Ball, took up many anti-establishment causes. During the English Civil War many of the more radical Parliamentarians, such as John Lilburne and the Levellers, based their belief in universal suffrage and proto-socialism on their reading of the Bible. Other people on the Christian left include:
Martin Bashir, journalist
Hilaire Belloc, Anglo-French writer and historian
Tony Benn, former Labour MP
William Blake, poet, painter, Christian mystic
Chris Bryant, Labour MP and former priest
David Cairns, Labour MP and former priest
George B. Chambers, writer and Anglican priest
Charles Dickens, writer
Gwynfor Evans
William Everard
David Ford, leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
George Fox, Quaker
Giles Fraser, Anglican priest and writer
Dave Gahan, lead vocalist of Depeche Mode
William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister
Charles Gore, Anglo-Catholic
Keir Hardie
Stewart Headlam, Anglo-Catholic
Christopher Isham, scientist
Hewlett Johnson
Kenneth Leech, Anglo-Catholic theologian
John Lewis, philosopher
Frederick Denison Maurice
Florence Nightingale
Conrad Noel, Anglo-Catholic
Maurice Reckitt, writer
J.K. Rowling, author
R. H. Tawney, economist and historian
William Temple
Bishop B.F. Westcott, Anglo-Catholic and spiritualist
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Gerrard Winstanley
Sister Rose Thering, during Vatican II helped in exonerating Jews from Christ's death; social and human rights activist
Hugo Chávez
Democratic Party (Italy)
Christian Democracy (Greece)
Christian Social Party (Switzerland) (Catholic)
Evangelical People's Party (The Netherlands)
Christian Democratic Party (Uruguay)
Christian Democratic Party (Chile)
Christian Left Party (Chile)
Sandinista National Liberation Front (Nicaragua)
Christian Socialist Movement (United Kingdom; the Christian wing of the UK Labour Party)
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (merged into the secular New Democratic Party of Canada)
