WJ Bryan should remind us that the whole Progressive Agenda was launched by radical neo-Christians who believed they could ‘correct’ or ‘improve’ on traditional Christianity.
hmm...I see the traces of Trumpian populism in Bryan moreso than the progressivism of the Eugene Debs/Bernie Sanders sort. I also place the social justice bent of the Reverend Martin Luther King in a different category as I don’t think it’s fair to lump MLK under ‘progressive.’ More complex than that.
WJ Bryan’s economic and political views may have been a bit off, but he was no radical neo-Christian. He was a traditional Presbyterian...how Calvinist he was, I’m not sure.
If you need proof, look no further than his final statement at the Scopes-Monkey (Creationism vs. Evolution) trial in 1925, from which I’ve posted a few excerpts earlier on this thread.
QUOTE:
Again force and love meet face to face, and the question, “What shall I do with Jesus.” must be answered. A bloody, brutal doctrine - evolution - demands, as the rabble did 1,900 years ago, that He be crucified. That cannot be the answer of this jury, representing a Christian state and sworn to uphold the laws of Tennessee. Your answer will be heard throughout the world; it is eagerly awaited by a praying multitude. If the law is nullified, there will be rejoicing wherever God is repudiated, the Saviour scoffed at and the Bible ridiculed. Every unbeliever of every kind and degree will be happy. If, on the other hand, the law is upheld and the religion of the school children protected, millions of Christians will call you blessed and, with hearts full of gratitude to God, will sing again that grand old song of triumph:
Faith of our fathers. living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O, how our hearts beat high with joy,
Whene’er we hear that glorious word;
Faith of our fathers - holy faith -
We will be true to thee till death!
http://www5.csudh.edu/oliver/smt310-handouts/wjb-last/wjb-last.htm