Liberal Christian magazines are stumbling

It's never been easy to make ends meet while putting out a progressive Christian publication. But in an ironic twist, a re-energized religious left may be making a tough task even harder.

That's one key observation from watchers of liberal Christianity who are trying to explain why progressive magazines and journals have been dying just as the broader movement seems to be gaining fresh traction.

At least five progressive periodicals--including four with a 30-plus-year publishing history--have either disbanded or undergone a radical makeover in the last three years. Though each circumstance has been unique, observers suggest this publishing niche has fallen victim to a perfect storm of rising costs, lackluster fundraising and shifting expectations from readers who want less top-down preaching and more piety.

The Other Side magazine, launched in 1965 as Freedom Now, put out its last issue in September 2004.

- Presses have also stopped rolling at Christian Social Action, a 32-year venture of the United Methodist Church and the independent Christian Network Journal.

- The Witness, a self-described "feisty, opinionated journal since 1917," phased out its print edition and began publishing exclusively online in 2003.

Zion's Herald, published by the Boston Wesleyan Society since 1833, put out its last edition in May. It resurfaced in December, after a six-month hiatus, as The Progressive Christian.

Though none of these publications ever became a household name, they did serve as recognized channels for disseminating ideas that were at once Christian and left-leaning, in politics or theology or both.

The Witness, for example, critiqued the evils of capitalism. Readers of The Other Side soaked up arguments on issues from feminism to international peace, including some near the end that suggested Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would not have supported the war on terror.

More than half of the article was cut to fit the "excerpt" requirements. This is from later in the article"

"Overall, the needs of the revived religious left are very much more self-consciously spiritual and social than they were 20 to 30 years ago," said Hal Taussig, author of "A New Spiritual Home: Progressive Christianity at the Grass Roots." "Twenty or 30 years ago, [the needs] were sermon-centered. ... It assumed a conventional spirituality and what it hid was a deficit and debt of vital spirituality. The left has had to come to terms with its lack of attention to spiritual growth and practice and the cost that that entailed."

In his later days, MLK was seduced into spouting socialist rhetoric against poverty and class discrimination. Desegregation and a colorblind society were worthy goals.

Wonder what MLK would say about the shakedown rackets that Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton have been running in his name. Especially considering how JJ used charitable money to pay for one of his illegitimate kids.

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