Progressives Push to Remake Christianity in Their Image

Order Jamie Glazov’s new book, United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny, Terror, and Hamas: HERE.

As many have noted in recent years, Christianity in the West is in decline, and a principal reason is that the “muscular Christianity” of a bygone era has been watered down by an infiltration of Progressives determined to weaken Christian morality by making it more “tolerant” and “inclusive” of Left-wing causes such as gender ideology and the feminist siege of the “patriarchy.”

A couple of recent examples demonstrate that Democrat preachers are out, loud, and proud of this subversive strategy.

First, in a 66-second video from the You Can Be Both podcast, Media and Messaging Pastor Joe Smith of Meizon Church in Gainesville, Florida, claimed that the Christian apostle Paul erred on issues like slavery and sexuality, tying it to his critique of traditional gender roles.

“’I’m going to say this in the nicest way possible,” he tells the host. “I don’t care what [the Bible] says. I just don’t care.” He went on to dismiss what he considers to be Paul’s ignorant and outdated take on morality. “At the end of the day,” he concluded, “I don’t care. He was wrong.”

‘I’m going to say this in the nicest way possible. I don’t care what the bible says. I just don’t care…at the end of the day Paul was wrong.”

Pastor Joe Smith of Meizon Church (Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) explains that he doesn’t care what Paul says in the bible. pic.twitter.com/q2eu2HuYr0

— Protestia (@Protestia) April 25, 2026

Meizon, “a progressive, open & affirming church in Florida,” as Smith puts it on his Substack page, emphasizes inclusion for all regardless of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Christianity, of course, already is inclusive of everyone who embraces Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior – but rather than “affirming” you in your sin, Jesus expects you to change, and that’s where Progressive Christians like Smith draw the line.

Needless to say, Evangelicals online denounced Smith as a heretic for his views on Paul and for undermining the divinely inspired authority of Scripture. But he is typical of Democrat pastors like Texas Senator-wannabe James Talarico, who are increasingly nudging the faith toward the kind of non-judgmental, Progressive messaging the Left wants the Bible to reflect in order to support their political aims.

In the second example, The Christian Post reported that a controversial video clip featuring Bishop Yvette Flunder, lesbian leader of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California, was trending on social media last week. The 70-year-old Flunder, who is also the presiding prelate of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, drew flak for asserting that parts of the Bible are “problematic” and need to be rewritten.

“This is a very dangerous thing that I’m about to say now, … a bit dangerous. I’m of the opinion that we need a third testament because the Bible has become problematic,” Flunder told her approving audience in a clip  from the 2026 Samuel Dewitt Procter Conference in February, where Flunder spoke on the topic, “The SACRED FIRE: Igniting, Resilience, and Resistance.”

“‘Slaves obey your masters as you do the Lord.’ It’s a text,” she said, quoting Paul’s words from  Ephesians 6:5. “‘Let the women keep silent in the churches and if they have any questions let them ask their husbands at home,” she added, quoting from 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.

“Now, I’m a believer. My whole heart, I trust God with my whole heart. I wake up in the morning talking to God and God talking to me,” she continued:

But I am completely frustrated with the ways in which the text speaks to the kind of vitriolic God that makes those kinds of things. And people will say, “Well, it’s in the book.” And I said, “Then we need to pull that page out.”

And they said, “Well, you can’t do it. It’s the word of God.” I said, “No, it’s words about God. Come on now.”

It’s unclear what the distinction is that she’s drawing, but she concludes by stating definitively of Paul’s New Testament letters, “It is not the word of God.”

Pastor: “I’m of the opinion that we need a third testament because the Bible has become problematic.” https://t.co/eDRyvltiFT pic.twitter.com/KaWv8mz6zr

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 20, 2026

So Flunder, the leader of a church, is baldly announcing that wherever the word of God is inconvenient for her Progressive politics, it must be excised from the biblical “text,” as she puts it. God needs an editor, in other words, because Flunder knows better.

“You don’t need a Third Testament. You need first-rate repentance,” wrote Christian conservative podcaster April Chapman, referring to Flunder. In her own video included with the post, Chapman added,

You don’t get to stand in a pulpit, insult the word of the living God and say, “You know, I’m about to say something that’s a little dangerous,” and then pretend that you are speaking for Christ. You just knew what you were about to say was heresy. You are not being bold, you are just rebellious.

“Bishop Yvette Flunder did not merely question a passage. She told the church, in plain words, that parts of God’s Word should be torn out,’” Southern Baptist minister Rich Bitterman wrote in a blog post:

She said they contain bad theology. Then she said, with a kind of smiling violence that should make every Christian shudder, that “We need to pull those pages out.” You can almost hear it. Thin paper tearing. A hand reaching for the Book that has outlived empires, buried tyrants, steadied martyrs at the stake, and carried dying saints across the final river.

Today’s Progressives posing as Christian clergy are quite frankly not true believers at all, but agents of Satan hell-bent – literally – on dismantling the most threatening obstacle to Left-wing totalitarian power: the word of God and the Christian faith. This is why they are compelled to simply jettison the parts of Scripture that don’t comport with their social justice activism. And the fact that they are willing to declare this openly is evidence that their assault on traditional Christianity is gathering momentum and they smell blood in the water.

Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior.