After over a year of activism and involvement, I've discovered that the progressive movement is largely atheistic. To most of you this is no great shock, but it made me stop and think. Not about faith, but about faith in context. I am a Christian. One of the only Christians I know of in the progressive movement. And one of the few highly progressive Christians I'm aware of.

What's my motivation, you may ask? You may even be of the opinion that if I'm a follower of Jesus that I am in the wrong place. "Go join the Republicans, they're more your style." But they're not, and I have no problem with being politically progressive and still believing in God and Jesus. My motivation is this: Christ said to live in the world, even though we should not live in a worldly way. I live in the world, and when I look around and see people in pain, I want to help them.

"So you're an altruist... so am I; that has nothing to do with God." Well, I know that. Being altruistic is not simply a Christian trait. No, there's more to my faith than that. Think of it this way. When I see the world, I see a beautiful piece of priceless artwork. This art was created by a Master Artist, a brilliant and talented being who combined the elements of life together in a way that random chance never could have. This Artist created a world of great beauty, with brilliant, noble, and kind people in it. That was his painting.

But that painting is sullied with darkness and filth. People are dying every day for things they didn't do. People get beaten because of the color of their skin. People hate and fear their fellow humans. These traits were not in the Artist's picture. People, I believe, were meant to be good to one another. However, we are no longer good. We can't be. There's too much pain in this world, too much hurt, too many problems. Somewhere along the way, we've strayed.

And I believe... No, belief implies the possibility of doubt. I know that this corruption, this darkness and pain...this isn't it. We're not meant to be like this. We're stuck here, though, and it looks like there's no way out. But I've seen the way out. A guy who shares my name talked about it in a book that's named after him—the book of Matthew, in the Bible.

He recounted the history of a man who lived, who served and spoke about God, and who died. The man's name was Jehoshua ben Joseph. In English, we call him Jesus. And then the story gets interesting, when the story turns around and Jesus walks out of that tomb. Matthew says he came out of there having broken the bonds of evil that hurt us in this world, and I believe. I don't want to proselytize. Not like this. That's not my intent. I simply mean to say that when I read that He walked out of there alive, after He'd been dead, I believe. And it's because of my belief that I'm here.

Jesus was once asked by a Pharisee what the most important of God's Ten Commandments was. Jesus told him to love God and to love one another, and everything else would follow suit. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm a follower of Jesus and a progressive all bound up in the same package. I'm here to show Christ's love for us in whatever way I can. Love is what Christ preached, not religious zealotry and bigotry. That's why I go to rallies. That's why I write unabashedly progressive articles as a Christian, and unabashedly Christian articles as a progressive. That's why I hung a "No War" sign in my window last year. Because when Jesus said "Love God, and love them," I didn't hear the words "Shock and Awe." That's why I'm here.