I come to the merger of  Firedoglake and The Seminal with optimistic anticipation.  I am a Unitarian Universalist minister who believes that liberal religion and progressive social movements are life affirming compliments to one another.   

I am the creator, producer and host of the radio program “Soul Talk” in its 13th year of broadcasting.  The program currently airs on Progressive Blend Radio based in Washington, D.C. 

As well, I am the Founder and President of The Free Souls Project, promoting the integration of spirituality, democracy and ethics from a liberal faith perspective.  My personal blog is The Free Souls Connection.  I have been a regular author on The Seminal for the past year in the area of Religion and Politics.

I will be a panelist in the workshop, "A New Progressive Vision for Church and State" at Netroots in August. Below, is something I wrote in 2005.  This will give you a flavor of where I am coming from.  Lets work together on repairing our terribly damaged democracy that has been devolving since Reagan enabled the birth of our theocrat/imperialist nightmare. 

Soulfully,

Chuck Freeman

"After the November 2004 Presidential election I was deeply disturbed that America had put the Bush Administration back in office.  I viewed John Kerry as the lesser of two evils, but at least he wasn’t cynically pandering to the "Christian" theocrats.   On November 14, 2004 I preached a sermon entitled, "Walkin’ the Strait and Narrow."  This was my response to 22% of voters who claimed to be followers of Jesus and voted for Bush on the basis of "moral values." 

I began to feel a call to enter the public debate on spirituality and morals more explicitly as a Preacher of Liberal Religion.  Having cut my teeth in the literalist Bible tradition, I knew the strength of passionate belief and gaping intellectual blindness in this approach to Religion and Society.  

I kept hearing this passage in my head about Jesus after he "cleansed" the temple, in relation to my sense of responsibility for the Soul of America.  "Zeal for your house will consume me."  

I was, and continue to be troubled that progressives have largely abandoned Spirituality in the ethical considerations of our time.  I saw that Religious bigots like Falwell, Robertson, and Dobson were household names, and that few if any Ministers of a more sane, humane Religion were known beyond their relatively small spheres of influence.  I saw how the narrow-minded teachers were shrewdly using media to spread their fearful God, and that we progressives were scarcely using the potent tool of mass communication. 

I am emboldened by the faith of Edward Everett Hale.  ’I am only one but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.  And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.’"