Last Sunday, I attended a service at the Redlands United Church of Christ. This congregation considers themselves to be a group of “progressive Christians” who on their website “welcome people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations”. Because I have only attended a Catholic church prior to this, the openness of this church really surprised me. Published in the New York Times, Ross Douthat discusses the political leanings of the Pope in his article, “Springtime for Liberal Christianity”. This article discusses how different this Pope has been compared to those in the decades before. Although in interviews he claims to not be left leaning politically, his actions and claims towards sexuality, marriage, and abortion say otherwise. According to the article, many claim that Christianity cannot be liberal. The more liberal they, the further the teachings are from scripture. Although I’m not sure if I personally agree with this because I do not have a background knowledge or further evidence to prove it, the sermon I saw on Sunday demonstrated this claim. The sermon was focused on Black History Month and while God’s equal love for everyone was mentioned, there was a lack of scripture to support it. Because I have only attended one service, I can say that the claim the article made is common or true, but it was interesting to see it played out in a real “progressive” church service.