EPISODE · Jul 24, 2025 · 38 MIN

142: Being progressive with Charles Cleworth

from Centre for Christian Living podcast

Moral progressivism is a feature of the best and brightest of our culture. It’s the idea that, just like technology, which is progressing all the time and getting better, so our moral beliefs, values and sensibilities are improving over time. There’s a relentless forward march to the moral status of humanity such that many of the beliefs and values we hold today will be seen as outdated and even irrelevant tomorrow.Christians are often wary of moral progressives and moral progressivism, because it frequently wants to declare that the long-held moral beliefs or standards we get from the Bible are not only outdated, but positively harmful or evil. Yet on the other hand, many of the causes that moral progressives espouse do resonate with us as Christians. We do want the world to be a more just, more peaceable and more compassionate place.So what is progressivism exactly? How do we come to be progressives in our modern culture? In addition, how should we think about this as Christians? Hear Tony Payne and Charles Cleworth consider these questions in this episode of the CCL podcast.For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website.Next Priscilla & Aquila Centre evening seminar: A history of Complementarianism (Wed 13 Aug).Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct).Support the work of the Centre by making a tax deductible donation.Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.