Activist

New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

In 2010, working with partners Richard Cizik and Steven Martin, Dr. Gushee helped to found the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good (NEP). This organization merged together the activist efforts of three previously independent organizations in a broad effort to renew evangelical public witness for the sake of the Gospel and the common good. The first initiative of this new organization was to call for total debt forgiveness for Haiti after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake.

Third Way and "Come let us Reason Together"

Working in partnership with Third Way, and other contexts, Dr. Gushee has been involved in numerous Evangelical-Progressive dialogue efforts to move toward creative common ground policy measures in contested "culture wars" arenas including LGBT rights, abortion reduction, and immigration.

Evangelicals for Human Rights

For four years Dr. Gushee served as the President of Evangelicals for Human Rights (EHR) which supported and partnered with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). These groups pressed for full respect for human rights in U.S. counterterrorism policy, and this activity will continue with NEP. This coalition sponsored a major conference in September 2008 called "Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul." The edited papers from the conference were published by Mercer University Press.

Climate Change

Dr. Gushee was the main drafter of the Evangelical Climate Initiative (2006). An initiative of the Evangelical Environmental Network, the ECI statement argues that human-induced climate change is a serious moral issue that requires Christians, policymakers, and others to take immediate action. He remains involved in climate-related efforts, and has worked with the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School on ongoing efforts ot bring the nation's leading scientists together with evangelicals for care fo creation. Today he remains in dialogue with various scientific, ethical, and religious leaders and organizations to work on these issues.

Peacemaking

For nearly thirty years, Dr. Gushee has been involved in peacemaking effors and concerned especially about nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation. Today he is involved in the Two Futures Project and the Matthew 5 Project. The former aims at getting the United States to embrace a goal of zero nuclear weapons as a national policy, and the latter focuses on encouraging the U.S. to renew its support of the structures of international cooperation. He has also been involved in a significant consultation on theology and international law sponsored by the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton.

Peacemaking in the Middle East

In light of recent events, Dr. Gushee and Dr. Glen Stassen published a critique of American Christian Zionism and offered an alternative approach to the Israel/Palestine conflict. You can find their open letter here.