Students seek to revive progressive movement

Adelle M. Banks

View Author Profile

Religion News Service

View Author Profile

Join the Conversation

Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more

WASHINGTON -- Progressive Christian college students hope to reorganize a movement that propelled young adults into pro-civil rights and anti-war activities before it was disbanded decades ago.

The U.S. Student Christian Movement, which officially ended more than 40 years ago, will be revived at an Oct. 8-11 meeting at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

"Students will come together to discuss how they will collectively put their faith into action toward progressive Christian concerns," said Luciano Kovacs, North America regional secretary of the World Student Christian Federation, in a statement released by the National Council of Churches.

"SCM USA will provide the coordination of ecumenical student activities in the U.S., and subsequently connect U.S. students with the rest of the global federation."

In the 1950s and '60s, the University Christian Movement was an ecumenical network that paralleled the work of the National Council of Churches.

Students who have been involved in "New Fire" meetings prior to recent assemblies of the council seek to reorganize the national movement, said Philip Jenks, a spokesman for the National Council of Churches.

Kovacs said students hope to address such issues as hunger, poverty, immigration, racism and worldwide ecological problems.

A regional conference of the World Student Christian Federation was held in San Francisco in January 2009 and prompted an initiative to begin the new national Student Christian Movement.

Latest News

Advertisement

1x per dayDaily Newsletters
1x per weekWeekly Newsletters
2x WeeklyBiweekly Newsletters