I know way too many people whose impression of Christianity has been shaped either by media accounts of the (noisy) Religious Right or by books written the (equally noisy) New Atheists.

As the saying goes, where religion in America is concerned, the loudest noise is coming from the shallow end of the swimming pool.

So many of my otherwise well-informed friends seem to be  unaware of the vibrant progressive movement that is alive and well today in America’s Protestant churches.

Open James A. Forbes Jr.’s new book, Whose Gospel? for a brisk tour of the progressive Christian take on sexuality, gender, race, justice and war.

Whose Gospel? A Concise Guide to Progressive Protestantism, by James A. Forbes Jr., with a forward by Bill Moyers, The New Press, 2010, 176 pages, $23.95.