Note: This article originally published at ReligionDispatches.org. Click here to read the full text.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do different things…. If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn’t hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn’t smell a thing. But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that God decided is best. — I Corinthians 12: 4—6, 17—18 (CEV)

Third Way’s* recently released “Come Let Us Reason Together Governing Agenda” has sparked lively discussions about the policies it puts forward, but it has also cast in bold relief some tensions and factions in the growing chorus of voices that are politically progressive and religious. The two-year initiative set out to find common ground based on shared values between two groups that have traditionally been some of the fiercest political adversaries: political progressives and white evangelicals. Moreover, the project deliberately focused on some of the toughest issues that have been at the root of the worst political divisions of the last few decades (abortion and gay and lesbian issues) and more recent issues that have caused deep divides in the American electorate (torture and immigration).

Under the leadership of Rachel Laser, Director of the Third Way Culture Program, “Come Let Us Reason Together” has already accomplished two short-term goals: 1.) it has sparked serious conversations about the promise of this agenda to heal some of our nation’s deepest divides, including engaging in face-to-face conversations with members of congress in the Democratic Faith Working Group of the U.S. House of Representatives and with key members of the Obama administration; and 2.) it has highlighted an emerging evangelical center that is declaring its independence from the old Religious Right in important ways.

One unintended consequence of the project has been to highlight the existence of two streams in the left-of-center faith world. While these groups are not mutually exclusive, they flow from different sensibilities about public engagement and embody a significantly different spirit. On the one hand, some of the most vociferous critics of “Come Let Us Reason Together” have been constituted from a loose confederation of contributors to the recent book, Dispatches from the Religious Left, who generally portray a more ideological and confrontational public presence. On the other hand, the research for my own book, Progressive & Religious—based on interviews with nearly 100 religious leaders—identified a broader group of religious progressives who were largely uncomfortable with the “religious left” label and who are intentionally working to move beyond old ideological divides and build new coalitions.

Three differences between these streams are at the heart of the matter…

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Yesterday, Public Religion Research President Dr. Robert P. Jones participated in a national press conference with leading Evangelical and progressive leaders to announce the Come Let us Reason Together Governing Agenda. The common ground agenda unites moderate evangelical leaders and progressives behind specific policy recommendations on abortion, gay rights, torture and immigration reform. The Governing agenda is the culmination of two years of work led by the progressive think tank Third Way, Evangelical leaders like Reverend Joel C. Hunter, Dr. David Gushee, Robert P. Jones, and and Faith in Public Life. Public Religion Research president Robert P. Jones served as the principal religion advisor for the project.

The following are Dr. Jones’ remarks for the press conference (you can listen to the press conference here):

It’s a great privilege to have been part of this process of “reasoning together” over the last two years. As one who has spent considerable time in both communities represented here— professionally working among progressives and personally growing up as a Southern Baptist in Mississippi—I know how contentious debates over these issues can be, and it has been deeply meaningful for me to see this shared governing agenda emerge, which illuminates a genuinely new path for the country.

I want to make two points about the significance of this governing agenda for the increasingly complex evangelical community, which constitutes a quarter of the U.S. population. First, the Come Let Us Reason Together Governing Agenda heralds the arrival of the second wave of the evangelical center. Where the first wave was marked by a commitment to broadening the agenda beyond abortion and gay and lesbian issues, second wave evangelical centrists have recognized that a biblically balanced agenda requires reengaging with these important, difficult issues with new eyes and new ears.

Second, this governing agenda highlights the priorities of a new evangelical majority that is finding its voice. In the recent Faith and American Politics Survey, conducted by my firm Public Religion Research and sponsored by Faith in Public Life, we found that 40% of evangelicals are centrists, while 46% are traditionalists (or more conservative) and 14% are modernists (or more progressive). Among younger evangelicals (18-34), the evangelical center is even larger (45%). This means that the coalition of centrist/modernist evangelicals account for a majority of evangelicals. Our research also demonstrates that a majority of centrists/modernist evangelicals support even the most divisive areas of our governing agenda, abortion reduction and employment nondiscrimination for gay and lesbian people.

This shared governing agenda, built by big-tent progressives and the emerging evangelical center, is a cause for great hope that we may move toward the beginning of the end of the culture wars at such a critical time in our nation’s public life.

If you are interested in supporting this project visit www.comeletusreasontogether.org, where you can sign on to a letter urging President-elect Obama and congressional leaders to support the governing agenda. You can also find us on Facebook and add your support there.