Allow progressive religion?

I have not found modern atheist scholarship that discusses religious progressives. High time is given to religious moderates who choose not to engage their fundamental counterparts. Frankly, I haven't read a good rebuttal on behalf of religious moderates either.

I presume the argument against religious progressives is they are motivated by irrational thoughts that produce rational ends. So must, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "the means we use be as pure as the ends we seek."

I proposed in a post way back that perhaps an entirely rational world might be undesirable. Allow me to explain. I don't want my kids to read the first few pages of a Kurt Vonnegut novel and stop because the plot is completely irrational. I want them to appreciate the imagination and style used and take lessons offered (metaphorically) through characters. Vonnegut readers don't go around trying to invent Ice-9 or praying to Tralfamadorians. Likewise Christian progressives don't translate all scripture to life, only those which are reasonable (read Borg article from previous post).

Christian progressives hold irrational thoughts none of which translate into irrational actions. Would atheists argue as long as these irrational thoughts exist they hold the capacity to produce irrational actions? Would this put at risk products from which we cultivate our imagination?


*Edit: With regards to my Vonnegut reference. Even though Vonnegut is a secular humanist I wonder if he would be comfortable eradicating irrational thought which doesn't produce irrational behavior. He doesn't appear to hold contempt for Christian Socialists from America's past and also has admiration for lessons found in the Bible, particularly The Beatitudes. I would also imagine he finds writings from Dawkins and Harris a healthy much needed outlook in our public discussion.