Last week I spent a few days in Rome with, among others, Tony Jones. As someone who hasn’t ever been to Rome, it was particularly helpful for me to have a Christian historian along. It’s easy enough, having seen one amazing display of ruins after another, or cathedral after awesome cathedral, to lose some perspective. So along the way, Tony would stop and point out the historic significance of various landmarks. Then of course, we’d go grab a bourbon and... Read more
When I was a kid, I’d always ask “why?” about everything. Thankfully, church cured me of that! Read more
I was asked to contribute a chapter to a new book called “Disquiet Time: Rants and Reflections on the Good Book by the Skeptical, the Faithful, and a Few Scoundrels.” The volume, an edited compilation put together by Cathleen Falsani and Jennifer Grant, takes on many of the weird texts in scripture that we either gloss over or completely ignore because they’re just too…well, weird. Of course there are plenty of spiritual oddballs to choose from, but as soon as... Read more
Darwin was pretty certain, what with the huge body of evidence behind him, he’d win the arm wrestling contest for sure. But then Jesus pulled that “Over the Top” move and BAM, totally kicked his ass. Sorry, millions of years of evidence. Christian Piatt is the author of “postChristian: What’s Left? Can we fix it? Do we care?” and a blogger on the Patheos Progressive Christian channel. For more information about Christian, visit www.christianpiatt.com, or find him on Twitteror Facebook. Read more
It’s official: the postChristian tour has left it’s mark on the City of Angels. We started this leg of the tour at Chapman University, where I shared a chapel sermon and a book talk at their AMAZING interfaith center. It’s legitimately one of the most inspiring spaces in which I’ve ever been a part of a worship experience, which made my talk about the end of Christian empire, and the necessary deconstruction of much of institutional religion, that much more poignant.... Read more
In what the Human Rights Campaign calls a “seismic shift in position,” the Extraordinary Synod of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement affirming loving, committed same-sex partnerships. And though this new declaration is a promising step toward greater equality for the LGBTQ community within the greater Christian Church, it leaves much yet to be desired on further reading. Fist, the positive: it should not be minimized that the largest and oldest Christian institution in the world has acknowledged on any... Read more
Here’s a video Gregg Brekke (SixView Studios) and I put together for the postChristian book tour (Jericho Books/Hachette Book Group). The clips of me speaking are from my time with Eric Elnes and the the Darkwood Brew crew at Countryside UCC in Omaha, NE. The others…well, suffice it to say that these tend to represent Christianity to the rest of the world far too often. We have work to do! Read more
Following is excerpted from “postChristian: What’s left? Can we fix it? Do we care?” (Hachette/Jericho, Aug 2014) Any Christian—and arguably, any socially aware human being—would agree that having concern for our neighbor should be a core value of any society. And yet, we hardly have to look beyond the boundaries of our own doorstep to see evidence all around us that there is unmet need, unnecessary suffering, and unchecked oppression and violence. We know what is right, but we don’t... Read more
This week on the CultureCast, we welcome special guest John Paul Lederach, international peace activist and negotiator, and author of the popular nonviolence book, “Reconcile: Conflict Transformation for Ordinary Christians” this book, just reissued with a new foreword from Bill and Lynne Hybels, tells amazing stories, like when rebels groups in central America threatened to kidnap his daughter and how it changed his understanding of scripture forever. He offers some practical advice for how we, too, can live out real... Read more
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” — Arthur Schopenhauer I’m visiting Las Vegas this weekend, one of several stops on my postChristian book tour. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle, who are also in ministry, and who I don’t get to spend time with nearly often enough. My aunt JoLynn was reading aloud a story about the shipping company UPS and how their... Read more
Christian Piatt
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