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The Mind-Blowing Facebook Response to My Question: Why Does The Media Avoid Reporting on the Huge Movement Away From Fundamentalism to Progressive Religion?

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 5:39 pm   by
The Mind-Blowing Facebook Response to My Question: Why Does The Media Avoid Reporting on the Huge Movement Away From Fundamentalism to Progressive Religion? 2015-03-12T17:39:29-06:00

Hey Mainstream Media, are you listening? According to my (great) FB readers you’re doing a crap job. Here’s the amazing response–so far–from my readers on my Facebook Page… More than 150 people have their say…

 

Posted 19 hours ago
Why Does The Media Avoid Reporting on the Huge Movement Away From Fundamentalism to Progressive Religion?Please comment below (I’ll publish the best comments on my blog)Is it that the conflict between atheists and fundamentalists is sexier?Does 24/7 cable news think only in black and white terms?Does the latest outrage from Bill Maher or Franklin Graham make for a hotter story than the spiritual journey of millions of tolerant, inclusive seeking Americans?Yet In 2012, Pew found that 29 percent of young white evangelicals (age 18-29) expressed support for allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. Even 10 years ago this would have been unthinkable.And today people like Brian McLaren and me are crisscrossing the country talking to former evangelicals who are still deeply religious people yet who describes themselves as “survivors” of religion.Millions of boomers have moved from the fundamentalist faith of their upbringing into progressive denominations or no church at all. Yet they still describe themselves as on a spiritual journey.

I hear from readers every day who tell me that my new book “WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace,” describes their journey better than anything they’ve read in the media. They say that they thought they were alone.

Why? Why hasn’t the media reported on this vast movement of individuals?

They say I affirm paradox rather than the certainties of the normal media “take” on religion. They tell me that my journey describes them. How many of us are there? Put it another way: how come so many of us love Pope Francis?

We don’t fit one category. So why do we mostly hear about fundamentalists or the so-called New Atheists? Most Americans don’t fit either of those categories. Do you? Are we really as polarized as the media makes out?

PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY HERE ABOUT ANOTHER WAY TO SEE RELIGION OTHER THAN IN BLACK AND WHITE CATEGORIES.

Please TELL ME YOUR STORY.

HELP ME PROVE THE NARROW MEDIA VIEW WRONG.

Please comment HERE…

I’ll be publishing the best and most insightful comments.

Photo: Why Does The Media Avoid Reporting on the Huge Movement Away From Fundamentalism to Progressive Religion?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Please comment below (I'll publish the best comments on my blog)</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Is it that the conflict between atheists and fundamentalists is sexier?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Does 24/7 cable news think only in black and white terms?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Does the latest outrage from Bill Maher or Franklin Graham make for a hotter story than the spiritual journey of millions of tolerant, inclusive seeking Americans?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Yet In 2012, Pew found that 29 percent of young white evangelicals (age 18-29) expressed support for allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. Even 10 years ago this would have been unthinkable. </p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>And today people like Brian McLaren and me are crisscrossing the country talking to former evangelicals who are still deeply religious people yet who describes themselves as "survivors" of religion.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Millions of boomers have moved from the fundamentalist faith of their upbringing into progressive denominations or no church at all. Yet they still describe themselves as on a spiritual journey.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>I hear from readers every day who tell me that my new book "WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace," describes their journey better than anything they've read in the media. They say that they thought they were alone.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Why? Why hasn't the media reported on this vast movement of individuals?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>They say I affirm paradox rather than the certainties of the normal media “take” on religion. They tell me that my journey describes them. How many of us are there? Put it another way: how come so many of us love Pope Francis?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>We don’t fit one category. So why do we mostly hear about fundamentalists or the so-called New Atheists? Most Americans don’t fit either of those categories. Do you? Are we really as polarized as the media makes out?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY HERE ABOUT ANOTHER WAY TO SEE RELIGION OTHER THAN IN BLACK AND WHITE CATEGORIES.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Please TELL ME YOUR STORY.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>HELP ME PROVE THE NARROW MEDIA VIEW WRONG.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Please comment HERE...</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>I'll be publishing the best and most insightful comments.
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  • Frank SchaefferI am LOVING these comments. I am SO grateful! F
    Like · Reply · 2 · Commented on by [email protected] · 12 hours ago
  • Dylan Morrison AuthorI reckon cash might have something to do with it Frank!
    Unlike · Reply · 19 · 19 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer replied · 6 Replies · 9 hours ago
  • Kimmo WilskaWriting about fanaticism is relatively easy – progressive religion is more complicated, and would not pack the familiar adrenaline rush that the black-and-white approach offers readers.
    The question that you pose brought to mind a blog piece that I read today in the Huffington Post lamenting the lack of coverage afforded to moderate Muslim voices opposed to terrorism.
    Confrontation is relatively easy to incite – moderation is more difficult to write about and uncomfortably challenging to many readers.
    Unlike · Reply · 20 · 19 hours ago
  • Minta KeyesI was basically kicked out of the fundamentalist church when I went off to college to study biology and saw no contradiction in believing in evolution and believing in God the creator. Given I was taught in said church that the rest of the Christian world was “lost,” I was unchurched for 20+ years. I joined a progressive church when I found my young daughter watching “Hour of Power” one Sunday morning, after having had invites for Saturday night sleepovers, with “convenience-based” fundamentalist church invites the following am. I’m not sure I would have taken the time to locate a progressive church (or even understood their existence) had not a female associate minister taken the time to write a letter to the editor affirming the rights of LGBT people at about that time. Holy spirit, anyone? I thought I was returning to church because my daughter needed to be part of a positive faith-based group growing up, but I needed it at least as much for myself.
    Unlike · Reply · 10 · 19 hours ago
  • Steve RyanYes they do because progressive Christian’s more tolerant apprioach towards faith goes against the MSM’s narrative that all Christians are stupid and bigoted. Sort of the Bill Maher view of Christianity is what the main stream press reports on. They don;t see their own bigotry. The goal is to define all Christians as members of Westboro’s church whose motto is “God Hates F@ g gots”. That young friendly Christians are doing nice things and helping people in a peaceful way goes against the game plan.
    Unlike · Reply · 9 · 19 hours ago · Edited
  • Frank MayoFrank,
    It is not an exaggeration to say that much of the enlightenment rights are being removed, not by discussion but by vested interests who support, need and thrive on an uninformed public. Recently I was in a store where the owner was watching the latest news. The owner looked up at me and muttered “government, you’d think with what their payed they’d get their act together”. I didn’t ask for his personal view but later as I listened to the news back home and reflected on having just been in Washington D.C. and I came up with this thought… We need to stop using neutral words like “government” or even Congress.

    We’re talking about the issues that divide us as a nation, perhaps they have always divided us, but we live in a entertainment driven news environment which panders to their listeners impatient attention span. So how did we get to a point were someone can say, “I love this country, I just hate government” when it’s clear that in a democracy our country is our government and it’s laws are our country’s laws.

    Well, it’s much the same on matters of faith, why does the news avoid the recognition of emergent or progressive Christians? Because emergents themselves avoid the part they have played in shaping, or more accurately not shaping the problem of a real world. In an advanced civilization many still wish to indulge in magical thinking because, as you have pointed out many times, it’s so comforting.

    So God even within the progressive community is, to borrow from Bonhoeffer, a God of easy grace. But life is filled with real problems which require solutions. When progressives offer solutions that can truly galvanize the public discourse they will get the attention they need. Votes? Sadly, maybe not so much.
    Unlike · Reply · 5 · 15 hours ago
  • Brian GabbardThis whole piece is pretty ironic: a glossing critique of the easiest and most meaningless designation, “the media”, in a piece about how they gloss. It is really a book ad, methinks.
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 18 hours ago
  • John RaylsApparently Religion does not matter in the media except as the butt of jokes…
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 19 hours ago
  • John WolforthWhat I think you miss Frank is that people like Maher and Harris are right; moderate Christians do not speak out enough against their fellow Christians who are doing it wrong. The reason is, they don’t have grounds for it. It’s very difficult to make the case that certain magical things are true but other things are not. If you accept there is a God (or spirit) that can talk to you (or inspire you), it’s hard to explain why the message you are getting is right and that other person is getting it wrong.

    FYI, The gay issue is in the news, Pope Francis is in the news, so you’re just missing that. You and I pay attention to religious news, so we see a lot of it and notice it is not also “regular” news, unless of course there is a beheading. It’s not that it’s “sexy”, but it’s important to know who is disturbing the peace.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Nina McDonaldI was raised a Roman Catholic by devout, Polish, immigrant parents. Always knew God was THERE– somewhere. Always knew He was real and hungered to really hear His voice, feel His Presence. . I always looked for him in the Mass, but didn’t really experience Him there. I asked a lot of questions as child, which were never answered. “Why did Abraham have to sacrifice Isaac? Mom, would you do that to me if God asked you to?” “Why do we have to say 10 Hail Mary’s and five Our Father’s after confession? How does that affect the balance of God’s relationship to us? How does that change anything?” ” What are we really doing during the Mass? Why does it have to be so long? Why do we have to repeat everything so much?”

    My questions were never answered. I was told to have faith, and continue going to church.

    And while I was blessed to have KIND nuns and priests in my life, the intellectual hunger for answers never left me. Mass became boring. My spiritual experience within Roman Catholicism became empty. And once I was in college the feeling of obligation to attend mass faithfully was finally gone.

    I was a wild child during the late seventies early eighties in college. Read everything about anything religious and spiritual… Constantly seeking, searching, finding pieces of the truth but never finding the WHOLE truth. Never finding REST.

    At 23 I had a real encounter with Christ. A devout friend explained to me this was being “born again” and I found myself in the evangelical world. (I never thought of returning to Roman Catholicism at that time. (Been there-done that. There must be something else right?) Finally, there were “intellectual”answers to all those questions I had had. Dozens of people willing to explain everything the Bible said to me….. Books to read. Amongst which of course were your father’s —-which were a revelation. Spirituality wasn’t all mumbo jumbo! It could be explained, categorized, it could make sense!

    For the next 24 years I immersed myself in evangelical Bible studies, services, doctrine, beliefs and practice. My husband was an elder, and worship leader in the church. I taught Bible studies and led women’s retreats and helped on the worship team. It wasn’t bad for a long time although I always had vaguely uncomfortable feeling that I was a round peg in a square hole. Make that a very small very tight square hole. My old hunger for “something more” resurfaced. But as a “Bible believing, fundamentalist, spirit-filled Christian” what could be missing? But I knew there WAS…..still. I felt like a gerbil on a little wheel, never resting, and never being fulfilled. Finally started asking questions about 8 years ago.

    And rather shocked at myself that I hadn’t asked those questions long before…

    How is real unity in the Christian body manifested? How is true authority given? Is communion really the true presence of Christ or merely symbolic? Jesus promised us rest, why am I exhausted? …. And so much more.

    Two friends each gave me a book. Suprised by Truth by Patrick Madrid and Thirsting for God in the Land of Shallow Wells by Matthew Gallatin…. It was as if a fog lifted, and the door to Narnia opened. I knew I would be coming home… To the Orthodox Church.

    I realized what had been missing.. Sacrament. Mystery. Real Life, real Grace.

    One of the biggest steps along the way, was to realize I didn’t have to think in this Western, post- Reformation, black and white way about Truth— about life, and most importantly—- about others. The paradigm was “both/and” not “either/or”… And all of us everywhere, ALL of us– made in the image of God–were feeling our way forward towards light, truth and beauty — or at times slipping backwards–on this long continuum called Life. Everyone, everywhere was on this journey. And we needed to be KIND to one another as we went along the way. And there really WAS a place where one could find true community and nourishment for the journey. …..I could not believe the grace, love, lack of judgement and rest I found in Orthodoxy.

    Finally, the whole-istic faith I had been looking for —and the rest that Christ had promised.

    But little did I know that my decision would almost destroy my marriage and cause me to lose almost every friend I had made over 30 years. I was rather shocked to discover that the pastor and friends in the little church we attended did not greet my discovery with joy and generosity… Lots of pain, complicated feelings and anger. Along with the understanding– finally- that I needed to look at myself and figure out what was it in ME that hadn’t see the red flags over the years, and that compelled me to drink the “purple juice” for so long?

    A few months later, I read Crazy for God by Frank…ahhhhh… He too had jumped ship! So well written. Brilliantly insightful and funny. And he nailed the evangelical paradigm. It was a gift. I wasn’t the only one. It helped me to untease so many knots.

    I too am a writer, a journalist… So I wrote to Frank and poured my heart out a bit, never expecting a reply really. He wrote back! He was not only accessible but generous and encouraging. (Thank you Frank. You have been a kind, and faithful voice along the path.)

    There is a steady stream of people coming into the Orthodox Church here in America. It is not only underreported, it’s practically invisible to the mainstream media. And yet there they are: old, young, single, families. The gray-haired walking-wounded survivors of Evangelical, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic and Reformed traditions. Young families with children. The pierced and tattooed tribe as well…. All ethnicities, all races. There is room for all, room for doubters and zealots, Republicans and Democrats, atheists who believe and believers who question , room for different styles, generations and heritages— room for all. All coming home to the Ancient Faith.

    You won’t see Fox, Christianity Today, or Charisma Magazine report on this… And why not? Because the truth that is there would undermine their entire foundations…. Shake up their worlds, set their paradigm on end… Real Christianity—-the ancient, Eastern kind that the apostles birthed into the world— is a threat to their livelihoods, control, and power.

    Thanks Frank, for doing your part in asking the BIG questions, shaking things up, and generally keeping all of us on our toes.

    (And thanks for the Becker Trilogy– one of the best laughs I have ever had and just as essential to helping me– and many others I have lent it to–extricate my mind out of the evangelical box …)
    Unlike · Reply · 8 · 14 hours ago · Edited
  • Cindy Mason YoungIf persons of like persuasion on this journey think they are alone, how would the media know to report it? How are you and Brian finding them? Doug Young, have you read this?
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 19 hours ago · Edited
  • Susan LatimerThank you Frank. As an ex-fundamental Baptist this is a great point. The Media is using the old divide and conquer technique as is part of tne destruction of our country. We are currently in Mexico, which is also lied about a lot in the Media, I will write you up my story.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 19 hours ago
  • Nancy Line JacobsAs a mother and aunt, I’ve seen my own child and nieces and nephews grow into more spiritual people who avoid traditional church ties even when they were raised with them. They more than understand the Golden Rule, and they practice it free of the judgment that some saw in their churches. They are compassionate adults now who give of themselves, but as a way of life that seems unconnected to conventional religion.
    Unlike · Reply · 7 · 19 hours ago
  • Jason DavenportHave you hear of the team “Princes of the power of the air————waves” ?
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 19 hours ago
  • Shane WellsThe current role of the media is to distract, confuse, scare, divide and addict. And where does truth-telling factor into that?
    Unlike · Reply · 5 · 19 hours ago
  • Tomas Pollen StavikWell, it seems to line up with Rene Girard’s way of viewing the world:
    We need scapegoats, we need someone to blame and to hate. And when we polarize christians and atheists, we create bigger scapegoats.

    Atheists can blame christians (or religious people) for all the problems in the world, and vice versa. And so we build up these theologies based on who’s in and who’s out. Which only increases the gap.
    Unlike · Reply · 5 · 19 hours ago
  • Jessica TownsleyYour latest book was instrumental in helping to reshape the
    view that years of media (especially Fox News) had drilled into my head about true religion. I lived under the impression that the black and white approach was IT and that progressive ideas were necessarily false teachings. I fought very hard against my better judgment, buying into everything from the “war on Christmas,” to Western Christian persecution, to fear of our Muslim brothers and sisters. I think it is a result of what sells in the media. It’s not “hot” to discuss tolerance when extremism gets more viewers, clicks, and comments. Extremism is a commodity, bought by the media and sold to the masses. To that end, do we blame the media for broadcasting it, or the people for buying (into) it? I often dream about what a world we might live in if the more progressive, tolerant, loving approach was given even the opportunity to change hearts and minds. Pope Francis seems to be making headway so I remain hopeful.
    Unlike · Reply · 5 · 19 hours ago
  • Jennifer OuldMy best guess is that the journey many are on with their faith and religion is highly nuanced, and I’m not sure many in the media even have the context to understand it.
    Unlike · Reply · 4 · 13 hours ago
  • Jeff StrakaWhy would the media be impressed by a hierarchical movement that is still primarily privileged, straight, white male? (A picture is worth a thousand words…)
    Like · Reply · 6 · 16 hours ago
  • Stephen RoweI think part of the problem is that people are leaving progressive religion for agnosticism faster then they can be replaced by ex-fundamentalist. frankly it very hard to distinguish “progressive religion” from the old main line that has been in decline for decades. (says the ex-reformed baptist who has been an Anglican/Episcopalian for 20 years)
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 18 hours ago
  • Joey RollinsI pulled over at the age of 42 and accepted Christ in the parking lot of a Fundamentalist Church on my way to work 9 years ago. I started my journey into Christianity there. I’m still a follower of Christ but its been a long and bumpy road. I have since parted with them and am growing in my faith (not always a straight path) every day. With the help of like minded followers on the Internet I am growing more comfortable in my beliefs and Frank Schaeffer thanks for that. Paul Ellis, Andrew Farley and Benjamin L. Corey although we’re separated by distance, we’re shoulder to shoulder in our faith. Thanks all who use this media to help out the brothers and sisters to learn the walk of love and forgiveness of Christ.
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 18 hours ago
  • David JenkinsOne thing I’ve observed is that Fundamentalists and New Athesists alike are ‘set like concrete’ in their views. They dig their trenches and defend their lines. They are black and white; easy to define and stereotype.

    Then there are others such as progressive Christians who are on a journey. We don’t claim to have all the answers and our views are always changing. Our ideas and beliefs are held lightly and our spirituality is more about relational trust in God and loving others than doctrinal or scientific certainty.
    Like · Reply · 5 · 18 hours ago · Edited
  • Norah Brown-DavisYep, I’m not American (Irish actually), was brought up as Brethren, married Presbyterian but moved on to Peter Rollins’ Ikon group, now New Light (Non-Subscribing) Presbyterian, children all left church behind, I’m now more at home with Frank Schaeffer, Brian McClaren, etc
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 19 hours ago
  • Dorsey MarshallBecause it isn’t news, maybe?
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 19 hours ago
    • Dorsey MarshallWhat I mean is, the move toward fundamentalism wasn’t really news, either until fundamentalists organized around a number of political issues and attempted to influence policy. Their remnant is still evident in Tea Party politics. Until the pendulum-swing toward more moderate and progressive religious ideology manifests itself in political conflict, I don’t see how the issue will be attractive to media.
      Like · 3 · 18 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer
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  • Doug YoungEasy to see why the “mainstream media” (whatever that is) doesn’t report on a movement like this. The 24 hour news cycle is there to give us our news in short little bites (less than three minutes) then have a few pundits talk (or yell) about it for another three minutes.

    Stories like this, that require reflection and thought, are not popular on news shows – simply because people don’t want to take the time to think and reflect.

    Interesting piece, though – and I have to say that though I’ve never been a fundamentalist, my own journey has been decidedly more spiritual and less religious in the past decade or so.
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 19 hours ago
  • James Scott SmithI don’t have a complete explanation, however, I would really like to know how I can belong to a circle of people like the one pictured here. I live near Colorado Springs if that tells you anything about how desperately hungry I am for fellowship with people “on the move”.
    Like · Reply · 4 · 17 hours ago
  • Dan HendersonFor me, I was very tired of trying to do intellectual contortions to make a literal-inerrant Bible fit with modern realities. I also began to realize that the “certainties” that fundamentalist-evangelicals stand on, are a house of cards. It was very easy to tip it over. I simply couldn’t live the lie anymore, and since leaving nearly 45 years of evangelical past behind, and learning that there are many, many people like me that have found that there is life (abundant) after evangelical faith, I have been liberated. And, I have people like Frank Schaeffer, Brian McLaren, and Bishop Shelby Spong to thank for providing a “voice” to my journey. I am now excited to discover new realms of faith, connection, and an expansive faith that is inclusive, loving and is patterned on the life of Jesus with out all the modern evangelical baggage. As for the media, my guess is that they would never report accurately what is going on anyway; it will be up to us to tell the story and narrative in an honest and transparent way. Maybe it is a blessing that they aren’t paying attention?
    Like · Reply · 4 · 18 hours ago · Edited
  • Gordon HackmanBecause progressive Christianity isn’t anything interesting or different. It’s just secular liberalism with a religious veneer.
    Like · Reply · 3 · 13 hours ago
    • Jennifer OuldIn my experience, Gordon, that’s far too simplistic and doesn’t reflect the progressive Christians I know.
      Like · 3 · 13 hours ago
    • Pete RicheyI grew up fundamentalist 30 plus years and left….been around the block a few times and have never heard the term progressive Christian. I agree with Gordon. Isn’t that what Episcopalians are?
      Like · 10 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer
      Write a reply…
  • Mark G. BaberFolks who think dualistic and have zero exposure to contemplative thinking and movement toward non dual thinking cannot begin to see what needs to be seen and reported. Either/or thinking just has no room for both/and. Those looking for certainty find it uneasy to deal with folks willing to humbly lean into mystery. Maybe?
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 15 hours ago
  • Cecelia Cormier RyanIt’s more fun to read about ignorant bigots than it is to read about people who have a real spiritual life doing something good.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 15 hours ago
  • Robert Allan RoushMaybe being “for things” and not “against them” isn’t newsworthy. Conflict and opposition work well in story telling. Love and progression maybe don’t make a good story- But it’s a good struggle. Staying out of the spotlight helps make the journey personal – and more deeply meaningful.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 15 hours ago
  • Bob Rogersinclusion and acceptance doesn’t sell, division and exclusion does.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 18 hours ago
  • Jessica TownsleyFrank Schaeffer, I’ve had a few more thoughts on this and will message you when I get my youngest son down for his nap. I’m wondering about the question of who is in power in the media and the question of how those people want our future shaped. Who does it benefit to keep people, especially Americans, in the dark about tolerant views and divided over extremist positions?
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 18 hours ago
  • Peter Martin JazzMedia is the driving force of influence on voters. It divides by isolating factions in an environment that forbids political discussion in the church, therefore voters leave a repressive atmosphere for neutrality. Their beliefs haven’t changed, they just choose to leave a willfully constructed dichotomy.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 18 hours ago · Edited
  • Dave CartwrightThe media has a lot of narratives that it pushes. That’s more a cultural thing, usually, than a “conspiracy”. Media figures talk to and at each other a lot. There’s more of that on TV or radio, where most folks get theri news, than actual journalism. The people who spend all day every day in a CNN, MSNBC, or FoxNews studio aren’t actually out seeing how the world works. There’s currently no established narrative around the trend you’re talking about. That may be because the people who establish those trends aren’t witnessing it. It may be because the corporate purse-masters don’t want to fund looking into it. If the latter is true, there could be a wide variety of reasons for it, but certainly one of them would be that progressive/left religion is (really by definition or close to it) hostile to corporate interests.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 19 hours ago · Edited
  • Neal CampbellIt’s a complicated story and media has a hard time telling complicated stories. Those of us who go through the journey away from fundamentalism to progressive religion, and then often on to atheism pretty much have to tell our own stories. That’s what is great about the Internet. It gives us a platform to share our stories with each other. We are the media now.
    Unlike · Reply · 4 · 18 hours ago
  • Brian CordovaThank God, it’s happening (whether it be properly reported or not).
    Unlike · Reply · 4 · 18 hours ago
  • Stephen V. SmithProblem is in the word ‘religion’ itself, coming from Latin ligare, to bind or to tie. Religion can be nothing other than a container: adequate for those who choose to bind their souls to it and seek security within its temporal confines, or something to outgrow for those who become fully conscious of the freely moving, eternal, animating Source of the Cosmos afoot in their depths, who live in the light of the words of Paul of Tarsus, “For FREEDOM, Christ has set us free.”
    Like · Reply · 2 · 10 hours ago
  • Daniel BrabbleMass media is more concerned with having a fundamentalist straw man of Christian faith than an authentic portrait that accurately portrays how complex the situation really is.

    It’s also indisputably true that the media focuses only on the negative in any group.
    Gentle Muslims do not get press. Radical, militant, and violent ones do.
    Like · Reply · 2 · 11 hours ago
  • Wayne RumsbyThere is another quiet movement, the Dones. We don’t want media attention.
    Like · Reply · 2 · 12 hours ago
  • Carey StoneThe god of condemnation and judgment eventually turned on me. As the bumper sticker says, “My karma ran over my dogma.” The only way out was to find a ‘kinder and gentler God’ one of grace and mercy. I am now an Episcopal priest.
    Like · Reply · 2 · 13 hours ago
  • Colleen CunninghamBecause the Progressives are all peace and love and getting along. Boring! Those Fundamentalists though, they’re fun to report on. They have the hate signs and weird sound bites. I think Jon Stewart said it best, “The media is lazy and likes sensationalism.”
    Like · Reply · 2 · 16 hours ago
  • Lynn JenningsBecause Fundamentalism is crazy and crazy sells now. They feed the monster for ratings and clicks and face it the crazier the story the more people rubberneck it.
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 17 hours ago
  • Michael DavisI was raised a devout Roman Catholic in a small town in the Midwest. I first had doubts about my faith as a teen, and I was sure I was going to hell on account of that. About that time, I started reading Thomas Merton and got my first introduction to contemplative prayer, monasticism, and mysticism. But I continued to struggle with my faith through college and well into my 20s and 30s. I even went to a Roman Catholic seminary in Indiana for a short time, which was also a large Benedictine monastery. I left the church, tried other religious traditions, including Buddhism, got a degree in Religious Studies, traveled the world, and had many other experiences. Finally, in my late 30s I decided to sell everything that I had and try monastic life, in my case, the Trappist-Cistercian tradition. After several years of this and basically being directed elsewhere by the vocational directors in that religious order, I ended up teaching English in Korea, mostly because my professional career was in shambles and it didn’t do me any good in job interviews to say that I had spent several years in a monastery! I married one of my Korean students and have been married nearly 20 years now. We have two children, 18 and 14. We have struggled trying to find a church identity, having tried Catholic, Anglican, Unitarian, and Orthodox traditions. Of all of them outside my own Catholic childhood faith, I found Greek Orthodoxy to be most to my liking. But in all my searches, I also have come to feel that the God described in all of the various Christian traditions probably doesn’t exist. It seems to me that what matters are compassion, tolerance, and living with the nuances of experience which refuse to be absolutely defined. We are currently unchurched, but I can walk into any temple or church anywhere and feel some affinity for what I find there. I’m beyond thinking about doctrines, politics, and all of that stuff…..
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 18 hours ago · Edited
    • Ron JonesIt is hard to fit in when one transcends the B.S.
      Like · 18 hours ago
    • Julia O’BrienThat partially explains my problems since I was a child. Every question I asked, nearly, brought down the wrath of my sunday school teachers, youth leaders, pastors, you name it. But I needed (and still need) for things to make sense. I finally figured out that I do better as an agnostic because I’m just weary from 35 years of trying to pry much more than nonsense out of evangelicals.
      Like · 16 hours ago
    • Tania StevensGod gave us a brain – we need to use it . I know that if it had not been for the group singing I would not have continued going to church – I resented being told when to sit, stand, what to believe, what to pray for. I finally found my path when I encountered the Baha’i Faith. Independent investigation of the Truth and an introduction to the fact that religion / revelation is progressive – Baha’u’llah’s Revelation is for the issues of today. I have been a Baha’i now for 24 yrs and know that I could never go back.
      Like · 5 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer
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  • Russ CarmichaelThe fact is “the Ruling class” is steep into fundamental religion and to show it is weakening only demonstrates their losses of influence and power. Religion across the world in intwined with the political realities of the day. The workers rises, the fight for Civil rights are the Jesus concept. The love for Pope Francis is the love of Liberal Theology.. This is scary stuff for those in power.. Bankers are coming under the gun by religious leaders?
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 19 hours ago
    • Julia O’BrienI agree that it threatens their whole worldview, the one that they’re trying to impose upon a society that is less and less interested.
      Like · 16 hours ago
    • John WolforthSo I guess you are not talking “liberal media” then. I can see how what you say would fit with Fox News and their desire to bring up the war on Christmas, but what about everybody else?
      Like · 15 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer
      Write a reply…
  • Michael Damian JeterIF it Bleeds, it leads, and therefore, the media reports on that which is likely to invoke crass emotionalism rather than serene reflection.

    I say this as someone probably too involved with crass emotionalism.
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 19 hours ago
  • Ray CalvertI have heard it said before that it is more about the journey than the destination. Since becoming aware of my own faith in 1971 I have followed a variety of paths and occasionally a ‘game trail’ or two. I began in the Methodist church, left it for a time and explored a variety of evangelical, fundamentalist and even reformed groups. Around 1973 I was introduced to your dad’s book Escape From Reason. That book opened me to the idea that it was okay to have faith and to think at the same time. From that point on I read everything I could that your dad, your mom and you wrote. I even attended the tour in Atlanta for How Should We Then Live. Probably my best memory of that tour was hearing your mom’s talk about ‘What Is A Family’. I even bought the tape from that talk and listened to it over and over until it finally wore out. Something she said in that talk about putting a priority on children’s lives when they are growing up resonated with me. I felt it epitomized the way I remembered my own childhood and how my mom related to me. Her words have resonated in my mind through all these years.

    I have been through many phases in my journey. At an early point on the path I was dogmatic to the point of shutting out anything that didn’t match the way saw the world. A divorce and the death of close family members knocked those edges off. In more recent history I have found myself struggling with the beliefs I held earlier and the wonders of the world I have opened up to. I now find people and life to be so much more complex and interesting than I had understood during my dogmatic phase. I am fascinated with the possibilities and advances in knowledge in our time. I also find myself feeling more aligned with Socrates in his position concerning how little he knew. There is something remarkably liberating about realizing our profound ignorance and uncertainty about life and this world. It is okay not to know, yet somehow that is the fundamental starting point of knowledge. I also believe it is the fundamental starting point for confronting belief in God.

    Discovering your recent book Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God has been refreshing. I have sometimes struggled with the beliefs and world view I once held and the way I see the world now. In the core of my thinking I have not fundamentally changed my theistic and even Christian orientation to the world, but it has expanded to be more inclusive and open to the wonder of life. I believe your book in so many ways syncretizes that sense of wonder with the beautiful orientation towards appreciating other people that your mom communicated in Atlanta. Something I read by Thomas Merton talked about how if we look for perfection in the faith community we will never really find it, yet if we are open to others as they are we will find something wonderful and uplifting in the connection. I have come to think that learning to be open to others in the world without judgement, learning to accept ourselves without condition and awareness of the wonders of creation are the greatest legacies the gospels gave us.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 7 hours ago
  • Jeremiah NelsonDo those who have left Fundamentalist Protestantism for either the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church count? While These traditions have established dogmas, however they are vastly more nuanced and open than my former “non-denominational” Denomination known as Calvary Chapel. I am now Orthodox in the Antiochian Archdiocese. I can say that I no longer live with the paranoia of have to tell everyone about Jesus, so I am not guilty of letting people burn in hell forever if I don’t. Amazingly freeing.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 8 hours ago
  • Ken MinyardMaybe it’s because the fundamentalist Christians are seeing too much of themselves in the fundamentalist Muslims in the Middle East. If being a fundamentalist means you take your bible/Quran literally then you are obliged to do some pretty terrible things in service of your religious beliefs. “Progressive Christians” then simply means to me Christians who aren’t crazy.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hours ago
  • Pete RicheyThe media only ever covers fundamentalists when they speak up about abortion and traditional marriage. Otherwise, an unchurched northeast liberal journalist never even thinks of religious people.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hours ago
  • Lynn StaffordMaybe the big fundie churches will loose too much money if anyone reports the truth. Also, media would miss the opportunity for reporting on conflict if everyone began to be more accepting, as progressives are. I was one of them for many years, but began to question the legalism and lack of love. When I finally got the courage to ask questions, stand up for truth, and begin to take God out of the box today’s Christians have put him in, my spiritual journey became a whole lot more beautiful and deeper than I ever thought possible. There is just too much truth out there being ignored in the name of a god who rules with fear instead of love. I am just now getting to know that god who loves.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hours ago · Edited
  • Linda D’Alto-Borowskicorporate media will not upset its right wing contingents!
    Like · Reply · 1 · 11 hours ago
  • Tim WestFundamentalists have been very successful at redefining “Christianity” (and even “evangelicalism”) in the court of public opinion. Evidence to the contrary is perceived as novelty, regardless of how ubiquitous it has become. Public perceptions do not change quickly.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 12 hours ago
  • Pamela ChaddockDon’t we know by now that the mainstream media is primarily a power control group? It keeps the dumb dumber and ignores ‘progress’ because progress threatens their status quo. It feeds and delivers the Kool-aid of simplistic either-or-controversies and inanity. Yes, we need MORE VOICES & PRESENCES like yours and Brian’s to raise the stakes for what IS TRUE. Thanks, Frank, for putting yourself OUT THERE !!! I find YOUR story one of the most transforming and compelling on the planet… amazing what your abiding love for Jeannie and Lucy has ignited…
    Like · Reply · 1 · 12 hours ago
  • Pamela Patterson LakeProgressive religion doesn’t make for good sound bites. Our current media doesn’t do complicated.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 13 hours ago
  • Doug MacThis sounds and feels like an opportunity for a documentary. Contact me if you wish I am a Christian in recovery because of the amount of revelation I received from God directly and used against the church showing their apostasy as the harlot. If you have the contacts concerning the underground movement for Truth in the Light of God as us all within unity and the passion to know and experience it; Let me know I would Love to help with that if God wills it.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 13 hours ago
  • Timothy SauderI agree with you 100%. I think that many evangelicals even today are afraid of uncertainty. I am trained from three schools and then trained myself and added some valuable things but people don’t like the questions i ask. It makes them nervous. I am still a solid believer but not at all narrow enough to handle all the answers either. My parents turned Fundamentalist in their later years because it is always nice to have all the answers in a box. I am still questioning and still learning.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 13 hours ago
  • Paul CrowBecause no one gives a shit apart from Christians.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 13 hours ago
  • Kay Atchison BrockwellTwo things: One, progressive religion is a man-bites-dog story. The church working toward understanding, caring for those who need it, establishing Christ’s kingdom on earth is not as good a story as is some fundie blathering from the pulpit that people are going to hell for same-sex relationships, accepting science as fact, being ecumenical. That’s not true just in covering religion, btw. It goes in everything. Second, the fundamentalist is inextreciably linked with the drive for aggressive evangelism, as much as I hate to use a word they’ve perverted. In an insatiable need to make everyone see it their way, the fundamentalists have become experts at marketing. And marketing works.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 14 hours ago
  • Mike KolbIf we had a liberal media, and not a corporate one, we’d hear about it. But it’s not sensational. Maybe it’d get attention if Kim Kardashian joined?
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 14 hours ago
  • Eric HillI consider myself a “survivor” as well. It’s very easy for people like ourselves to overreact towards religion (especially Xtianity) as a result. But, its important to always find the middle ground in everything. “Reactionaries” get the most attention because there is controversy and conflict. Peace on the other hand never really sells as well. It’s unfortunate too because more and more people are radicalizing (both religious and non-religious alike) but what we need is precisely the opposite of radicalization! It’s an interesting catch-22 however….the middle ground is calm and yet in order to counter all the hysteria out there about religion, the middle ground needs to become more active and vocal….
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago
  • Tom EggebeenProgressive religion isn’t half as fun as fundamentalism. Besides, fundamentalism plays well in Kochland …
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago
  • George HartwellThe real Jesus is way more radical that the establishment – religious or otherwise could/can handle. The Holy Spirit really is not a caged Dove and those who want power through hierarchy did not/do not like that. I/they/we avoid intimacy and Jesus as God’s love letter was an invitation to ‘know’ God intimately. Real encounter/ real listening/ really letting His breath bubble up within we/me – that is what we/me are avoiding.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago
  • Dave-Donna ThomasProgressive Religion: All the politics of a church AND you’re going to Hell. Worst of both worlds
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago
  • Linda ProchaskaYou might just as well ask why bloggers ask rhetorical questions; the answer would be the same; to attract attention by highlighting the controversial.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago
  • Penney WiniarskiI guess as one of those on the fringes I would ask, “Why does it matter?” It’s a movement not a platform………look at where the western christian platform has gotten us………budgets, boards, & big shots. Those who are a part of the movement are spreading out, not up to a microphone……….I can’t tell you how frustrating even this question can be. How many religious leaders have been amazed at my faith and try to dissect it, quantify it, package it, and utilize it to grow their movements. Even the progressive’s drive me insane at times……..LIFE itself is a privalege I must remind myself of this daily……….when I do that I don’t usually have the time to invest in questions of whether or not JESUS is entitled to Prime Time! He’s already taken what is his……not saying you Frank are doing promoting this………but really, who cares? Isn’t God sooooooooooo much bigger then that and if He is, He certainly does not need to seek a glory He’s already gained………it’s a question of investment……..I live it at work as a supervisor………….it has been profitable………..the financials, business’s, communities, individual lives are reported on the news when this happens…………most times the hard work I’ve done is not and for the sake of Christ, I’m glad it’s not.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago
  • Al Doshna“If it bleeds, it leads.” If there were no right vs. left, religious vs. atheist, black vs. white, straight vs. gay, rich vs. poor, Dem vs. Repub,Christian/Jew vs. Muslim, problems could probably be ratcheted way, way down and people could go about living more productive, safer, more inclusive lives. Man has always had his conflicts but the recent need for media’s expansion and omnipresence has often heightened and created more drama.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 15 hours ago · Edited
  • David BoyerThese stories are beyond a 10 second sound bite. The Lamestream Corporate media can’t cope with this…..
    Like · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago
  • Lynn DerksI am o.k. with the lack of media attention. Christianity is about building a vibrant relationship with God. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear; no media necessary.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago
  • Greg Aiellonothing feisty about good news.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago
  • Elaine Lainie Ernst WesselI threw away my cookie cutters a long, long time ago, Frank. And there is not black and white, only a vast grey scale. I’m a product of Catholic grade school education, but my parents had issues so I wasn’t pushed to be confirmed. Praise God for that. I went to a very unique Catholic all girl high school run by the Sisters of St. Francis, but they weren’t a part of the local Catholic Archdioces. I only found this out very recently, but it sure explains a lot. They raised us (and a lot of eyebrows) to be young women of high intellect, integrity, virtue, confidence and compassion, with a heart for servitude in the likeness of Mary. And we were to be true to our own convictions. And so I was. From my teen years on, I never felt any pressure to agree with Catholic dogma. I knew I’d be a hypocrite if I were confirmed so I never was. But I did feel guilt. I did feel unworthy and beneath that God so I walked away from any faith at all. And that hurt me in ways too numerous to count over the years as I struggled with being the child of an alcoholic and a borderline, being sexually assaulted, finding myself in the middle of an abusive marriage, helplessly watching a parent die before my eyes, etc. Then one day He revealed Himself to me and I was overjoyed!! I still am! I just didn’t realize how vulnerable I’d actually become as I joined a congregation. In many ways, I think I would have been better off keeping my faith relationship to myself. It’s tragic that at age 41 with many years of wisdom about so many things, I had to suffer such a painful lesson. I had to endure my orientation to legalism in the evangelical church. I was told to “take a break” from the choir because I had just filed for divorce. I was reminded of the code of conduct I signed, was told that anyone contemplating divorce was required to do this. Names of others who had been given the same break were listed to me. I met with the pastor – as was customary – and I let him know this was unjustified, but he informed me it was non negotiable. I was crushed because serving musically as a musical person was filling up a void inside and healing me in a way that nothing else could at that time. But I was reminded by church leadership that choir ministry is not about me at all, it’s about the congregation. It’s about The Lord. Suffice it to say, I had to release myself of that place because it instantly became void of the Holy Spirit for me. And in doing so, I saw many people I knew disappear into the woodwork. I’ll never go back. I’m an open mixture of faith, belief, advocacy. I sit on the fence a lot. I honestly don’t know where I stand or sit on a lot of issues. I’m not Dem or Repub. I am pro choice. I worked at Planned Parenthood and I saw women who needed, yes needed to have abortions. I’m not going to state why because I’m just not. I am for marriage equality especially because we are talking about people I love and the people they love. The Healthy Workplace Bill needs to be passed in every state to protect people against bully bosses and to benefit conscientious employers so they can discipline and terminate managers who manage by threats. I like gun control. But I might want to take a conceal carry course. I think capital punishment is fine for some of our criminals. Assisted suicide for the dying is too. I didn’t vote for Obama either time. What does all of that prove? I don’t fit. Any category. I’m tired of labels. All of them. Religious, political, ideological, etc. Bottom line for me? Jesus loves me. He says love each other. Take care of each other. That’s what I’m determined to do.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago · Edited
  • Terri L. Patrick Knightthe media is owned by 4-5 corporations. It’s all about the money like others have pointed out. Get ready for Fox’s fake war on Christmas; what they fail to tell people as long as their is a buck to be made of Jesus he’s not going anywhere, they should worry when they can’t make money off of him anymore. P.S I like the picture of the garage you are all meeting in.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago · Edited
  • Andrea BroomfieldMedia sources that you mention, and the names you mention, are increasingly dated and appeal to demographics that still turn on televisions, know names like Graham and Maher, are aware that there is such a thing as cable or dish tv. So, it makes some sense that these media sources would focus more on the “old time” religions and divides than they would on progressive Christianity. While there are tens of thousands of progressive Christians who are older than 40, it does seem to me that the youth involved in this movement have to be taken into account, and their news sources. Youth are probably not the target audience for Fox News or MSNBC, many have no television and certainly no cable, and they can ensure (as can anyone) that they control what media they take in. Progressive religious views can (if you want them to) saturate Facebook, Tumblr, Zite, Flipbook, Youtube, etc. And, if you “like” or subscribe to progressive religious sources, then you have no sense that there’s a lack of coverage of progressive religion. For that matter, if you want to be involved in, as a reader or a writer, the multidimensional battle of faiths and lacks thereof, then you can have that, too, again based on what you subscribe to or “like” on FB and other social media sites. For example, I “like” First Things, America, Sojourners, various local UU feeds, and newspapers who routinely cover faith in American life, such as the American Conservative. Wow. I see it all, and I can read it all, too, as I choose. I would never be inclined to turn on a television set, so my knowledge of this battle and its skewed coverage is somewhat news to me.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago
  • Jeff BennettWhat’s interesting at least from what I’m seeing in my smaller reformed world is those young people are not leaving though. They are holding to their conscience within a group with differing opinions. That seems to me to be a very positive thing for the long term evolution of more orthodox denominations.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago
  • Brian MeadowsMy journey runs along similar lines. I grew up without any religious training and started to become a Christian in college. I cut my spiritual-theological ‘teeth’ at a progressive United Methodist church in Philadelphia of which you, Frank, may have heard–First United Methodist Church of Germantown, aka FUMCOG.
    I went to divinity school for a year and had what was probably the most painful experience of my life there: the dean thought my manners were a little too enthusiastically straight and thus not fir for the ministry, although she put it somewhat differently. But even though, in my last semester there I felt as if my soul was bleeding to death, God did not leave me and I was referred to counselors who were able to stop the ‘bleeding’. And when I went to law school (also for a year) I was also part of a warmhearted Episcopal church and that still influences me.
    Growth is hard and painful but there really is no other way and it is God Who makes it possible to find one’s own path and not just tread blindly in well-worn steps. My late first wife and I helped each other on that road; she still does help me on it and I strive to pay those benefits forward to my current wife.
    For the last seven years, I have been blessed with being able to hear God’s Voice in my mind. I believe God may use voices and images which the person associates with benevolent authority that doesn’t need to threaten or roar. God’s ‘manner’ with me is how we remember our favorite teachers; the ones we wished ALL our teachers could be like. God asks questions of me rather than issues commands because, I think, God wants us to find the answers with His help so that they really are engraven on our hearts. I think I could say more but not just now, so I’ll stop with that except to say that I also believe that a robust, living faith welcomes questions, can answer criticisms, give mockery a pitying smile and spurns help from the state. It’s a dessicated, brittle and moribund faith that seeks to stifle the first three and begs the state for help to shore up its crumbling edifice OR tries to kill the first three outright! And that any so-called ‘holy man’ (or woman, for that matter) who tries to stifle questions, etc. is of the Enemy and NEVER of God!
    That’s a few things I’ve gleaned from my journey so far.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 16 hours ago
  • Beena PeterPropaganda oriented! The media usually are seen reporting on events which has more “dramatic effect” Vs Otherwise, This is the same reason why media publish or have coverage on more war and violence related events than of Peace. The underlying propaganda and those benefiting from these propaganda, whether it is of political nature or not, is also another reason why more coverage are given on fundamentalism to progressiveness in my opinion.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Elijah John McKnightIf we are talking about media such as FOXNews, it’s very simple of the reason why they don’t report what is happening. They may realize that they’re losing a battle-because it is frankly her fundamentalist, religious right ideology, which infuses their “news” and The fact that people are straying away from this uses their power. It FOXNews, for example, does not have an audience that will encourage their religious insanity, they won’t have any news. They are either in denial or put posing abiding the reality.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Brad WalworthIn an age of steadily increasing competition for increasingly dwindling attention spans, the media certainly does go for the “sexier” stories for bigger market share and more advertising $$$. Plus, they tell the general public what they want to hear. The unchurched public, influenced by high profile stories of fundamentalist bigotry and “unscientific” attitudes, lump all Christians together under a convenient stereotype to more easily comprehend their world, validate their own personal bias, and explain why they are refusing that nagging sense that they, too, are made in the image of God. Besides, the unchurched public doesn’t want to believe that there really are caring, concerned Christians out there who are trying to make God’s world a better place with the time they have today. Presenting some Christians in a more positive light would make unbelievers pretty uncomfortable because they might have to modify their own beliefs about God. Change is hard.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Sylvia SkinnerProgressive Christians lack two things: a dog and pony show & the threat of hell and damnation. There are few celebrities in this movement.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Brian M. WhiteThis meeting looks like a great group. I can smell the machine oil and beer just by looking.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Sue Lawrence SmithBecause they media is still own by Right Wing billionaires.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Alan NapierConcentrated media ownership. My thinking is the status quo benefits those extremely wealthy owners that keeping it in place is probably a subconscious motivation. A wave of truly moral political decisions would rock the financial boats.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Melissa Shew WarnerMy experience is that it is wel-reported these days! Of course, with Social Media, we are “fed” what we have “lied” – making my FB input single-minded. But… my very fundamental friends are concerned, so it must be getting out there!
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 18 hours ago
  • Sharon PajakProgressives aren’t extreme enough to warrant the attention that will get advertisers on board.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 18 hours ago
  • Bonnie LillIt doesn’t suit their agenda Frank.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 18 hours ago
  • Richard RossiThe media is now largely owned by a conglomeration of corporations controlled by conservatives of the Rupert Murdoch/Richard Mellon Scaife ilk.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 18 hours ago
  • Wes ShelbourneColumn inches tend to allow mainly binary approach to religion rather than an exploration of the more nuanced reality. T.V enjoys reporting more sensationalist stories that tend to be ‘A hates/ kills B and that reflects their religion ‘. The time or column inches that would be needed to explore the more nuanced journey of many of us doesn’t seem to appeal to media.
    However, I think a really sensationalist story would be ‘A listens to B and begins to understand and calls across to Z ” hey come and join the conversation”‘
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 18 hours ago
  • Jeanne SchlumbohmUnfortunately, here in the south, the Bible Belt, the move away from Fundamentalism hasn’t reached us much yet. We are the few and far between. But the ubiquitous little Baptist churches are dying and desperate to try and resuscitate them. Once Granny passes, who guilted her kids into going, most of the churches will close their doors.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 18 hours ago
  • Timothy Michael KurekBecause they hate progressive Christians less and they need someone to vilify easily, so they can sell ad space for commercials. Fundamentalists make for good tv.
    Unlike · Reply · 3 · 16 hours ago
  • Michael PurnellThis is consistent with the trend to do whatever it takes to get eyeballs. Nuance and sophistication don’t cut it. My own perspective? It’s a mostly ignored market.
    Unlike · Reply · 2 · 18 hours ago
    • Julia O’BrienI remember an old line from The West Wing, “Nuance is not a vice” and think to myself that it has apparently come to be so in our culture. Any complexity at all and people just shut down or angrily push back demanding simplicity. I think this is partially because of the anti-intellectual bent this country is on.
      Like · 1 · 16 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer
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  • Eddie SalasLaodicea church !
    Like · Reply · 3 hours ago
  • Nora FraserThe media focuses on sensational subject matter. What you are referring to requires a depth of introspection and an understanding that religion carries with it a foundation of history going back before the life of Christ. Did you follow the story coming out of Winnipeg about the Pentacostal church not allowing an indigenous group to do a smudging ceremony for an event organized by the Mennonite Central Committee ( Fund raiser) and what would be your thoughts on this ?
    Like · Reply · 4 hours ago
  • Vanessa FioriWas it Jesus or God who said don’t change one jot or tittle of the Bible? These so-called progressives sound like a combination of Hindu and various other religions. Didn’t God judge the Jews with the Assyrians and then the Babylonians for apostacies such as this mixing of religious elements? God is a jealous God and doesn’t like to share his believers. It also does not say much about who is it really who these progressives love. It sounds more like they love themselves. It is quite clear who God is in the Bible and it is quite clear what is right and what is wrong. Homosexuality is wrong, period. If you have been following my posts, it is quite clear that Islam is making a move to claim this country. Could they be the latter day Assyrians to cleanse our country from unbelief. I sincerely hope not, but I fear it is so.
    Like · Reply · 5 hours ago
  • Colleen Noel HarperAs an atheist who fled from extreme fundamentalism about 36 years ago and had to carefully examine what I believed and why did I believe it, I had to leave the evangelical church based on their rejection of science and reason, holding merely to unfounded and misunderstood “faith” talk. I became an atheist because the evangelical message was flawed beyond repair and sealed in a shiny paint job that prohibited the questioning of the message hidden away behind all the blind and shiny obfuscation.

    Evangelicalism had lost the ability to make trustworthy truth claims, and without being trustworthy, there was no reason to hold on to that which could not honestly prove was not a lie meant to deceive.

    The atheistic claims made in philosophical arguments by such as David Hume and Voltaire have not been dispelled by the church and leaves the church exposed and under attack.

    Science does not contradict the Bible per se, but it leaves the church to answer how scientific findings will be understood and accepted by the church. The inane and unintelligent comments thrown out in opposition to science does not in any way firm up the church’s epistemology and ontology. It is not the responsibility of the non-believer to make the argument for the Christian faith. It is the believer’s responsibility to tailor the message – and the validity of the message – to appeal to the non-believer.

    The Christian Church changes over time. Things that were right in one time are wrong in another, and things that were wrong have been found to be right, and churches must be ready to acknowledge the right things. The church needs to take care that old traditions may need to be scrapped because they do far greater harm than the good they were meant to do. We now think slavery a great evil, and we are beginning to see civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians to be a strong good.

    Remember the Centurion who had a male lover back at camp who was sick? He sought Jesus to heal his man and Jesus was ready to go, but the Centurion stopped him. The Centurion said “I am a man who gives orders and I know they will get done. All you need do, Jesu, is to give the command that my servant be healed and I know he will be healed.” Jesus knew the works the Centurion used meant that his servant was also the Centurion’s lover. What did Jesus condemn? Nothing!! Instead Jesus proclaimed the Centurion had shown great faith and as to his wishes is should be done. Jesus never condemned Centurion’s relationship.

    If Jesus did not condemn the homosexual relationship, why does the Christian church condemn homosexuality?
    Like · Reply · 5 hours ago
  • Karen PrimeauThere is a progressive movement?
    Like · Reply · 5 hours ago
  • Rick MeredithThe media wants simple stuff that can be explained in 15 seconds or less. The media (with some notable exceptions such as NYT and NPR) has no patience for anything as nuanced as progressive religion.
    Like · Reply · 5 hours ago
  • Chip BerletBecause front page reporters do not understand faith or religion, while religion reporters are afraid of alienating their base!
    Like · Reply · 5 hours ago
  • Jacqui PeckFundamentalists are loud. They are the squeaky wheel.
    Like · Reply · 6 hours ago
  • Moisés ArangoI think the media has perhaps gotten used to the status quo
    in religion, and reporting on what is really going on today takes them out of
    their comfort zone. If we really analyze it, this is a paradigm shift that
    requires that they also change the way they have typically responded, as well.
    The fact is that they are inexperienced in this new field which requires a
    different approach, attention, and focus that can also catapult an entire new
    way of viewing religion. Moreover, the media can an aid in spreading the word
    even quicker to all the potential new thinkers out there which can create a
    huge change in society that can even furthermore spread to a global level even more rapidly.
    Like · Reply · 7 hours ago
  • Richard Alan FisherI think the institutional model of the church worked in a less complicated world. I think the progressive movement will be more organic and very difficult to define. Many progressives I suspect don’t even feel a need to fellowship in a traditional sense. My earlier point is that the media lacks interest and involvement in religion in general and therefore would have a hard time seeing particulars and patterns to report on. They can’t make sense of what is happening right now in the world of religion. It may surprise us how quickly the fundamental religion world unravels over the next few decades.
    Like · Reply · 8 hours ago · Edited
  • Jeff McCollyThey can’t control the fact that people are losing faith in religion, and moving away from the traditional lies. Keyword control.
    Like · Reply · 8 hours ago
  • Cathy BaarThey are afraid of being ambushed by tax-exempt pigs.
    Like · Reply · 8 hours ago
  • Richard Alan FisherI don’t think it is a matter of progressive or fundamentalism, they just avoid religion since most are not involved in it.
    Like · Reply · 9 hours ago
  • Claire MerrymanI’m sorry but what exactly
    Is progressive religion?
    Like · Reply · 9 hours ago
  • Vicki Greenlee KnippFundamentalist church’s have been shrinking in membership firms couple decades now….stats are out there. Probably replaced by the “I feel spiritual but not religious crowd”…
    Like · Reply · 10 hours ago
  • Ray GryderFrank, it’s not ‘sexy’ enough. Mainstream media for the most part always give panel slots to the fundamental evangelical rep because they have the narrow perspective and their intolerance sells. Sadly, I believe this is a major reason why other mainline progressive Christians are lumped together w/fundamentalists and open minded spiritual humanists are ignored.
    Like · Reply · 11 hours ago
  • John HobsonIntelligent people can figure out that there is no supernatural being watching us. It’s comical that people still think magic is real.
    Like · Reply · 11 hours ago
    • Chew Foo MakThen monkey in a million years will become human how low can you be in your thinking
      Like · 9 hours ago
    • John HobsonStudy some evolution chew. Here’s another fact, there is not one shred of evidence for the existence of Jesus and that is a fact.
      Like · 1 · 8 hours ago · Edited
    • Frank Schaeffer
      Write a reply…
       
  • Fr. Alexis DuncanI am an Orthodox Christian…neither fundamentalist and certainly not progressive. Both are intellectually dishonest. The fundamentalists are myopic. The progressives are deluded by a mediocre philosophical understanding and an overly inflated view of their own worth.
    Like · Reply · 11 hours ago
  • Tamara DabneyGREAT QUESTIONS. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the media doesn’t cover these very nuanced views/experience of spirituality because they don’t fit in a nice, neat and CONTROVERSIAL box. Can you imagine the “news” hosts over at FOX asking these questions and carrying out a conversation about this stuff? I can’t. They live in bumpersticker bullet points designed to scare people.

    I am what I call a “disorganized spiritualist” who is an “almost atheist.” Organized religion is DEFINITELY not for me, but as each day ticks by, a relationship with “God” is not really for me either. At the same time, sometimes nature’s design seems so extraordinarily perfect and awesomely beautiful, I have trouble chalking it all up to science alone. And that there is why I’m an “almost atheist.”
    Like · Reply · 11 hours ago · Edited
  • George InashviliLol why does the media ignore just about every vital issue out there?
    Like · Reply · 11 hours ago
  • Brian CooganEssentially you need something narrow minded to generate news stories. Something more sensible isn’t as interesting.
    Like · Reply · 12 hours ago
    • Gregory HallBrian, if you really believe this, you are starting to scare me. ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s road leads to death’. Talk to the Lord, mate, please…
      Like · 10 hours ago
    • Frank Schaeffer
      Write a reply…
  • Millie KnoxYou mean Progressive Christianity?
    Like · Reply · 12 hours ago
  • Beth DeRoosBecause the fundamenalttists still make up a huge population and have visable spokesman. Define HUGE movement away from fundamentalism? And who/what are the progressive religions people are moving to? Is this a regional thing, like more city vs rural or suburban?

    PEW and other reputible groups note more Americans are becoming non religious, and mainline non fundamentalist churches are losing members.

    Am trying to find out if the group Fundamentalist Anonyomous from the 80’s is still around. One of the two young men who formed it was Richard Yao.
    Like · Reply · 13 hours ago · Edited
  • Hugh FathersSorry to have to say this, but you cannot be an atheist and believe in a god, it is just not possible.
    Either you believe in god/s, or you are an atheist, the two positions are mutually exclusive.
    Like · Reply · 14 hours ago
  • Gregory A PenchoenThe best progress would be away from any and all religion, They are all a method of mind and social control. They all stress obedience and ‘faith’ over thought and reason. Gods were created to explain natural phenomenon and evolved into a method of control by the priest class. Gods and religions are not at all necessary to have a moral and ethical society or a life, in fact too often atrocities and hatreds are perpetrated in the name of gods or religions.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 5 hours ago
  • Jonathan MasseyI don’t think there is any such movement–at least no more than there ever has been. Without some sort of empowered teaching authority, the tendency of Protestant groups has been to gradually secularize. All of the “progressive” denominations I know of have been downsizing for decades, and they are in steep decline now. Where I live, conservative/non-denominational Protestantism simply rules (along with Mormonism, which is generally “conservative” on moral issues such as homosexuality). And, all of these churches are loaded with youth. Now, none of this means that the church isn’t in general decline–including the “evangelical” church. Mike Regele projected that coming reality over 20 years ago.
    Like · Reply · 1 · 7 hours ago
  • Mark KlaisnerPeople today are looking for the clergy and more importantly faith communities that are compassionate and authentic. People are longing for mercy, not sef-righteousness..
    Like · Reply · 1 · 9 hours ago
  • David D. FowlerProbably because many in the media have never been able to grasp the fact that there are many different variants of Christianity. One typical thing is the presentation of Easter on mainstream TV. Countless times, I have seen news coverage that solely focuses on the Pope celebrating the holiday at the Vatican. Very seldom have I seen any other representation of the faith at that time of year. So it is partly a function of the superficiality of media. Another factor is that it takes more research than some of them are willing to do. It’s also easier just to promote time-worn stereotypes. Things are slowly changing, however. I saw a pretty good online interview with the founders of the Christian Left some weeks ago. And I just discovered this article: http://www.salon.com/…/rise_of_the_christian_left_why…/
    Rise of the Christian left: Why the religious right’s moment may be ending
    From Pope Francis to a generation with new priorities, the…
    salon.com
    Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 1 · 11 hours ago
  • Steven DundasFrank, I think you are familiar with my story, currently active duty Navy chaplain, PTSD from Iraq, tossed out of my conservative church after regaining faith after almost 2 years as an agnostic for being “too liberal now” in 2010, beaten up and abandoned by emotionally and spiritually by people I thought were friends and brothers… Sigh…
    Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hours ago
  • Steven DundasGood question. I think that they are afraid of them.
    Unlike · Reply · 1 · 17 hours ago
  • Leroy SeatWell, this didn’t seem too clear in this month’s election. See my blog article at http://theviewfromthisseat.blogspot.com/…/a-victory-for…
    The View from This Seat: A Victory for the Christian Right
    Reflections about Life, Love, Light, and Liberty (the 4-Ls) by…
    theviewfromthisseat.blogspot.com|By LKS
    Unlike · Reply · Remove Preview · 1 · 19 hours ago
  • Jerry SpiegelmanNina I really feel sorry for you. What a pathetic waste.
    Like · Reply · 11 hours ago
  • Paul CorbittThe media sells popular news They show unpopular sides of a story to sensationalize the story in a movement to sell more papers. The news is black and white as is religion unless a black man and a white man want to marry or unless a black man is arrested for the same crime as a white man God forbid we speak of rich or poor and women shut up and settle for what you get!!!!! My point is right ain’t right NOW DO WHAT YOUR TOLD
    Like · Reply · 12 hours ago
  • Write a comment…
Posted by [email protected] · 19 hours ago
Why Does The Media Avoid Reporting on the Huge Movement Away From Fundamentalism to Progressive Religion?Please comment below (I’ll publish the best comments on my blog)Is it that the conflict between atheists and fundamentalists is s… See More
Photo: Why Does The Media Avoid Reporting on the Huge Movement Away From Fundamentalism to Progressive Religion?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Please comment below (I'll publish the best comments on my blog)</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Is it that the conflict between atheists and fundamentalists is sexier?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Does 24/7 cable news think only in black and white terms?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Does the latest outrage from Bill Maher or Franklin Graham make for a hotter story than the spiritual journey of millions of tolerant, inclusive seeking Americans?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Yet In 2012, Pew found that 29 percent of young white evangelicals (age 18-29) expressed support for allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. Even 10 years ago this would have been unthinkable. </p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>And today people like Brian McLaren and me are crisscrossing the country talking to former evangelicals who are still deeply religious people yet who describes themselves as "survivors" of religion.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Millions of boomers have moved from the fundamentalist faith of their upbringing into progressive denominations or no church at all. Yet they still describe themselves as on a spiritual journey.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>I hear from readers every day who tell me that my new book "WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace," describes their journey better than anything they've read in the media. They say that they thought they were alone.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Why? Why hasn't the media reported on this vast movement of individuals?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>They say I affirm paradox rather than the certainties of the normal media “take” on religion. They tell me that my journey describes them. How many of us are there? Put it another way: how come so many of us love Pope Francis?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>We don’t fit one category. So why do we mostly hear about fundamentalists or the so-called New Atheists? Most Americans don’t fit either of those categories. Do you? Are we really as polarized as the media makes out?</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY HERE ABOUT ANOTHER WAY TO SEE RELIGION OTHER THAN IN BLACK AND WHITE CATEGORIES.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Please TELL ME YOUR STORY.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>HELP ME PROVE THE NARROW MEDIA VIEW WRONG.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>Please comment HERE...</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>I'll be publishing the best and most insightful comments.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace

Available now on Amazon

Picture
Follow Frank on Twitter www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer See Frank’s paintings http://www.frankschaefferart.com/ Follow Frank on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16 Contact Frank at http://www.frankschaeffer.com/
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