The following is a video interview I did for Patheos at the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina. I shared more in further detail in my discussion of civil religion in my book Kissing Fish. I speak from a progressive Christian perspective. You may not agree with everything I say, but I hope you agree that it’s important to ponder such matters. Peace. Progressive Christians aren’t the only ones to think this way. A growing number of evangelicals are... Read more
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. – Mahatma Monhandas Gandhi “Here I stand. I can do no other.” Martin Luther “I’m speaking out against [this] war because I agree with Dante, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Information and understanding help us to avoid seeing things in black and white... Read more
Glue i’m a GenXer who flies with Gen Y and i can’t stand religion that can’t handle “why?” like brother stipes, i was losing my religion but like newton before me, i found it …was blind but now i see like marley’s son sings it, love is my religion my religion is agape my religion is the glue that unconditionally brings out the best in each other and holds us together and because jesus dunked me in a giant vat... Read more
Today is Pentecost Sunday – it’s the Birthday of the Christian Church! For those who may not be familiar with it, Pentecost is derived from a Jewish holiday (Shavuot) that is celebrated 50 days after Passover. According to the Book of Acts (chapter 2) on the day of Pentecost that took place 50 days after Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus’ followers (only about 120 at the time) were all gathered in a large upper room of a dwelling in Jerusalem. The room... Read more
Mother’s Day. Numerous companies are making copious amounts of money this week because of all of the greeting cards, flowers, jewelery, and special meals that are being purchased to help us celebrate our mothers. That’s fine and all. But, unfortunately, as the years have passed the original meaning and intentions behind this wonderful day have become lost in the shuffle and in the rabid frenzy to buy things. The day has sadly lost its subversiveness and radicality and has become... Read more
our creator god did indeed create the earth! mercy and how! and when she created it – she said it was good. …i mean really good. i’m talking springtime sunshine melting snow heating earth making it warm, moist, fertile, and sticky kinda good! i’m talking god said it’s good like “your breasts are like gazelles, twin deer feeding among lilies. I will stay on the hill of myrrh, the hill of incense, until the morning breezes blow and the darkness... Read more
I recently stayed awake all night pondering Jesus’ farewell address, especially his prayer to God on behalf of the rest of humanity, in John chapter 17. I’ve been reading it with fresh eyes and my. mind. has. blown. …“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life:... Read more
in the beginning, God created the world, and God said it was good and it is good. i mean really good! from the tiniest grain of sand on a beach in the bahamas to that massive hulk of a rock that we call everest, from the smallest amoeba to the largest leviathan that lurks in the depths of the sea— “All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.... Read more
It’s been said that this world is a tough place to live. And parts of it certainly are. Places like Antarctica with it’s frigid cold; the top of mountains with their thin air; deserts with their lack of water and vegetation; the oceans with their tidal waves, hurricanes, etc. – places like these are pretty inhospitable to human life. But it’s not just these sorts of extreme places that are hard to live in. The regular parts of the world... Read more
In yo face Devil! Take that forces of evil! Look whose laughing now! Ding Dong the witch is dead! We fart in your general direction! Sike! … Such has become the way that many of the world’s Christians have come to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter. We’ve allowed the ways of the world to infuse our beliefs and we end up fighting fire with fire. Employing the world’s ways against it. Once our religion became the official religion of the... Read more
The Holy Kiss
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In