If you don’t know about “Interview an Atheist at Church,” you should! My friend Kile Jones started this project only a few months ago. He already has eight videos posted online and is looking to do more. Please check out the website, follow the Facebook page and most importantly, if you like the work Kile is doing, make a donation so he can make more videos. In my short experience I think this is one of the most effective ways... Read more
I’m just going to leave this right here. We could all use the reminder from time to time. If we believe our political opponents are as rational, thoughtful and empathic as we are, then we are likely to pursue political compromise through rational debate, civil discussion and collaborative analysis of the facts. But if we think our opponents are mindless, then it makes sense to forgo civility and push our opinions across the table with brute force and discount any... Read more
During the long and interesting conversation around the relative merits of NALT Christians, the larger issues of “progressive Christianity” came up. Many Christians expressed that they are involved in NALT because they want to combat the notion that all Christians are anti-LGBT. Like the It Gets Better project, participants make videos expressing their faith in progressive and inclusive ways. In the midst of that conversation I read a very interesting piece on Religion Dispatches by my friend Brie Loskota entitled,... Read more
It’s gotten a bit serious around here lately, so I figured I would lighten things up a bit. I was reminded about this clip today while reading another blog about kids and religion in which the author wrote: I was an easy audience, too, as a youngster. I both trusted the adults and feared disappointing them. It seems to me this may be the origin of Theology: A congregant has a question, is dissuaded temporarily by a cleric’s obfuscatory response,... Read more
**So as to avoid sanitizing history I have left my original post intact, with a note pointing to this correction. Two days ago I wrote a post here called “Please, let’s not start with the #NotAllChristians foolishness.” In that post I used NALT (Not All Like That), a project co-founded by John Shore, as an example of Christians who are saying, “Not all Christians are like that.” I did that hastily because of the close similarity of Not All Like That... Read more
The #NotAllMen meme has been running its course over the past few weeks with helpful responses from #YesAllWomen who remind us all (but especially men) that while not all men are misogynistic jerks, all women are subjected to those who are. I actually think the notion that not all men are misogynistic deserves to be challenged. I consider myself to be a feminist. I actively work to challenge and correct instances of patriarchy wherever I witness them. But as any of... Read more
On May 19 I made the following comment on my Facebook timeline: I’m beginning to feel like progressive Christian theology (openness of God, process theology, radical theology) is just the slow death of God: the gradual repealing of God’s power and agency to comply with our increasing understanding of the world until, as that great theologian, Joan Osborne, posited, “What if God was one of us?” Quite a few conversations ensued—151 comments on that status update and a few private... Read more
I think I will always be a student of the Bible. I don’t view it as divinely inspired anymore, but it is a narrative account of people’s quest for some ultimate and some very pedestrian things. Yes, redacted over the centuries, etc. Those redactions are only a problem if you’re trying to tie the words to the mind of God. Mixed in with the violent and crazy bits are some real gems of wisdom. Valerie Tarico, writing for Alternet, asked... Read more
I was completing the final days of my senior year in high school when the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square to clear the pro-democracy protesters. Today, 25 years later, many Chinese citizens still do not know the whole story of what happened in their own capital and activists struggle to commemorate the thousands who died when the Army opened fire on unarmed protestors. The government still suppresses the record of these events (you can read Helen Gao’s first person account... Read more
The first in a series of A Year Without God Glossary. fear: \ˈfir\ an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger anxious concern profound reverence and awe especially toward God —Merriam-Webster Dictionary “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” —Proverbs 9:10 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is... Read more
Year Without God
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