Seventy-five miles north of Santa Fe there’s a high desert canyon so ancient, so primordial, I half-expected to see pterodactyls in the sky instead of hawks as I steered my rental car along thirteen miles of single-lane dirt road. The…
Leviticus, abomination and Jesus: The LGBT issue, part 10
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Not long ago I received a communication from a person identifying himself as John Calvin, quoting Leviticus 20:13 to me, suggesting that this text resolves the LGBT issue. Dr. Calvin’s concern was already on…
The worst of times … really?
By Bill Wilson It happens nearly every day for me. It’s the inevitable conversation about the demise of organized religious activities, specifically local church attendance and giving. The vultures are gathering to feast on the carcass of the local church….
Christian news site scrubs Islamophobic opinion
I opened Facebook this morning to read this headline, “Why I Am Absolutely Islamaphobic”. I clicked the link and read the opinion piece by Rev. Gary Cass and was disgusted by what I read. I posted the Charisma News article on my Facebook page only…
The end of church membership?
By John Chandler While visiting friends last spring, Mary and I were invited to worship at a Presbyterian church. Our friends were active and enthusiastic members, and their invitation reminded me of an old truth — that far and away…
I can do more: A lament
By Barrett Owen It’s been a bad month. People are angry. Humans are dying. Cultures are dividing. These are the talking points we have to discuss: Depression is a disease. Ukraine is in turmoil. ISIS just beheaded two American journalists….
Flesh is the new Word.
Over the course of my quickly fading 20s I’ve discovered a few truths about existence: 1) My crutch like belief-as a poorly complected 17 year old-that my skin would finally even out in my late twenties was, disappointingly, misplaced. (Also, is there…
Welcoming the stranger
By Amy Butler It’s a pretty commonly accepted biblical mandate that we welcome the stranger. As we’ve witnessed in the news of late, in our better moments we people of faith can manage to cross wide valleys of opinion to…
As for me and my house, call me a thug
By Connie Stinson I pastor a racially mixed church in a densely populated Maryland suburb of Washington. We accurately call ourselves diverse. One month ago, one of our young adults, a particularly gifted 20-year-old, preached “Judge Not” from my pulpit…