I would suggest the greatest threat to AMERICAN Christianity is Jesus himself. The Jesus of the Gospels is a stranger to most Christians in the USA. Fundamentalist and conservative Evangelicals promote a version of the faith based on fear, exclusivism, the “hereafter,” legalism, arrogance, and a dearth of compassion. In their preaching and theology, good news has become bad news. Continue reading
Today, May 23, 2023, I saw two articles on the Internet concerning the decline of religion (especially Christianity) in the US. The first article reports the results of the General Social Survey, the University of Chicago’s research group NORC, the Pew Research Center, Public Religion Research Institute, and a 2022… Continue reading
In Tenacious Solidarity: Biblical Provocations on Race, Religion, Climate, and the Economy, biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann offers this definition of totalism: By “totalism” I mean a system of signs and symbols that make a claim of validity that is all-encompassing, that will allow no challenge or competition, and that will… Continue reading
“I pray God to rid me of God (Meister Eckhart 1260-1329) Having surpassed by two years my allotted “three score and ten” on this earth, I am still puzzled by so much in Christianity. Let me get some of these puzzlements and frustrations off my chest. How can some Christians… Continue reading
Paul Tillich, recognized as one of the greatest 20th century theologians, maintained that all human thought is an expression of heteronomy, autonomy, or theonomy. All fundamentalism constitutes a danger to freedom, creativity, justice, compassion, joy, and community. The last century demonstrated that atheistic systems like Nazism, the Soviet Union and… Continue reading
Karl Marx is known for writing, “Religion is the opium of the people.” This quote is almost always referred to without a knowledge of its wider context. Here is the paragraph in which Marx made this statement: Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and… Continue reading
