I was watching Rachel Maddow last night and she commented on the “rejection of religious right” candidates during the last election and gave examples: Alan Keyes and Mike Huckabee. Now there are a couple of problems with this, some of which could be identified by right wing opponents of Mike Huckabee who don’t think he’s…
Every so often I have a conversation with someone who knows I value tolerance that goes something like this: Q: So you believe in tolerance? Me: (Heroically resisting the urge to tear apart the phrase “believe in x”) Yes, I value tolerance. Q: But then you have to tolerate intolerant people. Me: No, actually I…
The incident in which a university student took a communion wafer from a Catholic church instead of eating it has stirred up an incredible amount of controversy. For background I’m going to link to just three posts, which in turn will allow you to find all the information you want on the incident and probably…
. . . but which is which? MSNBC.com reports on a study of religious attitudes that shows that Americans are still very religious (92% believe in God, for example), but that they are much more tolerant of other faiths. Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on…
Since I write frequently on minimizing the number of essential doctrines, and maximizing lines of communication, I just had to call attention to this blog, Herescope. It’s “About” tells the story: This non-interactive blog contains information revealing heresies and false teachings affecting the Church today. . . . [emphasis mine] Need I say more?
A recent jury verdict against a group of hatemongers has brought up lots of questions. One that I heard was simply this: “The Bible says homosexuality is an abomination. How can you, as a Christian, claim that this group that protests at military funerals is not a good representation of Christianity?” There are a huge…
I don’t actually view myself as “ex” anything, even though we all are ex-something and headed onward to something else, I hope. But I don’t shun contact with members of the church in which I grew up, and thus I sometimes have to deal with the default identity of ex-Seventh-day Adventist. Now don’t get me…
When I see a headline like The Search for the Heterosexual SUV, I go to the actual source hoping against hope that it will turn out to be in the Onion. Of course, since I know that the American Family Association has called for a boycott of Ford, I know I don’t have much hope….
Before I carry forward into my discussion of the nature of authentic Christianity, I want to link to a couple of posts in which I have discussed my view of what Christianity is. I wish to do this near the beginning, because I will be making a number of statements about what Christianity is not,…
In a previous post, I promoted some comments in which Barry Jones of The Village Atheist web site questioned whether my version of Christianity was authentic. In particular, he believes that Christianity should be based on the Bible and should be singular. This post is not in direct response, but I will say a number…
