Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Christian Piatt

Home
Progressive Christian
What Are Your “Banned Questions” About Christians?

What Are Your “Banned Questions” About Christians?

Last updated on: November 8, 2011 at 4:21 pm by Christian Piatt

What Are Your “Banned Questions” About Christians? 2011-11-08T16:21:59+00:00 Christian Piatt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve really enjoyed working the last couple of years on a new book series called the “Banned Questions” series. The first book, Banned Questions About the Bible, came out in early 2011 and the second, Banned Questions About Jesus, was just recently published.

Aside from taking on provocative and challenging theological material, at the heart of the series is a spirit of collaboration. Though I created and edit the books, I invite more than a dozen other writers to contribute to each volume. The idea is that, rather than persuading people to see things my way, I’d rather present a number of viewpoints and invite readers to decide for themselves what they believe.

I’m now working on the third book in the series, Banned Questions About Christians, and I want to expand the conversation further, and begin it earlier. To this end, I’ve created an online page where anyone can add their own “Banned Questions” about Christians or Christianity, and they can also vote on the list of questions to help sort out which ones are most interesting to the public. Though the final list of fifty questions likely will not come verbatim from this list, it will heavily influence what ultimately goes into the book.

As a teaser, I thought I’d list the current top five questions posted to the list. These are unedited, taken directly from the content posted by participants:

#1 Can you be GLBTQ and be a Christian? A minister?
More and more denominations and christian communities are welcoming GLBTQ people, as well as Ordaining GLBTQ as ministers. Is this really possible?

#2 What is Prosperity Gospel? Where did it come from?
Preachers like Joel Osteen preach about Jesus wanting us to be rich. Where does this belief come from? Wasn’t Jesus poor? Didn’t he tell rich people to give everything away?

#3 Blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus? Really?
Historically Christians feel compelled to make Jesus look and dress like they do. Why? Do Christians do anything similar today?

#4 Do Christians not believe in science?
Do all Christians not believe in science? Can a scientist be a Christian? Have there been famous scientists that were Christians?

#5 Why so many different names for leaders of church?
Why are there so many different names for people who lead churches? Is it “pastor”, “priest”, “father”, “bishop”, “brother”, “Reverend”, “sister”, ‘mother” Is one better than the other? Which one is “correct” (if any)?

Do you have a burning question about Christians or the Christian faith you’ve always wondered about but have been afraid to ask? Would you like to help determine what questions make it into the next book? CLICK HERE to visit the growing conversation, and to add your voice to the mix.

Thanks for taking part in this fun little experiment, and stay tuned for more details as the list gets closer to being finalized.

Previous Post

November 7, 2011

Protestant Thoughts on the New Catholic Mass

Next Post

November 9, 2011 When You Say "Sin," What Do You Mean?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category atonement belief bible Bill O'Reilly Buddhism CCM children christian piatt christianity Contemporary Christian Music current events derek flood Easter education Everyday Sunday faith faith and culture Frank Schaeffer great commission Haaz Sleiman Hobby Lobby Homebrewed Culture humor ISIS Jesus John Paul Lederach Killing Jesus LGBTQ marc driscoll Mission Year Music My Jesus Project Nat Geo parenting politics popular culture postChristian prison reform Ray rice religion republicans sacrifice sexuality theology Uncategorized video violence wild goose festival World Vision young adults

Select a Month December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who prophesied swords would be beaten into plowshares?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joel Hosea Daniel Micah