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Progressive Christian

2025-08-21T13:35:24-04:00

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.

Spiritual Punctuation

Last updated on: August 21, 2025 at 1:35 pm By Vance Morgan

In my life-long spiritual journey, the decade of my twenties was the charismatic decade. No, that was not when I began to develop my current charismatic personality—that’s when I first encountered the Christian charismatic movement. For the uninitiated, the charismatic movement was (and is) marked positively by an infusion of divine energy into churches and denominations that had for too long lived out the negative side of Paul’s observation that “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” For those... Read more

2020-02-08T21:46:31-04:00

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.

The Gospel at Gun-Point

Last updated on: February 8, 2020 at 9:46 pm By Vance Morgan

In the religious world of my youth and adolescence, Billy Graham was a rock star. He was the publicly recognizable and telegenic face of the version of Christianity in which I was raised, an conservative evangelical faith in which the whole point of being a Christian was to evangelize, to get other people to be our sort of Christian, thus increasing the number of people ultimately going to heaven and reducing those headed for hell (a zero-sum game if there... Read more

2020-02-06T13:10:27-04:00

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.

No Sacred Cows: An Exchange Between an Atheist and a Person of Faith

Last updated on: February 6, 2020 at 1:10 pm By Vance Morgan

One of the many things that make teaching a rewarding vocation is receiving unsolicited testimonials from former students about things they have carried away from a class they took with you. I particularly enjoy such testimonials when enough time has passed for the student to truly test whatever she or he has taken from the class in the crucible of real life, when what the student has learned has percolated and matured for a while. I received such a testimonial... Read more

2020-02-05T06:43:32-04:00

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.

Profiles in Cowardice: Moving forward after the impeachment trial

Last updated on: February 5, 2020 at 6:43 am By Vance Morgan

Unless a miracle occurs, the impeachment trial of Donald John Trump will end today, with a vote strictly along party lines declining to remove the already-impeached President. All of this, of course, without any additional relevant witnesses or documents, even though the person who might perhaps be the most relevant witness of all is virtually pounding on the closed doors of the Senate chamber, waiting to be invited in to testify. It will be the political version of the final... Read more

2020-02-07T07:03:46-04:00

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.

Idolatry and Abortion

Last updated on: February 7, 2020 at 7:03 am By Vance Morgan

I wrote the essay that follows several months ago; on the advice of some trusted friends and colleagues, I put it on the shelf to wait for the “right time.” Within the past ten days, Paula White, one of President Trump’s “spiritual advisers,” publicly called for God to “cause satanic pregnancies to miscarry,” while the President himself, in remarks at the March for Life 2020 in Washington D.C. last week that were noticeably similar to his standard remarks at his... Read more

2020-01-28T16:37:13-04:00

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.

Best of 2019 #1: I am a Liberal Because I am a Christian

Last updated on: January 28, 2020 at 4:37 pm By Vance Morgan

Last April, I decided to write an essay exploring something that I have been saying for a number of years: I am a liberal because I am a Christian. I was prompted to write the essay after hearing an interview in which one of the candidates for the Democratic nomination for President described clearly and eloquently how his own progressive Christian faith informs his social and political policies. The essay touched a nerve–it became not only my most viewed and... Read more

2020-01-28T07:19:35-04:00

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.

When to Care, and When Not to Care

Last updated on: January 28, 2020 at 7:19 am By Vance Morgan

The only way I can get through the tedium of working out on an aerobic machine is to read—yesterday, I read the opening pages of Anne Lamott’s newest book, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. I love Anne Lamott’s work—her honesty, fearlessness, humor, and insight always resonate deeply. The best comment anyone ever made about my writing was that it reminded him of Anne Lamott’ work. From his mouth to God’s ears. Hope is a scarce and costly commodity these days, so... Read more

2020-01-26T10:05:25-04:00

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.

Staying Sane During the Impeachment Trial

Last updated on: January 26, 2020 at 10:05 am By Vance Morgan

The other day somebody wrote on Twitter that “President Trump is the best president in my lifetime.” I responded that “You must be three years old.” That’s my dominant attitude in the middle of, as the lead into every 24/7 wall-to-wall news coverage segment reminds us, “The Impeachment Trial of Donald John Trump” (my oldest son is annoyed that he shares his middle name with this president). It’s a good thing for my sanity that my work schedule on campus... Read more

2019-12-30T13:14:26-04:00

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.

Best of 2019 #2: Noah and his Children–Bad News for White Evangelical Christians

Last updated on: December 30, 2019 at 1:14 pm By Vance Morgan

Last November, I used a Michael Gerson essay as a jumping off point for a reflection on why so many young people are turning their backs on evangelical Christianity. In less than two months, this essay become the second-most-viewed-and-commented on post of 2019. Enjoy! Noah and his Children: Bad News for White Evangelical Christians Read more

2020-01-20T22:45:36-04:00

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.

As the Impeachment Trial Begins, Don’t Forget to Think–Even When It’s Hard

Last updated on: January 20, 2020 at 10:45 pm By Vance Morgan

Today, the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump begins in earnest. As we all continue to hope that the persons who are charged with listening carefully to evidence, then with voting on that evidence after clearly weighing the evidence free from bias and tribal commitments, will actually do so, I am reminded of just how hard it is to think clearly–especially when the stakes are high. And that reminds me of something I wrote about a year ago... Read more

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