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Politics and Religion

2020-09-11T21:54:15-04:00

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.

Turning the Bible upside-down

Last updated on: September 11, 2020 at 9:54 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

Jesus flipped every norm of traditional religion to focus on faith and love. We need to do that too. Remember the other day, when I turned a couple of Jesus’ parables upside-down? The parable of the Sheep and the Goats teaches us that the ones who cared for “the least of these” inherited the kingdom. The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector teaches us that God isn’t interested in holier-than-thou-ness, but in true devotion. Christians certainly don’t have a... Read more

2020-09-10T08:21:56-04:00

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.

Let’s talk about eternity for a minute – Part Two, sheep and goats

Last updated on: September 10, 2020 at 8:21 am By Kathryn Shihadah

Sheep and goats, Pharisees and tax collectors – let’s talk about eternity. So the other day, I was telling y’all about my husband who (like everyone else on the planet) had no control over his place of birth or his religious roots. He was raised as a Muslim in the Middle East. I had the distinct pleasure of being raised as an Evangelical Christian in the U.S. of A. I surmised, years before we met, that I had been born... Read more

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pharisee and tax collector

sheep and goats

2021-06-30T19:43:43-04:00

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.

Let’s talk about eternity for a minute – Part One, the Good Samaritan

Last updated on: June 30, 2021 at 7:43 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

What I want to talk about for the next few days has grown out of decades of experience. Our first stop will be the parable of the Good Samaritan. For 35 years, I’ve been married to a wonderful Arab Muslim man. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were pioneers for y’all. We learned firsthand how to look at people of other faiths through grace-colored glasses. (BTW, if you missed my last series on pro-life, pro-birth, and pro-choice,... Read more

2021-08-16T20:53:27-04:00

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.

Pro-birth, -life, -choice, Part Three: Permission to defect from the anti-abortion party

Last updated on: August 16, 2021 at 8:53 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

Final post (for now) on birth, choice, and abortion. (Here’s Part One, here’s Part Two.) Suggestion: if you don’t have the patience to read this whole post (I know, it’s lengthy), just scroll down and look at the phrases in bold. If they make you curious, come on back and take it from the top! (And if you have lots of patience, please also read this and this on the topic of abortion.) Oh, and please subscribe to my newsletter! Let me say... Read more

2021-08-16T20:56:09-04:00

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.

Pro-birth, Pro-life, Pro-choice, Part Two: contraceptives and all that jazz

Last updated on: August 16, 2021 at 8:56 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

A couple of days ago, I posted “Pro-birth, Pro-choice, Pro-life, Part One.” I know you’ve been waiting for the sequel. Wait no longer! Let’s pretend it’s easy for Christians to talk about contraceptives (and all that jazz). (BTW have you subscribed to Grace Colored Glasses yet?) Please don’t rush through this post. There’s a lot here to think about. I wish someone had written this years ago. (BTW, also see Part 3, and this and this on the topic of abortion. Thanks.)... Read more

2021-08-16T20:55:05-04:00

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.

Pro-birth, Pro-life, Pro-choice, Part One

Last updated on: August 16, 2021 at 8:55 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

Here’s a hot topic, possibly the single most divisive topic at the intersection of Christianity and politics: abortion. I used to be a single-issue voter, and as a conservative Christian that issue was (say it with me now) abortion. Baby-killing. If a candidate was “pro-life,” he/she got my vote. End of story. Once as I was walking into my polling place, I was approached by the local Dem candidate, doing some last-minute campaigning. “I’d be honored if you’d vote for... Read more

2020-08-28T10:39:00-04:00

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.

Humility – the “one thing needful”

Last updated on: August 28, 2020 at 10:39 am By Kathryn Shihadah

I’m very thankful now, when I look back at who I was and all I’ve learned in the roughly 6 years since everything changed – but at the time, it was lonely and infuriating. I couldn’t ignore the issue and still be honest with myself: the Christianity that I knew was, well, a failure. I’m just being real here. Christians, following a form of Christianity that I also adhered to, had been hateful and vicious. In the name of Jesus.... Read more

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prodigal son

2020-08-25T12:23:58-04:00

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.

Stepping off the straight and narrow

Last updated on: August 25, 2020 at 12:23 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

(In these first Grace Colored Glasses posts, I’d just like to briefly talk about how I went from law colored to grace colored glasses.) Where were we? Ah yes, the cliffhanger. What do you do when suddenly everything you thought you knew turns out to be a lie? I mean, I was taught that when trouble comes, you gotta pray harder. God will make it all better if you have enough faith. This did not feel like one of those... Read more

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richard rohr

2020-08-19T09:42:05-04:00

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.

New wineskins – new paradigm

Last updated on: August 19, 2020 at 9:42 am By Kathryn Shihadah

So anyway… At the very moment when my paradigm was falling apart, along came the book I needed to read. Not to help me put my paradigm back together, but to help me step over the debris and into a new paradigm. A bit of background: After, well, let’s say “several decades” as a conservative, evangelical Christian, always coloring inside the lines, always playing by the rules – suddenly the rug was pulled out from under me: “my community” betrayed... Read more

2020-08-17T13:55:51-04:00

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.

Grace and the Gospel according to Seinfeld

Last updated on: August 17, 2020 at 1:55 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

So many of us Earthlings see the world in black and white. We think we have things figured out. We believe we really know the truth. We rarely question our beliefs. And we rarely question the absurdity of being right all the time. But really, what are the odds that some people (not you or I, of course) always happen to have the right answer to everything? But you’re not here to listen to a bunch of rhetorical questions. You’re... Read more

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