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Progressive Christian

2019-02-23T12:00:54-05:00

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.

GC 2019, Day Of Prayer, Prayer Stations And Movement

Last updated on: February 23, 2019 at 12:00 pm By Christy Thomas

The delegates have now been given the opportunity to move from prayer station to prayer station to continue in this exercise of world prayer. At first, few seemed to be taking advantage of the opportunity to get up and move and find spots of prayer around the room, but that changed shortly. We are praying our way around the world now. Great reminders of the suffering everywhere–some on a level most of us quite comfortable folks in the US have trouble... Read more

2019-02-23T11:11:35-05:00

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 Us Pray: Day One At General Conference: Brokenness And Surrender

Last updated on: February 23, 2019 at 11:11 am By Christy Thomas

Brokenness and surrender. These are the themes of the morning. Very triggering for those who have suffered much at the hands of an autocratic church which has offered few open doors and limited welcome to many. Because of delays in getting press passes, the conference had already started by the time we of the press, still without proper passes, were ushered into what is a terrible observation point. We do have TV’s up here, but there is an echo so... Read more

2019-02-22T14:35:13-05:00

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.

Pearls And Their Imperfections Mirror The Church

Last updated on: February 22, 2019 at 2:35 pm By Christy Thomas

That’s the thing about pearls: in their imperfections, they mirror the church. Furthermore, the more they are worn, the more beautiful they seem to become. They grow richer with age. They come in many different hues and shades. I have always loved pearls and have a nice collection of them, some from years past, some quite recently acquired. A meme has recently appeared on Facebook with a photo of a woman wearing her pearls and noting this: Wearing my pearl... Read more

UMC; General Conference 2019

2019-02-19T17:25:50-05:00

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.

My “Don’t Knowness” Is Bringing Me To The Breaking Point

Last updated on: February 19, 2019 at 5:25 pm By Christy Thomas

It is that “don’t knowness” that is now bringing me to a breaking point. I, deeply educated as I am about the Holy Scriptures, about church history, about the nature of theology, am aware that when I declare something about God with absolute certainty, I am also most certainly lying–or at least not offering the whole truth. It has been a tough week for the religiously faithful people. Let’s start here: On the front page of the Friday, Feb 15,... Read more

Southern Baptist Church

The United Methodist Church

2019-02-13T15:33:46-05:00

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.

Yes, Fighting Church Folk: There IS a Great Bunny of Wisdom

Last updated on: February 13, 2019 at 3:33 pm By Christy Thomas

The often-funny Pearls Before Swine comic strip with its “Great Bunny of Wisdom” wish speaks specifically to our crazy political world. The fights in the church world, particularly the UMC one, nearly perfectly mirror the ones in the political world. The essential message slammed me in the face. Why the facepalm when I saw this? Because we in the church DO have a Great Bunny of Wisdom. We call that Great Bunny by far more majestic titles, of course. Things like... Read more

Great Bunny of Wisdom

2019-02-10T11:41:10-05:00

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.

Confessions Of A Liberal: I Need Conservatives

Last updated on: February 10, 2019 at 11:41 am By Christy Thomas

Liberals need conservatives; otherwise, things fall apart. Conservatives need liberals; otherwise, things get stuck. Healthy societies, held together by the cultural glue of shared assumptions–the necessary conservative part of life–can also bring in new ideas with lowered levels of fear–the necessary liberal part of life. But it’s easier to push Jesus over a cliff instead. A woman, who had walked away from a tight-boundaried religious community, said recently, “I need a tribe where I can be safe.” Her comment spoke to... Read more

The United Methodist Church

UMC

2019-02-06T12:30:39-05:00

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 WCA Says, “Just Turn It Off” To GLBTQI People

Last updated on: February 6, 2019 at 12:30 pm By Christy Thomas

This is what the doctrinally pure, i.e., the splinter Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA), will ask anyone who wants to belong but who may not fit their definition of purity: just “turn it off.” I saw the musical, “The Book of Mormon” last weekend–and laughed all the way through it. As my friends warned me ahead of time, it is full of the “f-bomb” word and extremely sacrilegious. They were certainly right. Another friend, after a similar warning, also mentioned, “it... Read more

The United Methodist Church

WCA

Wesleyan Covenant Associate

2019-01-29T15:12:57-05:00

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.

Do You WANT To Be Well? Think Hard About Your Answer

Last updated on: January 29, 2019 at 3:12 pm By Christy Thomas

Do I want to be well? It’s a harder decision than most of us realize. It’s easier to be sick, to be able to blame the sickness for not being able to do this or that. It’s also far easier to blame others on not being well because they didn’t show up with exactly what we needed at the exact time we needed them. Several years ago, I was in Jerusalem and ended up at the Sheep Gate there, seeing... Read more

2019-01-21T20:54:51-05:00

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.

Poor Women To Be Mandated Baby-Makers When Abortion Outlawed

Last updated on: January 21, 2019 at 8:54 pm By Christy Thomas

Poor women will become the designated baby-makers of our society. The well-to-do and the daughters of the well-to-do will be able to get their abortions if a pregnancy is inconvenient, embarrassing, a threat to the health of the mother, or the result of a sexual assault of some sort. My formative years, the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, proved a heady time for women. Women in force began to claim their full humanity and equal standing to men. We were... Read more

2019-01-09T17:23:42-05:00

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.

Adulting And Christian Bankruptcy: Donald Trump Has Been Good For The Nation

Last updated on: January 9, 2019 at 5:23 pm By Christy Thomas

Let’s practice the art of adulting, take responsibility for what has happened and find creative and morally sound ways to move forward. The more the church looks like Mr. Trump, i.e., white, older, exclusive, isolated, intolerant of differing views, the less it looks Christian. I’ve not made any secret of my dislike for President Donald Trump, for who he is as a person, and for many of the decisions he has made as the most powerful person in the world.... Read more

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