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Progressive Christian

2016-05-05T09:03:11-05:00

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.

Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: Smelly People and Eating Meat

Last updated on: May 5, 2016 at 9:03 am By Christy Thomas

Dear Thoughtful Pastor: I ride public transportation to get to work: two trains and a bus each direction. Over the months I have done this, I have had the opportunity to observe my fellow passengers’ behaviors. I have learned not to notice the smell of DART trains. I have become accustomed to traveling with people who clearly have little control over their situations. I can deal with that. But once in a while I observe someone whose behavior is clearly... Read more

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Christianity

compassion

theory of the commons

2016-05-02T11:08:40-05:00

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.

Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: How Many People Do I Have to Evangelize to Satisfy God?

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:08 am By Christy Thomas

Dear Thoughtful Pastor: If someone belongs to an “Evangelical” church that believes members need to be evangelizing (presumably to save other people from hell) how do they decide how much of each day they devote to this endeavor? I’m asking this question because many of my friends are conservative evangelicals and I am genuinely trying to understand their worldview. My mind wants to map it out by percentages – first of all, how much of each day should they do... Read more

2016-04-28T08:40:43-05:00

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.

Guns Don’t Kill People–Toddlers Do

Last updated on: April 28, 2016 at 8:40 am By Christy Thomas

Stop. No screaming “Don’t you dare take away my second amendment rights!!!”” No shouting the mantra, “Guns don’t kill people, people do.” None of that until you read this article. Or at least this piece of it; In the seven days that ended Tuesday, in addition to the death of Ms. Price, a 3 year old in Georgia, a 3 year old in Louisiana, a 2 year old in Missouri and a 2 year old in Indiana fatally shot themselves; a... Read more

2016-04-26T18:53:37-05:00

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 Problem with Uppity Women

Last updated on: April 26, 2016 at 6:53 pm By Christy Thomas

My friend, David Hayward over the The Naked Pastor recently drew this cartoon. It graphically illustrates the double bind women consistently find themselves in. We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. But we are more damned if we do. David drew this cartoon in response to the exceedingly complex situation that Naghmeh Abedini finds herself in. If you are not familiar with the story (and I was not until a couple of months ago), you can read a... Read more

religion

Naghmeh and Saeed Abedini

2016-04-26T09:56:14-05:00

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.

Secret Shame and Church Offering Plates: Let’s Talk about Money

Last updated on: April 26, 2016 at 9:56 am By Christy Thomas

“Viral” hardly describes what happened to this recent article in The Atlantic. It’s called “The Secret Shame of the Middle Class”. The author, Neal Gabler, is a well-known and well-respected writer. With naked vulnerability, he describes his own family’s descent into the “I can’t even find $400 to meet an emergency” situation. Gabler doesn’t make excuses about some of the financial decisions he and his wife made (like expensive private schools and exclusive universities for their children) that ended up... Read more

2016-04-26T12:52:15-05:00

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.

Our Interconnected and Tragically Divided World

Last updated on: April 26, 2016 at 12:52 pm By Christy Thomas

The Interconnection On Sunday, two cousins, Gene (we’ll call him Gene One) and Gene (Gene Two), who also share the same distinctive last name and who had not seen each other in over fifty years, met for lunch. I am married to Gene One. Gene Two is the stepfather and business manager of David Little. David Little is the composer for the new opera, JFK, which opened at Bass Hall in Fort Worth on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The opera is... Read more

2016-04-22T09:10:06-05:00

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.

Sex, Punishment and Power–is That Really Good News?

Last updated on: April 22, 2016 at 9:10 am By Christy Thomas

Apparently, the Good News group, who unofficially represent the evangelical branch of The United Methodist Church, is all about sex, punishment and power. How do I know? They state it clearly in their manifesto and agenda concerning our now-nearly-upon-us General Conference. You can read it here. I saw nothing in there about proclaiming the freedom of the Gospel. Nothing in there about the delight of grace, the power of forgiveness, the glory of reconciliation, the necessity of standing firm against... Read more

2024-08-19T19:10:22-05:00

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.

Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: Inerrancy; My Journey Out

Last updated on: August 19, 2024 at 7:10 pm By Christy Thomas

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How important is biblical inerrancy to matters of the Christian faith and the life of Christian discipleship? If we don’t take the Bible literally, are we destined for relativism—any opinion goes? Dear Thoughtful Pastor, In 1978, around 300 evangelical leaders assembled to write and adopt the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. I believe this gathering in defense of biblical inerrancy represented one of the most significant theological councils in modern times. But unlike the Council of Nicea (325 AD), only... Read more

Education and Religion

2016-04-18T08:51:57-05:00

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.

Toxic Christianity: Can Jesus Save Us From It?

Last updated on: April 18, 2016 at 8:51 am By Christy Thomas

Has Christianity turned toxic? I wish I could say that it hasn’t, that it is a religion full of adherents who freely pass onto others the grace, reconciliation and forgiveness so generously given to them. That adherents make statements seasoned with the humility of human limitations and unknown and unexamined prejudices. That adherents take seriously the admonitions of Jesus to love their enemies and seek to do good for them. And I think these things happen all the time. But... Read more

2016-04-17T15:30:03-05:00

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 State of Irreligion in the US

Last updated on: April 17, 2016 at 3:30 pm By Christy Thomas

It’s Sunday, around noon when I started writing. Have a houseful of guests–relatives of my husband. We’ve been married just six months so this fun time has been one of learning much about his family. Think “Our Big Fat Greek Wedding” except they are Polish. Unquestionably, I’m the repressed quiet WASP. Not one of them even brought up the idea of going to church this morning. In our relaxed conversations, we spoke of their Easter traditions: brunch and egg hunts... Read more

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