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Caught between the beauty of his grandchildren and grief over a friend’s death, Frank Schaeffer finds himself simultaneously believing and not believing in God – an atheist who prays. Schaeffer wrestles with faith and disbelief, sharing his innermost thoughts with lyricism that only great writers of literary nonfiction achieve. Schaeffer writes as an imperfect son, husband and grandfather whose love for his family, art and life trumps the ugly theologies of an angry God and the atheist vision of a cold, meaningless universe. Schaeffer writes that only when we abandon our hunt for certainty do we become free to create beauty, give love and find peace.

Living the Questions, in association with Creatista Film and Photography, presents “let me be FRANK,” the traitorous turnabout of an evangelical heir apparent. Watch the trailer, and sign-up to be notified when the film is available for viewing at letmebefrankmovie.com.

Uppity Women of the Bible is a four volume DVD-based series featuring Hebrew Bible professor Dr. Lisa Wolfe. Combining careful scholarship with humor and fresh insights, Dr. Wolfe presents just what your group needs for lively, thoughtful discussion of Ruth, The Song of Songs, Esther and Judith.

Given the ecological challenges now facing humanity, how should we be redefining our relationship to ourselves and to our planet? That is the question beginning to haunt us.

Jesus gives us an answer in the Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945.

Shane Claiborne’s Friday Interfaith Lecture was a medley of inspirational stories, demonstrating that the teachings of Jesus Christ still have the potential to upset systems that oppress the poor and marginalized.

A recent national poll on millennial thinking (defining millennials as ages 18 to 34), found that millennials have very little confidence in establishment institutions. Indeed, more trust the military (55%) far more than organized religion—25%. This is a generation after all that has grown up with news of pedophile priest scandals and their cover-up by institutional religious leaders, as well as the collapse of the economic titans and their economy.

It strikes me that Bishop John Spong’s prophetic questioning of Christianity’s dogmas and structures would sit quite well with these young people, one might even say that he is posing the questions that they are asking about when it comes to organized religion. In this way he is and has been a prophetic voice (when, as Rabbi Heschel point out, the primary work of the prophet is to interfere) interfering with taken-for-granted religious doctrines for decades. He has dared to criticize religion and envision a different future for Christianity even while remaining part of the church structure. This takes quite a lot of doing and dancing! No wonder he has stayed so young! Now he is calling for a “New Reformation” and has laid out 12 principles that are equally challenges to the religious status quo.

  If you spend more than 20 minutes with me, either in person or on social media, you will no doubt pick up on the fact that I am an unabashed Universalist. I have no qualms about …

In an earlier reflection we looked at the question “who am I?” from an evolutionary perspective. Who am I relative to Neanderthals, and what will I (the species) become a millennium or two down the road? For the next few essays, I want to again raise the issue about who we are, but now from more of a psychological point of view. There are laboratories that examine peoples’ behavior, but the conclusions are not as “hard” as looking at stars through a telescope or measuring distance. Examining the operation of our own consciousness is not definitive, and that makes it difficult to separate fact from commentary, as I have previously done, so henceforth there will be no formal separation.

Our question to the church is “How can we grow and evolve in our experience and understanding of the Mystery of the universe if we close our ears and minds to the creative voices that push us beyond the traditional views?”

I dare say that most of you are anything but invisible. No matter how much you’d like to remain anonymous about your Christianity; no matter how far you’ve tried to distance yourselves from those Christians, people know who you are and they’re watching you. No matter how gently or softly we Canadians are in our approach to the world, we are not invisible. The world continues to watch us. The world continues to look to us to see how we engage the issues.

Produced by Scarboro Missions, this Spanish-language multifaith poster features Golden Rule texts in 13 religions. It is estimated that there are 550 million Spanish-speaking people throughout the world, most of whom reside in Latin America. Approximately 46 million people live in Spain. To view or download the Spanish poster, free of charge, click on the below image.

Este afiche contiene textos de la Regla de Oro de acuerdo a 13 religiones del mundo. De los hablantes hispanos, aproximadamente 46 millones viven en España y otros 550 millones viven alrededor del mundo, con una gran mayoría en América Latina.

IF JESUS WERE ALIVE TODAY, WOULD HE:
Feed the poor–or give tax breaks to the super rich?
Comfort the old and infirm–or cut Social Security?
Make war–or make peace?

  I had just read a quote from landscape artist Thomas Cole: “Nature has spread for us a rich and delightful banquet. Shall we turn from it? We are still in Eden; the wall that shuts us …

This is the 1st in a 4-Part Series which offer a practical path to loving your life every day.

I love playing games. I try to win, but I also enjoy the learning curve, the interactions with other players, and being ready for whatever happens. If all you care about is winning the game, it might more like an ego trip than playing a game.

Colonization tragically forced many indigenous people to forget and forsake our innate connection to Earth. But many of us today are beginning to remember. What is taking place in Standing Rock is awakening what once lied dormant in so many of our people: the Earth is our Mother, and Water is Life.

It was late at night when I drove into the conjoined Oceti Sakowin and Red Warrior camp in Standing Rock. I set up camp in the rain with my sisters, crawled into bed, and eagerly anticipated waking up wrapped in the energy of unity that next morning. That is exactly what happened.

Undeserved suffering surrounds us. Natural disasters strike unsuspecting victims, disease incapacitates infants, refugees flee violence of others’ making….the list is endless and heart-breaking. From a purely secular perspective, the suffering can be analyzed, diced and spliced, and some sort of explanation can emerge.

Every thinking American knows that Donald Trump has ripped the scab off a very infected wound. We all know that America still suffers from the infection that is racism. But most people figured as long as we didn’t talk about it, we could avoid dealing with it. There were many who remained willfully ignorant.

Big hair, big smiles, and a whole lot of love- Wild-hearted globe-trotter Dustin Thomas is making waves from America to Australia with his infectious blend of beat-box/soul-folk. Armed with his voice, a guitar, and universal anthems of love and war; this young singer-songwriter continues to inspire hearts around the world on his mission of peace, joy, and unity.