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Can a living, vital and real faith that is true to the experience of the past, while dismissing the explanations of the past, be born anew in this generation? I believe it can and so to engage this task I issue this call to the Christian world to transform its holy words of yesterday into believable words of today. If we fail in this task there is little reason to think that Christianity, as presently understood and constituted, will survive this century.

We speak of American exceptionalism, a belief that we are special, uniquely able to bring peace and progress to the world. In this view, we are smarter than, better than, more prosperous than, more blessed than all the peoples of the world. These are sometimes experienced as gifts, but often, as entitlements.

Unlike his father, Jerry Falwell the Younger has shied away from making political waves. Until now, that is. Last week, to rapturous applause, the president of Liberty University denigrated the president of the United States and, with manly bravado, revealed to Liberty’s student body gathered in mandatory convocation that he carries a concealed firearm. Proudly patting his right back pocket and smiling broadly he wondered aloud: “Is it legal to pull it out?”

Carl Sagan gives the best speech ever about humanity and how foolish we behave. Pale Blue Dot is one of the most important and reflective speeches about the human condition and our place in the Universe. The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers from Earth, as part of the solar system Family Portrait series of images.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.

The word is out. The “nones” are rising. At last count, close to one-quarter of the American population now declares itself unaffiliated with any particular religion. While most of these “nones” believe in a “higher power” or “ultimate cause”–or even in a traditional god–they are not interested in affiliating with a specific religion. They have abandoned denominational dogmatism. They are demographic “nones.”

As we approach the Third Sunday of Advent, I can’t help wondering why the creators of the Revised Common Lectionary (the list of prescribed readings for Sunday worship) have failed to remember the stories and names of our foremothers?

With Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, and Christmas all celebrated this time of year, one would think that we would embrace an all-inclusive seasonal greeting emblematic of our nation’s religious landscape with two simple words—Happy Holidays!

To understand the cause of the recent event in San Bernardino we need to understand the cause of Radical Islamic Terrorism. To understand the cause of Radical Islamic Terrorism we need to understand the European Enlightenment and how it affected Judaism and Christianity.

As I remain seated in my car, I instantly return to the twenty-first century in my mind. It is the year 2015 and I have been invited by friends to go to this church with them this particular sunny, late-autumn day when frost has coated some of the fallen tree leaves. I have heard rumors that the congregation here has swung even more fundamentally and become strictly literal in their biblical interpretations in recent years, having even departed from their recognized denominational affiliation for fear of becoming too unbiblical in church practice. I wonder what the congregant gathering to worship God will be like today when I enter through the doors.

This adorable video reminds us that ALL animals want to be loved <3

White privilege is so prevalent in American society that sometimes it is even difficult for minorities to be able to quantify and describe but it is as real as the air we breathe. Even Dr. Ben Carson, a black presidential candidate who grew up in poverty, said that the United States grew into the strongest economic global power in its first century because of a favorable economic environment. Evidently, he didn’t think that the uncompensated labor of African slaves was worthy of mention in that favorable environment?

“The Spiritual task today is to discover the infinite in the life of the finite. I seek oneness with God, not magical intervention by God.” ~Bishop John Shelby Spong

In less than 3 months (as of July 2015) Actor / Filmmaker Matthew Cooke’s social justice commentaries have been viewed over 46 million times on FaceBook — shared by the ACLU, Huffington Post, World Star Hip Hop, Adrian Grenier, RYOT.org, FilmingCops.org, The Anti-Media, The Free Thought Project, and many more.

Being at dis-ease with injustice is why progressive Christianity seeks to be engaged in the world in order to transform it. “Accepting what is” may be a generic spiritual value, but moral quietude is not a Christian value.

That said, progressive Christians would do well to be a LOT more discerning about what we choose to be outraged about. Over the past week, the progressive Christian vanguard reacted in hyper-vigilant lock-step as they expressed their collective outcry against the *idea* that conservative Christians in the U.S. were *apparently* in a dither about Starbucks simple red coffee cups for this year’s holiday season. We got hot and bothered, red in the face, and showed-off the twitching veins in our faces to each other — to point out how “we’re not like *those* sorts of Christians!”

Last in a 3-Part Series on Politics and Religion A pdf copy to print or read is HERE. Preface   This series began with the premise it was fair game to consider the mix of politics and religion as …

“I don’t come here to hand out a sandwich, that is just a tool. I come here only to show my love for a fellow human being. To recognize them as a person, to recognize them in their dignity, in their god given dignity that is in them. And no police and no force in this country can stop me from loving them. And that’s why I’m here.”

What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery? Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.