Category Archives: Celebrating Diversity

Time To Take A Hard Look At Your Church

Is your church egalitarian?  If not, why not.  It’s 2013.  Don’t you think your church has had enough time to be egalitarian?  If it’s not egalitarian, what makes you think it will be?  Do you trust only male voices to … Continue reading

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I Prefer Jews: The Seventy Faces of Torah

Recently I ordered several books by Jewish authors, including: Torah Queeries:  Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, edited by Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, and David Shneer Jewish Literacy:  The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its … Continue reading

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Tradition, (living) Scripture, and a Community of the Spirit

In his book The Living Text of the Gospels D.C. Parker writes:  ”Scripture is tradition.” (p. 207) “What is above all to be emphasized is that any study must start with the fact that [what Christians have] is a manuscript … Continue reading

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I'm Now A Republican: Come Join Me In The Elephant Herd

It’s too late. That’s what Carole King sang, and in this case, she is right.  It’s too late for me to go back to being a liberal independent. I’m signing up to be a liberal Republican.  Yes, I am.  I … Continue reading

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Some/Many "Homophobes" Are Not Homophobic (Don't mean to disappoint the liberals, but it's true)

There are some damm crazy Christians/homophobes in this world.  Amen!   Seriously crazy.  They make me extremely scared, particularly if they carry guns. Now, being trained to do psychotherapy I’m very hesitant to call anybody crazy.  “Crazy” can be in the … Continue reading

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The Church Would Mess Up A Wet Dream (Part 2)

The Church would mess up a wet dream, which is another way of saying, albeit a sort of get your attention way to say it – the Church can mess things up in a New York second.  The Church can take … Continue reading

Posted in Bible/Theology, Celebrating Diversity, Church History, Critique of Fundamentalists/Evangelicals, People I've Known, Re-thinking and Re-doing church, Sex/Gender/GBLTI | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Critiquing the Modern Church Using a Gnostic Perspective

Gnostics critiqued the early church in ways that, sadly, still apply to the modern church.  Elaine Pagels in her book, The Gnostic Gospels, writes:  The Tripartite Tractate, written by a follower of Valentinus, contrasts those who are gnostics, children of … Continue reading

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Theology and Intersexed Horses

Martha Maxine The New York Times this past Friday included a story about Martha Maxine, a horse that was racking up some victories.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/sports/19racing.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=intersex&st=cse In a mandatory postrace test for steroids Martha Maxine had an elevated level of testosterone.  Further … Continue reading

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Transgendered Friends (Father, forgive me, for I have lied.)

(Transgendered people from Baltimore, MD., obtained through Google search.) All the gay marriage talk  going on in our country reveals an ignorance about reality.  The debate centers around those who believe heterosexual marriage is the only legitimate marriage (some would say God ordained) … Continue reading

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Scary, Violent Christians (dead sure of their beliefs)

“[I]n the century opened by the Peace of the Church, more Christians died for their faith at the hands of fellow Christians than had died before in all the persecutions.” Ramsay MacMullen, Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth … Continue reading

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