What Makes America Already Great?

What really makes America great?

Why is America already great?

Is it the size of our military?

Is it the size of our nation? 

Is it our vast wealth? 

Is it our many freedoms?

Is it our creative ingenuity? 

Is it our standard if living? 

Is it our diversity?

Well I believe it is none of these things; it is something far less tangible but ever so powerful.

What makes America great?

America’s heart!

The American people collectively are the most generous, hospitable, giving, and fearless people on earth!

This is because America has a huge heart—she always has.  

Quite frankly this is what makes her already a great nation.

When another nation or country experiences a natural disaster America is always  one of the first to offer aid. America is always the first to send money and supplies in an effort to provide relief.

When another country is threatened by a neighboring bully America is one of  the first to come to that country’s defense, sending military aid to help beat back the aggressor.

America built a statue and named her “Liberty”. Inscribed on her pedestal are the  familiar words taken from an Emma Lazarus poem:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Only a nation whose heart is so wonderfully large could make such an offer to the less fortunate of this world.

But there have been those times when the American heart shrunk and we were not so generous and hospitable, but those times were the exception not the norm.

But the American heart always returns to its wonderfully great big generous fearless size!

Yes I still believe in the great big generous fearless American heart. I still am proud to say that my country, with all her flaws notwithstanding, remains one of the most generous, hospitable, and fearless nations on earth.

I believe Americans as a whole are good-hearted and compassionate people. We care for the under privileged, for the oppressed, for the less fortunate, and for those who just want an opportunity to live as free and to live well.

But fear often creeps into our hearts and it becomes that corrosive element that erodes our capacity for compassion, generosity, and hospitality. Fear has a way of shrinking that great big wonderful American heart—that heart that makes our nation already one of the greatest nations on earth. 

Today America has an opportunity to show the world that we will not live in the dark recesses of fear. We will not allow extreme radical Islamists, or anyone else for that matter, to threaten us in ways that make our hearts smaller. We will resist anyone who offers to be our savior and uses fear to paint a dark and dreadful picture of an alt reality. 

This does not mean that we become less diligent in protecting ourselves from evil threats. But it does mean that we will not allow the dark under belly of this world to control the size of our heart. 

Therefore I have faith in the American people, I always have. 

I believe in them, that they will not allow any threat, foreign or domestic, to rob us of our capacity to be one of the most generous, hospitable, and fearless nations on earth, because this is what makes us already great!

Is American Christianity in Trouble?

Is American Christianity in trouble? I am afraid it may be.

Most of the old Mainline denominations that once flourished in the 1950s are a shadow of their former selves. Many of their churches are just waiting for the last of their aged members to pass away in order for their obituary to be written.

This is not good news for Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, or Congregational churches such as the United Church of Christ. For the moment the best these old ecclesiastical giants can do is receive palliative care to keep them comfortable.

But the rest of American Christianity is not fairing so well either. The once proud Evangelical juggernaut, the Southern Baptist Convention, is also experiencing decline and has been for the past 15 years, declining in both baptisms, membership, and worship attendance.

Now the extent of this Evangelical decline continues to be debated. A quick Google search will reveal diverse opinions as to whether the Evangelical tribe in America is shrinking or growing.

Yet in spite of these diverse opinions I predict that the Evangelical tribe will trend towards accelerated decline within a generation and there is good reason for this.

Once the Evangelical Church began focusing on political and cultural war issues in the 1980s the seeds of decline were planted. Once the populous understood that the Moral Majority was really about access to political power rather than family values, the Evangelical movement in America began to lose steam.

The major cultural war issue that continues to energize many Evangelicals and win votes for conservative politicians is abortion. This was a huge platform item for the Moral Majority and for many conservative Evangelicals still today.

But let me be clear before I continue: Concern over pro life issues is all well and good so long as it includes war and capital punishment.

Christianity in America today is experiencing an identity crisis. If anything many Christians are suffering from delusions of grandeur when it comes to the Christian mission in America. We are not the hope of America.

Christianity, as it is popularly understood and practiced today, is not going to save America simply because the church and America are not identical. It certainly is not going to make America Great Again, whatever that means.

The voice of Protestant America is fading fast from the octave range of many Americans. In other words, not too many are listening to the church anymore. They are turning the volume down or simply turning us off. They are telling us that our actions speak louder than your words.

Now there are many critical and complex reasons why Christianity has lost its place of privilege in American society (whether you believe this or not), but one in particular comes to mind and has been hidden in plain sight within our own Bible:

We have abandoned our “first love” (Revelation 2:4).

We have abandoned the core teachings of Jesus, who first inspired the Christian movement. We have supplanted the Sermon on the Mount and other critical teachings of Jesus with a nationalist ideology/theology that offers lip service to Christ but  looks nothing like him at all. We have lost our baptismal identity.

We have forgotten that the church’s primary task is not to change to world, but rather be that part of the world that has been transformed by Christ (This claim is attributed to pastor Brian Zahnd).

Many Evangelicals have reduced Jesus to a patriotic zealot bent on saving America. They have co-opted Jesus into their nationalistic agenda to make America look like it did perhaps in the 1950s when father really did know best and men wore flat top haircuts and women stayed at home and were . . . well just women.

Much of Protestant Christianity, as we practice it today, is going to continue trending towards decline and possible death. This includes current expressions of both Mainline and Evangelical Christianity in America.

The part of Christianity that will survive this period of decline and death will be that remnant who rediscovers its first love in Jesus Christ as true Lord. This will be the remnant who reclaims their unique baptismal identity, not as zealous patriots, but rather as faithful disciples of Jesus the true Messiah.

So is Christianity in trouble in America?

Yes, so long as it continues to masquerade as a nationalistic religion of the Empire.

Did God Kill Jesus?

So God had to kill Jesus so you could go to heaven? Is that right? 

You really believe that divinely sanctioned violence is what stands behind your salvation?

I know, there are countless thousands, maybe even millions of Christians who believe this about God. I did—once!

 I once believed it with all my heart. I peached it. I taught it. I defended it.

Yes, God used violence as a means for my salvation. This was the basis for the Good News. It was and still is the central component of much of Evangelical theology. It is a dominant theme of much of Evangelical preaching.

Are we that gullible that we would swallow such a narrative of divine violence from television preachers, celebrity Evangelicals, and Fundamentalist authors?

The late Dallas Willard once described this view of the cross as “Vampire theology?” Is this who God really is: A blood thirsty deity who needs violence to carry out his agenda for humanity?

It is no wonder that so many pastors (and there are quite a few) who are experiencing cognitive dissonance over such a horrible doctrine. Many are either leaving the pastorate or at least leaving their tradition in search of another. This  blood thirsty view of the cross no longer resonates with so many—including myself.

God did not kill Jesus!

If we truly believe that God used this kind of brutal violence in order to save us then we are just a hair’s breath away from justifying our own use of violence for what we may perceive as justifiable causes.

Much of popular Christianity in America has been faithful supporters of America’s wars. It is not surprising giving their own understanding of why Jesus had to die (God needed him to die to satisfy his own justice).

Unfortunately an understanding of an Atonement (the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ.) whose central feature is violence helps validate our own addiction to violence.
Humans are by nature violent creatures. I possess violent tendencies just like anyone else and I need a non-violent God and a non-violent Jesus and a non-violent Spirituality in order to correct these natural tendencies of mine.

It is here that we begin to see the real value of the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus was not an act of Divine violence but rather an act of Divine love for all of humanity. Jesus was demonstrating the appropriate response to all violence. He was showing us that the only way to break the cycle of violence is to respond to it with self-giving love. The special Biblical word for this kind of love is agape.

But many Christians still have a hard time accepting this understanding of the cross. It seems they are inclined to see it as an act of divine violence (punishment) intended to enable God to love us. I have heard Christians explain the cross as God’s way of punishing Jesus because of human sin so he wouldn’t have to punish us.

How sick is this?

So I have since recalibrate my understanding of the cross.

I can no longer believe in a God who would willfully punish his own Son so he can offer me salvation. Instead the cross has become for me the ultimate expression of Divine self-giving love for the sake of us all.

The Good News is just that, good news of God’s extravagant and wasteful love. It is good news about how God used unconditional love rather than brutal violence to save us. The death of Jesus was not meant to change God’s mind about us but rather to help change our minds about God.

To put it more bluntly: God did not not kill Jesus, the Romans did. Jesus died because he was perceived to be a threat to the religious and political establishments of his day. More importantly, his death models for us how we are to react to the violence in this world—by responding to violence in kind.

The early Christians understood this understanding of the cross and perhaps this explains why they were non-violent themselves.

This is the Good News!

Is American Christianity in Trouble?

Is American Christianity in trouble? I am afraid that it is.

Most of the old Mainline denominations that once flourished in the 1950s are a shadow of their former selves. Many of their churches are just waiting for the last of their aged members to pass away in order for their obituary to be written.

This is not good news for Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, or Congregational churches such as the United Church of Christ. For the moment the best these old ecclesiastical giants can do is receive palliative care to keep them comfortable.

But the rest of American Christianity is not fairing so well either. The once proud Evangelical juggernaut, the Southern Baptist Convention, is also experiencing decline and has been for the past 15 years, declining in both baptisms, membership, and worship attendance.

Now the extent of this Evangelical decline continues to be debated. A quick Google search will reveal diverse opinions as to whether the Evangelical tribe in America is shrinking or growing. 

Yet in spite of these diverse opinions I predict that the Evangelical tribe will trend towards accelerated decline within a generation and there is good reason for this. 

Once the Evangelical Church began focusing on political and cultural war issues in the 1980s the seeds of decline were planted. Once the populous understood that the Moral Majority was really about access to political power rather than family values, the Evangelical movement in America began to lose steam.

The major cultural war issue that continues to energize many Evangelicals and win votes for conservative politicians is abortion. This was a huge platform item for the Moral Majority and for many conservative Evangelicals still today.

But let me be clear before I continue: Concern over pro life issues is all well and good so long as it includes war and capital punishment.

Christianity in America today is experiencing an identity crisis. If anything many Christians are suffering from delusions of grandeur when it comes to the Christian mission in America. We are not the hope of America. 

Christianity, as it is popularly understood and practiced today, is not going to save America simply because the church and America are not identical. It certainly is not going to make America Great Again, whatever that means.

The voice of Protestant America is fading fast from the octave range of many Americans. In other words, not too many are listening to the church anymore. They are turning the volume down or simply turning us off. They are telling us that our actions speak louder than your words. 

Now there are many critical and complex reasons why Christianity has lost its place of privilege in American society (whether you believe this or not), but one in particular comes to mind and has been hidden in plain sight within our own Bible:

We have abandoned our “first love” (Revelation 2:4).

We have abandoned the core teachings of Jesus, who first inspired the Christian movement. We have supplanted the Sermon on the Mount and other critical teachings of Jesus with a nationalist ideology/theology that offers lip service to Christ but  looks nothing like him at all. We have lost our baptismal identity.

We have forgotten that the church’s primary task is not to change to world, but rather be that part of the world that has been transformed by Christ (This claim is attributed to pastor Brian Zahnd). 

Many Evangelicals have reduced Jesus to a patriotic zealot bent on saving America. They have co-opted Jesus into their nationalistic agenda to make America look like it did perhaps in the 1950s when father really did know best and men wore flat top haircuts and women stayed at home and were . . . well just women. 

Predictions are tricky but here goes: 

Much of Protestant Christianity, as we practice it today, is going to continue trending towards decline and possible death. This includes current expressions of both Mainline and Evangelical Christianity in America. 

The part of Christianity that will survive this period of decline and death will be that remnant who rediscovers its first love in Jesus Christ as true Lord. This will be the remnant who reclaims their unique baptismal identity, not as zealous patriots, but rather as faithful followers of Jesus the true Messiah.

So is Christianity in trouble in America?

Yes, so long as it continues to masquerade as a nationalistic religion of the Empire.

The Good News is Not Fake News!

“The Good News is not Fake News!”

There’s a great deal of buzz these days over the issue of fake news. Normally fake news is fairly easy to spot if one does some due diligence. 

Recently a podcaster I often listen to suggested that one can make a number of easy checks to determine how much trust you may put in any news article. For example: 

1) Is there a named contributor or author; 2) Is there a date when the article was published; 3) Are there credible references noted in whatever claims the author makes; and, 4) Who published the news and does the publisher have an editorial board to check the facts?

Unfortunately I’m not sure many of us would apply even these simple tests in determining if a news article is legitimate. I would hope most of us would.

Additionally not all news articles are meant to be fake news in spite of their inaccuracy. A recent news article posted on my Facebook (red flag) page claiming that medical boards in all 50 States have revoked the medical license of Dr. Ben Carson. The article was reported by the left leaning Huffington Post. 

Although a simple fact check revealed that Carson had not had his license revoked but that the article was meant as satire. It claimed that Dr. Carson could no longer operate on brains because of some of the brainless comments he had recently made. Unfortunately many people took that article as reliable news and even reposted it. 

This was unfair to Dr. Carson but now you see what kind of mess we’ve gotten ourselves into with the use of the social media as our source for news. We all can be news reporters on Facebook or Twitter without being held accountable. This should serve as a warning to us when we pass along or repost any news on our social media outlets.

The use of Facebook alone to post what many perceive as good solid researched news items has created a spirit of cynicism and skepticism over the credibility of all news in general. At the very least it has made it difficult to navigate through all the fake news one is exposed to each day.

Who can we trust? What reported news items can we actually rely upon to be safe and credible? Are all the news outlets fake? Is one outlet more credible than the other. Is CNN or MSNBC more credible than FOX News or vice versa.

Mark begins his Gospel by having Jesus report: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Okay, this I can assure you: The Good News is not fake news, although I sometimes wonder how anyone can believe fake news and disbelieve the Good News. 

The Good News, otherwise known as the Gospel, is the best news the world has at the present time. It is reliable and sustainable. It has been around for over two thousand years. There have been some really smart people, such as the neo  atheists Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, who have attempted to discredit the Good News as something akin to fake news.  

Dawkins’ title of his popular book says it all: The God Delusion. There can be no Good News since God is simply a delusional idea created by humans. Appealing as this may be to many it does not diminish the credibility of Jesus’ original news report: 

God’s kingdom has arrived already.

Heaven has come to us! 

In the words of Marianne Borg who explains what is meant by the Kingdom of God on earth:  

"It is here, now. Which is what the world would be like of God was king and Caesar was not. The vision of Christianity for a just, sane, nonviolent world is not utopian. It is within our capacity.” 

This is Good News!

We are living in a very complex and dangerous time in the history of the world. I am not ready to say it is the worst of times, but it is a time in which we definitely need Good News such as this. The Good News is that God loves each one of us beyond anything we could ever imagine, with no strings attached. The Good News is that grace is the operating principle of God's kingdom.

The Good News is not something that needs to be fact checked, but merely trusted to be true. 

It is not fake news. 

The Threat of Religious Extremism!

There is a movement in this great country that is hell bent on making America a life-controlling Theocracy. 

You may not think this is such a bad idea but hold on for just one minute. Think long and hard before you sign on to any movement whose ultimate goal is to control your heart, mind and soul. 

If you really believe that these far right extremists, who inhabit the fringe of the Christian tribe, are harmless then you are in for a rude awakening.

These Christian extremists would sell their birthright for a half bowl of partridge if they thought for a second that they could successfully impose their right wing moral agenda on the rest of America. The Moral Majority may have been officially disbanded years ago but the spirit of that movement is as strong as ever. 

This extreme brand of Dutch Reformed hyper-Calvinism is determined to siege the free thinking ability of most Americans. They are wired for control and manipulation and as of right now are in powerful positions to achieve their goal of controlling your life. 

If you think, for example, that the recently appointed Secretary of Education has an educational agenda that favors all our children (both rich and poor), then you have been drinking some really strong Kool Aid my friend. You know the best way to seize control is to control the minds of the young. Thank about that for a minute. 

It’s called “indoctrination!” Is this what you want for America’s children?

Right Wing extremists, whether they are Christian or Muslim or from any other religious tribe are into one thing and one thing alone, and that’s control—if they can control you then they own you.

Right Wing Christian leaders want to control every aspect of your moral life: Sexually, medically, and religiously. 

They want to enforce their own homophobic sexual ethic on you; they want to legislate morality at all government levels; and they want to restrict the number of medical decisions you can make for yourself (e.g., abortion). 

They even aspire to control and manipulate your religious freedoms by insisting that you must not fellowship with Christians from other tribes. It’s a closed-minded system designed to tell you how and what to believe—all in the name of Jesus!

The sad irony here is that Jesus was the lest controlling and manipulative person you would ever meet. Just a casual reading of the Gospel stories reveals a Jesus who extends freedoms to individuals to respond to the Gospel in their own unique ways, in whatever state he found them.

He never dictated to anyone, that I am aware of, how and what he or she must believe. His counsel always trended towards freedom to trust. Jesus was the living example of Divine grace.

Trying to make America a Theocracy is the goal of Right Wing Christian extremists and should be resisted by all freedom loving citizens. I don't want the government imposing some delusional theocratic philosophy upon me at the expense of my personal freedoms. I don’t want my grandchildren to have to live in such a controlling State.

I don't want some Right Wing preacher or politician or government appointee telling me what is best for me morally, medically, sexually, or even religiously; and I certainly don't want some government appointee making decisions on how my children are to be educated. 

This is no small issue my friends. If you really think that there aren’t some religious folks in this country who aspire to gain control over your lives then I have some swamp land in Arizona to sell to you. Just because they present their agenda in the name of Jesus does not make them legitimate practitioners of Jesus’ teachings.

Many years ago in seminary my theology professor taught us to avoid extremes at all costs, extremes both conservative and liberal. That advice has served me well over the years. It has helped me maintain some balance.

Don't let all the Jesus talk of Right Wing extremists fool you, they are nothing like Jesus at all. Religious tyranny is never good, I don’t care how well it is dressed.

Confessions of a Progressive

Pardon me for being Progressive!

Excuse me for being both politically and theologically liberal.

I know you hate the “L” word. I hear it in your voice. You say things like:

“Liberals are what’s wrong with America.”

“Liberals are all bleeding hearts.”

“Liberals are always whining about something.”

“Liberals want to open wide the doors of America for terrorists to enter.”

“Liberals like spending our tax money on welfare give aways.”

On and on it goes ad nauseam. The barrage of insults towards those who think progressively are non-stop. Progressives are portrayed as some sort of infectious contagion that if left unchecked will cause a horrible global plague.

We hate America you say. We are against Democracy and the American way of life you claim. We are a threat to the future of our nation. Progressives are a blight on America’s sacred history. We are even a danger to Christianity. 

Progressives are tree huggers who are spinning wild theories about climate change. Climate change is a liberal conspiracy to take down America’s industries you claim.

Progressives don’t take the Bible seriously enough we are told; we don’t read it literally and therefore diminish its authority. We aren’t Bible-believing enough.

Now I find all this interesting to say the least, since most all of it is untrue. Most of the vitriol towards Progressives today is based more on perception  than on facts. I might add that the same may be said about the baseless attacks of Liberals on Conservatives. Yes Liberals can be pretty nasty too.

But here’s my story (confession) for what it’s worth: I wasn't born Progressive anymore than I was born Conservative. I was reared in a mostly Conservative home although I don’t ever recall my parents talking about politics—ever.

My maternal grandmother was a lifelong Democrat, mostly due I think to her having experienced the Great Depression and thus crediting Franklin D. Roosevelt (a Democrat) for saving America. But she never once told me I had to be a Democrat—not once! She never revealed who she voted for either. That was top secret.

My parents never told me which political party I should align myself with or how I should read and interpret the Bible. I guess they thought I’d figure it all out sooner or later. I am grateful for this freedom to decide for myself.

Yet becoming Progressive was something that just happened to me slowly over time I think. I didn’t wake up one morning and suddenly declare: “I’m a Liberal!”  Quite frankly I don't know when it happened, it just did. I can’t attach a date or a time to it.

I do know this: I didn't stop being an American or a Christian when I landed in the Progressive camp.

Perhaps this is how it happened:

There were Gospel seeds planted in my heart from my overexposure to the teachings of Jesus. These seeds were planted, watered, and eventually sprung to life within me: Seeds such as justice, compassion, non-violence, peacemaking, concern and care for the poor, racial equality, and a healthy respect for the environment. Seeds both Progressives and Conservatives might embrace.

So if my being Progressive(Liberal)  as the result of an over exposure to the Gospel then I am guilty as charged. So lighten up. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Progressives are not what’s wrong with either America or Christianity anymore than Conservatives are. So please quit telling me that we are the problem. Here’s the real culprit and if the hat fits wear it:

A closed mind operating within a closed binary system: A mind that requires black and white solutions to all of life's complex issues. A mind that is imprisoned in a dualistic framework void of nuance. Such thinking is quite naturally divisive and harmful. Such thinking is incapable of stepping out of one's echo chambers and seeing one's world from a much larger perspective.

This is perhaps what we all should be looking at as the culprit of our national and religious divide.

Think about it:

Last time I checked we all want the same thing: The joy of being alive and flourishing as fellow human beings (as God intended for us to live), whether as a Conservative or as a Progressive. 

So please stop telling me Progressives are the problem for we are not. 

The real problem is the lack of influence the Gospel has over our lives.