Before the 2012 SnowStar Conference fades into the background I would like to push forward some of Roy Hoover’s comments regarding the changing paradigm. As I recall – apologies for any inaccuracies – he spoke of the need for integrating the insights of Galileo and Darwin in order to make the paradigm shift from the age of superstition to the age of reason. History as a search for what actually happened and science now form the road to truth.

I am a quasi retired Spiritual Director and Church Consultant within the United Church of Christ (UCC). I am deeply concerned with the fetters of 4th Century “packaging” of Divinity related to the religious challenges of the 21st Century.

Former fundamentalist evangelical Christian Mark Andrew Alward discusses his religious journey and wishes he was aware of Progressive Christianity before “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

The back story to the Tower of Babel myth is that the orignial plans called for anything but babble. But where once humankind may have all spoken the same language with one unifying plan to build a place all could dwell and abide one another, it has long since ever been the case. “We live in a pluri-verse, not a uni-verse,” says Raimon Panikkar. Ours is a pluralistic age in which we have many different and opposing – even sometimes mutually incompatible — worldviews that threaten planetary human coexistence. In the midst of such chaos and confusion, how can we tolerate each other’s differences? Or, some might ask, should we even try? I consider myself a very tolerant person! The only people I cannot abide are ignorant and intolerant bigots! Does that make me intolerant as well, or merely principled? What would constitute a forbearance of principled intolerance, with a leniency of spirit? Here’s John Bennison’s latest Commentary from Words and Ways.

Take some time to join Sharon Salzberg in a seven-minute loving kindness meditation that will open your heart and calm your mind.

Let’s face it. The walls dividing people today have gotten taller and thicker, whether between men and women, young and old, gays and straights, developed and developing worlds, haves and have-nots. Yet the spiritual dream of unity persists. We believe that God is a Weaver of Oneness who wants us to live in harmony — neighbor with neighbor, communities with communities, religions with religions, and nations with nations.

Eric Elnes of Darkwood Brew and Fred Plumer from ProgressiveChristianity.org discuss progressive Christianity and ideas of convergence.

The recent horrible shooting incident at a premier showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Colorado has focused attention, once again, on some aspects of what has gone wrong when a person takes such a violent and antisocial turn.

Ehrenreich’s exploration of mind-over-matter thinking, the “prosperity gospel”, “The Secret”, and “positive psychology” led her into a study of American religious history. She concluded that this so-called New Thought movement appropriated one painful feature of the theology it meant to replace: guilt.

Saving Jesus Redux Home Edition is a 12-episode video exploration of a credible Jesus for the 21st Century. Join 25 experts for a conversation around the relevance of Jesus for today. Already utilized by hundreds of progressive Christian communities, Saving Jesus is now available in a Home Edition licensed for private home viewing. Two DVD discs with twelve 30-minute episodes.

In The Watchman’s Rattle, sociobiologist Rebecca Costa argues that civilizations collapse because they reach a cognitive threshold, a level of complexity that overwhelms the mental capacity of the population. A cognitive threshold occurs naturally in every society …

Whether you envision Jesus as an ascended master, a human teacher, or a mythic god-man, this remarkable book will introduce you to a Jesus who fits fully into the Pagan imagination.

What tells us more-a lot more-is someone’s worldview, the stage of development in which they operate. Two people who ostensibly share the same beliefs, but have different worldviews, are far more different than two people with the same worldview but different beliefs. This is one reason why churches are increasingly useless. Defining your affiliation with others based on beliefs, despite different worldviews (often starkly different), holds us all back.