Christian nationalism that had led to the first world war, was now leading to the second. Almost all of the 60 million Germans in 1933 were Christians. The country was suffering in the aftermath of WWI, and it was ready for a new “Leader” who would restore the economy and national pride.

When, as an ex-Christian, I became curious about progressive Christianity several years ago, I was thrillingly surprised by what I saw in a church in my town.

All atonement theories get it wrong by substituting beliefs about Jesus for the way (his virtues, values, and practices) of Jesus that he taught us by word and deed. 

Will there come a day when all human behavior can be understood as clearly as natural disasters? Will these behaviors still be considered evil?

For the first time in my life, I decided it was time to find out firsthand what the mega-church experience was all about. That’s mega, not maga. I half expected that the two might have merged into one, but was pleasantly surprised that politics was not mentioned at all.

The selling of the Bible so recklessly attempts to stain and overshadow the Gospel. It seeks to imagine and promote an unholy alliance that is antithetical to my faith.

So, how did Christianity become so mean? Although many factors contribute to mean Christianity, the primary culprit is that large numbers of American Christians, both Republicans and Democrats, care more about partisan politics and culture wars than they care about following the example and teachings of Jesus.

When he preached, he spontaneously broke into rhyme.  Not just with his own words, but with the souls of his congregation, with the hearts of the people in the community he served.

Jesus was not crucified for telling people to love God and our neighbors. He was killed for challenging the authorities of that time. He challenged the Jewish authorities, and he challenged the Roman authorities.

The fact is that civil-minded folk outnumber the forces on the other side. There are just more of us than there are of them. The problem is that we have not recognized the current existential threat. We slide along the path we are on, pretending as though next year will be the same as this year. It will not.

The central focus of Jesus’ message was to announce the imminent coming of the kingdom of God. This is what he was sent to do. (Luke 4: 43-44) This kingdom would be on earth for the people of Israel. (Matthew 10: 5-8) Although Jesus gives few details on how this kingdom would operate.

For context to the comments to follow, it is suggested one read Matthew 13. Verses 1-8 are deemed to likely be attributable to the historical Jesus; while verses 18-23 are an interpretation and application by Matthew’s early church community.

So what about loving our enemies? What do we normally feel, what do others who have modeled destructive behavior and attitudes expect us to feel and what can we possibly feel? Why should we choose not to feel what virtually everyone expects us to feel?

It is widely known among biblical scholars that The Book of Job is an outlier among other biblical books in that it provides overt criticism of established Ancient Hebrew beliefs and doctrines.

When the intellectual history of the 20th century is written, a few achievements will tower overall. Einstein’s theory of general relativity will be one; the laws of quantum mechanics will be another. The Big Bang Theory of the origin of the universe will be a third.

If you think God is a Christian, then you are mistaken. He isn’t a Muslim or a Hindu, either. We can't pin labels on God; he is not a tribal or sectarian deity; too often, organized religions make God absurdly small and petty in order to fit their own prejudices and small-mindedness.

Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Combahee River Collective was founded in Boston by several lesbian and feminist women of African descent. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by and because of their ancestors—known and unknown—who came before them.

A five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Reverend Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ.

A five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Reverend Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ.

The Superbowl Commercial "He Gets Us" misses the mark by presenting a narrow view of Christianity where narcissism is disguised as altruism.

I’m not sure why we can be so idealistic about human love when human love is profoundly imperfect and so often unreliable.

What I know is that I need to not beat myself up for having a hard time when I’m having a hard time.

Who could have imagined only a few years ago that there would be controversy in the United States of America about the importance of democracy? 

A five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Reverend Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ.

I. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient forgiving one another in love

Will American politicians stand up to Putin? Will they learn anything from the sacrifice of Navalny?

I pray, and look to scripture, and consider our role as people on an ever-changing planet as residents in and stewards of creation.

In the context of the Christian faith tradition — is the “good news” that one might assert to be at the heart of the gospel message just too idealistic for what we might be able to instead empirically see happening all around us on a daily basis?

Our perceptions of gender are changing. The role of gender in our society is changing. The relationship between gender and sexuality is changing. It’s a paradigm shift that has crested and simply will not be rolled back.

The church of the future must change to help its members develop further along their own spiritual journeys. Seminarians should spend less time studying the Bible, Church history, and Christian theology. Instead, the focus of their training should stress positive child-rearing strategies, meditation in its many forms, and psychological therapy.