Based on his book We Make The Road By Walking, Brian D. McLaren presents a 52-week devotional to inspire and activate you in your spiritual journey. If you’re a seeker exploring Christianity, if you’re a long-term believer feeling downtrodden, if your faith seems to be a lot of talk without much practice, here you’ll find a reorientation from a fresh and healthy perspective.

Missouri, in an attempt to make obtaining an abortions more difficult, expensive, and humiliating, recently required a medically unnecessary second pelvic exam for all women who sought to obtain an abortion. This inexcusable and invasive addition of a medically meaningless invasive exam can only be called sexual assault, made much worse because it is mandated by the state government.

Meister Eckhart’s fervent plea: “I pray God, rid me of God” becomes a sort of mantra for me whenever the task of contemplating the Trinity rolls around on the liturgical calendar.  

Someone sent me a meme of Jesus bungee jumping from a crucifix. A month later, I read a book that  took this meme to a whole other level – thatJesus suffering on a cross was only first used as a religious symbol around the year 960 c.e.

what happens, in our striving for social justice, when we discover that God offers us something entirely different than the promise of victory? In this love letter to the disheartened activist, pastor Timothy Murphy reflects on his own journey of disappointments and despair and rediscovers a faith – and a God – who inspires us to continue fighting, even when it feels like we’re losing the battle.

Dorian Gray was above it all, privileged and pampered and proud, without good promise or purpose. Wilde’s implication is that conscience is necessary for the soul to survive.“What does it profit a person if, in gaining the whole world, loses the soul?”

If a woman is denied the right to choose for herself whether or not to complete a pregnancy, in what sense can she, or any of us, claim rights of any kind? 

White lies can cover your ass, but, warns Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, they start to cover up the real you, too

In the fourteenth century, a German priest, Conrad of Megenberg, wrote “The Book of Nature”.   It was based on the assumption, shared by some theologians in that era, that God’s revelation was shown equally in nature and in scripture.  It was presumed that the two “books” were seamlessly compatible. 

Christians have taken it upon themselves to spread spiritual literacy by sending missionaries to the far reaches of the planet. However, refocusing on promoting educational literacy within our own nation would be to our next generation’s benefit.

The first webinar in the Faith and Climate Webinar Series with the Parliament of the World’s Religions will begin with faith-based perspectives supporting the plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States, the youth climate suit.

Drawing from Scripture, science, philosophy and various theological traditions, Thomas Jay Oord offers a novel theology of providence―essential kenosis―that emphasizes God’s inherently non-coercive love in relation to creation.

During the early 1980’s, when AIDS was first discovered, the Regan administration not only did virtually nothing in response, but when asked about it in press briefings, the response was laughter and gay bashing jokes.

I am a physical being with an immortal soul! I have lived many, many times on this earthly plane. Now, today, in our Aquarian Age, is the right time; the consciousness of my life as well as the lives of my fellow human beings. I want to help us all live in Light and Love.

As we grapple with the existential crisis of human-caused climate change, we will have a hard time making the transition away from fossil fuels if we show disrespect to the people in this industry.  We must carefully craft our language to attract rather than insult the people who labor still to this day, extracting the fuels that power our vehicles and warm our houses. 

The poor of the planet stare us in the face. Disparity of wealth, in our country and elsewhere, is an outrage that cannot be endured. The numbers are literally unbelievable. The earth provides, but greed monopolizes the table, a select few taking it all while the many stare and starve.

The idea of Adam and Eve as representing consciousness and unconsciousness, as discussed in the Adam and Eve essays Part 1 and 2, was not neglected in later writings of the Bible. It was repeated again and again. For example, in the “begetting” chapters of Genesis we see an interesting pattern. It’s written that many sons and daughters were begotten but only certain ones are mentioned by name.(Gen. 4:17-5:32) This has metaphorical meaning and relates to the three states of being, the three types of consciousness, and reincarnation. The names and the numbers in these “begetting” chapters are a treasure house of Cabalistic information but is beyond the scope of this essay and my capabilities.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions is thrilled to announce the launch of the Climate Commitments Project. This web-based resource is the virtual face of the Climate Commitments Project, our effort to coordinate and strengthen interfaith and faith-based climate action campaigns.