Old Testament teachings are, well, old

The following tongue-in-cheek letter addressed to Dr. Laura Schlesinger is a reminder that too many belief systems and believers pick and choose their way through religious teachings cafeteria style in determining what is “right” and “wrong”. [As a further note on the subject, far too many Christians in particular are operating by an “old” script […]

What Islam teaches about Jesus Christ

Just as Christians stray from their faith –and in certain countries more so than others’– obviously the same could be said of people of all faiths, including Muslims. But do those Christians or Muslims who stray represent the vast majority of those of their worldwide faith? For that matter, do those who stray from the […]

Christians are not commissioned to be judgmental

Many conservative Christians today, particularly in the U.S., have given Christianity a bad name because of their strongly judgmental attitudes, which portrays the image of a Christian as being terribly self-righteous. Judgmentalism portrays the opposite of the unconditional love that God has for Mankind. We as Christians may not agree with people’s beliefs or actions, […]

Be slow to judge – judgment is God’s domain

There are few recorded incidents in the New Testament of Jesus meting out judgment, or castigating people, or condemning them. Most of the recorded occasions when He did so were not directed at the population as a whole, but rather at the religionists of His day (the Pharisees), who were not the example of God’s […]

The difference between being Religious and being Christian

There is a growing chasm between Religion and Christianity, whereby Christians in America and elsewhere stray from the light and life of Christianity, while descending deeper into the darkness and death of Religion. For example, a Pew survey of mostly white evangelical Protestants revealed that more than six in 10 believe that torture is often […]

The ironies of Christian conscience

The Rev. William P. Mahedy, a chaplain in Vietnam, tells of a soldier he encountered on the field of battle. The soldier approaches the chaplain and asks: ‘Hey, Chaplain … how come it’s a sin to hop into bed with a mama-san but it’s okay to blow away gooks out in the bush?’ Mahedy later wrote […]

Why Are So Many Christians Conservative? Part 1

Conservatives believe that the rich and powerful got that way because they deserve to be, that society owes its prosperity to the prosperous, and that government’s job when they have to make choices is to side with those businesspeople who are doing well, because all good things trickle down from them. Progressives, on the other […]

Why Are So Many Christians Conservative? Part 2

The Jesus of the New Testament spent his public career preaching about the nature of God and our relationship to God, but also about how we should deal with each other. He repeatedly blessed mercy, gentleness, peacemaking, community, and taking care of each other. He lifted up the poor and oppressed, and spoke poorly of […]