10 Beliefs of This Progressive Christian

Ok, there is so much in that title that makes me nervous.  Despite working at a Progressive Christian church, I usually resist at all costs calling myself a Christian (just too confusing a term to try to explain). I also resist talking about my religion in terms of what I believe, because I find my beliefs are ever-changing and belief tends to imply dogma, which I just don’t do.

That being said this should be fun :)

Here goes… Ten Beliefs of This Progressive Christian 

1) I believe that interfaith dialogue is essential to understanding the world and to know Truths my tradition has missed or omitted.

2) I believe stories found in the Bible, when understood as metaphor and myth, can be used to teach me profound Truths.

3) I believe there are as many ways to be Christian as there are people in the tradition.

4) I believe the way I understand Jesus, as a radical activist and a compassionate teacher, shows more about my way of viewing the world than it does any “truth” of Jesus. The truth is he lived a long time ago and the records are not clear.

5) I believe religion should lead you to more questions than answers.

6) I believe my tradition causes me to question social values of the day and to push society to be more inclusive.  That being the case, I believe Christianity should be on the forefront of fighting for the human rights of people who are gay, lesbian, and transgendered. 

7) I believe religion is only one piece of the pie and should not be confused with history, science, psychology, or other important disciplines.  All are needed for a balanced life.

8) I believe much hatred has been caused by the interpretation of Christianity by some throughout history and today; leading to wars, bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. This one belief alone has caused me to turn my back on Christianity many times, and constantly question why I am connected at all. 

9) I believe the following of a religious or spiritual tradition with the support of a community can lead to great transformation of individuals and cultures. This one belief alone has caused me to stay within Christianity hoping to be a part of this transformation of consciousness, the next great awakening.

10) I believe no one knows what happens after this life, and if we spent even half as much time bringing the peace to this world that so many hope for in the next, we could experience heaven on earth.

Pro-Life: Your life or mine?

I have been working hard to be open and striving to see both sides of issues in this blog. But some of you may be wondering if today I just had to take a day off...

Pro-Life movement, I just don't understand you.  Maybe you can enlighten me?

Now the name I love, Pro-Life, (wish my people had copyrighted it first!) I mean honestly who could disagree with that?  I have met very few anti-life people, to be honest most of them seem pretty intent on ending their own life. I think it should be agreed that the rest of us who choose to go on breathing in and out, feeding ourselves and doing the necessary tasks to keep on this planet, are all Pro-Life.  Life is good!

So can we agree to meet there?  Let's all bring our humanity to the table, and respect the lover of life in each other.

Now on the other hand no one is pro-life all the time. I am not pro-life of cancers or when it comes to the AIDS viruses- HIV, or other things I have determined to be "bad." I do not support the life of that virus or that cancer to continue which causes such destruction to human beings.

Clearly there is an assumption here, then when speaking of pro-life we are defining life in a certain way, mainly human life.  

Some of you define life as a cluster of cells.  

I do not.

I define life as living creatures including animals, causing me to be a vegetarian. 

Many of you do not.

I choose to not eat any meat, but do not expect everyone will want to make that same choice, or even that it will be my choice for the rest of my life.  If you are a meat eater maybe you will consider only eating meat that has been responsibly raised?

Maybe this video will help...

'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad

To be honest, I couldn't watch the whole thing, just too hard.

And as I sit with this distinction between your pro-life and mine I wonder if both of us are acting out of a care and compassion for those who seem defenseless and in need of an advocate? I can certainly relate to that, it almost seems instinctual.

To be honest, I prefer to advocate on behalf of women in the complicated debate you define as pro-life, but I agree this is complicated and not as straight-forward as some would say.

Maybe in my pro-life fight you will help me advocate against factory farming.  You can have your meat, just have it responsibly.  And I will be happy to join you in advocating against unnecessary abortions and for giving women and men the skills needed to be responsible. 

Just maybe we can drop the term and finally agree your pro-life is not the moral superior to mine.

Prop 8: Please Don't Divorce My LGBT Friends!

Talk about a tug at the heartstrings!  Try to watch this without tearing up!

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce

You can make a difference!  Please add your name and share widely!

Vagina Monologues: Finding happiness in body and soul

One out of every three women on this planet will be beaten or rapped in her lifetime.  

1 in 3.

I was so grateful to be able to attend the Vagina Monologues this Valentine's Day.  Not only was it thought-provoking and terribly funny, but it was deeply moving to know that people around the country and the world were gathering to help end violence against women.

I encourage you to learn more about V-Day, a non-profit, grassroots movement dedicated to ending violence against women, which sprung forth from the Vagina Monologues.

In this great TED talk, Eve Ensler, tells her story of how the creation of the Vagina Monlogues inspired her to launch a global campaign to end violence against women, and how engaging deeply in the pain of the world, she was able to discover her own happiness. 

And you will want to watch this incredible follow-up TED Talk by Eve Ensler.  

Security and Insecurity

Playwright Eve Ensler explores our modern craving for security -- and why it makes us less secure. Listen for inspiring, heartbreaking stories of women making change.

Creative Genius of Elizabeth Gilbert: Letting it Flow

I was so blown away by Elizabeth Gilbert's (yes she is the author of that smash-hit Eat, Pray, Love) recent TED talk. For those of you not familiar with TED, you will want to check them out.  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). (TED offers a free nifty iPhone app for all you iPhone users out there)

After reading this description of Elizabeth's lecture, I just knew I must check it out.

Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

It is going on 24 hours since I watched this clip, and it is still periodically popping into my consciousness.  I have a feeling this will stay with me for a long time. I love her idea that we just need to show up. We can release expectations of grandeur, perfection, or creative genius, and all that is asked is that we show up and offer what we have today.

Probably not my best blog, or my most profound thought, but I am showing up, sharing what has touched me, letting go and letting it flow.

Mad at Obama Again? Are You Tired of Being An Angry Liberal?

No wonder we grate on the nerves of conservatives and moderates, us liberals :) are hardly ever satisfied and often shrilly shouting our complaints.  One would think our shouting would lessen now with our newly elected President, with the big D next to his name, and our control in the Senate... but yet without having to listen too closely our shrieks can still be heard!

Today was no exception.  If you were within hearing distance of my shouts this morning in real life or in twitterville, you will know my reaction to President Obama's decision to go back on his campaign promise by allowing federally funded faith groups to discriminate with their hiring policy based on religious beliefs.

Nothing has made me believe in Obama's post-partisan goals more than this move and to be honest simultaneously caused my inner liberal to go bizerk!  

From my liberal perspective, this was my way of viewing this situation: 

I am totally fine with religious groups hiring based on their religious beliefs.  I understand they see that as necessary to their purpose and mission, but I do not see that the federal government needs to be funding those groups.  This seems to clearly trample all over founding principle of separation of church and state. A principle I hold very dear! 

How can I even imagine my government promoting discrimination in this way?  My mind then instantly jumped to this scenario.  What if the KKK wanted to do some charity work. Open a homeless shelter or a nice food pantry. Would the federal government offer them a grant for their good work and allow them to hire discriminately based on race?  I mean it would be core to their mission to only hire whites, and we do need more groups out there dealing with our massive homeless problem.

I voted for a Democrat so that values of equality, fairness, and justice would be upheld!

So that was my angry liberal reaction....

And then I took a step-back and began to talk myself down.

For a moment I allowed myself to sit with the conservative mindset and I came to this perspective:

Faith-based groups have been the backbone of social services in many communities in this country for years. As President Obama asserted yesterday, they are uniquely situated to offer much needed services to many Americans right now. 

Faith-based groups hold it primary to their mission to work from their belief system.  The good work they do is a direct result of their beliefs. They see it as imperative that others share their core beliefs in order to work effectively within their organization.  The services they provide are of great benefit to society.

A study came out recently showing Americans are passionate about social causes but few take action based on those beliefs (read about it here). Faith-based groups offer a structure to increase the action that Americans take and to accomplish much of the work that our society needs done.

I believe that it is after sincerely taking in the perspective of the left and the right that Obama is able to come out post-partisan. I believe that he is genuinely trying to take the best of both of these worldviews. This will of course anger those seeing the world strictly in red or blue. When our ideas are stuck and we are only viewing the world from our particular narrow perspective, we are going to find ourselves shouting quite a bit.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes we need to shout, there is beautiful truth in each of our perspectives. But trying to understand the other side, never hurt, well sometimes it hurts the pride a bit, but trust me it is worth that small pain.

President Obama offered some post-partisan, integral ideas about faith in his address at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, February 5, 2009.

"In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I’m announcing later today. "  (read full remarks here)

Obama's Faith-Based Initiative Tells Us About More Than Just Policy

This morning I was lucky enough to watch President Barack Obama (still fun to say) speak at the National Prayer Breakfast. Keeping aside the fact that there is a National Prayer Breakfast, which strikes me as very odd, I must say I found many of his words needing to be followed by a strong, Amen!

I was touched to hear the President speak disappointedly of the ways faith is often used as an excuse for intolerance. I was ecstatic to hear the President speak of the need for separation of church and state. I was excited to hear humanists (a group I commonly identify with) mentioned as a prominent group of organized Americans. Oh and I was so elated to hear the President speak of the skeptical views of his mother, as I deeply honor my inner skeptic.

To me, this marked an important and exciting day for the religious, spiritual, humanists, and secularists of our country, both in terms of policy and hope for a more tolerant and accepting humanity.

As the President said, "Mission of love and service is at the heart of all humanity."

May it be so.

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