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No One Else Is Entitled to Our Bodies

by Lynette Cowper in Christian Issues

In China, millions of women have been forced to have abortions, whether they wanted them or not.

Because their government felt entitled to women’s bodies.

In many nations throughout the world, female genital mutilation is commonly practiced.

Because their communities feel entitled to women’s bodies.

In the US between 1900 and the 1970s between 100,000 and 150,000 women — disproportionately women of color, as well as poor women and the mentally challenged — were forcibly sterilized in federally funded eugenics programs.

Because our government felt entitled to women’s bodies.

A similar program saw 30% of Puerto Rican women sterilized by 1965. They were dishonestly told the procedure was reversible.

Because our government felt entitled to women’s bodies.

In many states, the law requires abortion providers to lie to their patients, rendering them incapable of informed consent.

Because those governments feel entitled to women’s bodies.

Hobby Lobby won the right to provide unequal medical insurance coverage to its female employees.

Because that company and others like it feel entitled to women’s bodies.

When women are raped, the questions always focus on her — what was she wearing, was she drunk, was she alone in a bad neighborhood, did she flirt, is she promiscuous, did she and the perp have a sexual history together?

Because the assumption is that men are entitled to women’s bodies.

Women’s choices… [Read more…] about No One Else Is Entitled to Our Bodies

Why Are There Tears in Heaven?

by in Christian Spirituality

“And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4, NIV)

I’ve always wondered why there would be tears in heaven. The only reason I could imagine, amidst what I believe will be unimaginable beauty and celebration, was that someone I loved on earth wasn’t there.

But now I have new reasons. I recently participated in the Why Christian 2015 conference. This event, organized by recognized authors and speakers Nadia Bolz-Weber and Rachel Held Evans, brought 1,000 men and women to listen and respond to this question: Why, in the wake of centuries of corruption, hypocrisy, crusades, televangelists, and puppet ministries do we continue to follow Jesus? Why, amidst all the challenges and disappointments, do we still have skin in the game? And while that event gave me too much to ponder to summarize in one column, it did give me three reasons for tears in heaven.

First, the event was held in the historic St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. Built in 1858, this beautiful, traditional church contained stained glass windows, stone carvings, pews, prayer rooms, and a library rich with wood carvings and filled with books. Where did we lose the idea that a church should reflect the awesome majesty of the glory of God. Moses instructed the people in how to build a temple that was an earthly copy of a divine reality (Exodus 25:8-9, 40). The sight of this… [Read more…] about Why Are There Tears in Heaven?

What Must I Believe to Be a Christian?

by Christian Chiakulas in Christian Spirituality

When somebody claims the title “Christian” for themselves, whether they are progressive or conservative or another “-ive,” chances are you can infer at least a few of their beliefs.

They believe that Jesus was God, that is almost beyond question; they probably also believe that Jesus – the “Son” – is one aspect of the Holy Trinity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. They probably believe that Jesus died for the sins of humankind, and also that the Christian Bible is in at least some respect the Word of God. There’s a good chance they believe that Jesus was conceived by a virgin, that he performed miracles, and that he rose from the dead (again, in at least some respect) after three days.

Christians can argue doctrine and dogma, orthodoxy versus orthopraxy, the importance of Paul’s letters, whether the New Testament has precedence over the Old, and many other disputes, but the things I mentioned above are relatively secure. They are, in a sense, what separates Christians from people of other faiths or creeds who happen to admire Jesus, like Gandhi, or secular humanists who think the Sermon on the Mount just happens to encompass the best of human morality.

Recently I was involved in a religio-political debate with a distant family member I rarely see, and when things began to get heated, he ended the conversation with a pointed, “Well, as long as we can agree that Jesus was God, that he was born of a virgin, that he died on the cross for our sins, and that he rose… [Read more…] about What Must I Believe to Be a Christian?

Could you be so holy that you wouldn’t be sad when your children go to hell?

by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

This guest post is written by Randal Rauser.

Christian theology has its share of whoppers (where “whopper” = a theological claim that collides with our moral intuitions, rational intuitions, or common sense). Among these whoppers we find the doctrines of the Trinity (How can God be one and three?!), incarnation (How can God become man?!), and substitutionary atonement (How can one person die for the sins of another?!).

But there may be no doctrine from the mainstream body of orthodoxy more staggering than “eternal conscious torment,” that doctrine which proposes hell involves the never-ending unimaginably intense torment of people in body and soul.

(How can it be right to torture one person for eternity?!)

Take Adolf Hitler, for example. Hitler was a bad dude. Indeed, they don’t come any worse. But one might think that even in the case of Hitler, a few million (or billion?) years of unimaginable torment might be enough.

Our intuitions certainly suggest that eternal conscious torment is excessive. Okay, more accurately, my intuitions suggest that eternal conscious torment is excessive. But I’ve talked with enough people to know that I’m not the only one with these intuitions. So for folks like me, eternal conscious torment is also a whopper.

And that brings us to the next question: what do we do with this whopper?

In this article I want to consider one possibility in defense of eternal conscious torment. And just… [Read more…] about Could you be so holy that you wouldn’t be sad when your children go to hell?

B.S.'s no BS speech at Liberty University should challenge all of us

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues, Current Events

View image | gettyimages.com

Bernie Sanders is not a Christian. He is a Jew, though he does not profess to be deeply religious. However, the vision he recently expounded in a speech to the students and faculty of Liberty University, the school founded by the Baptist fundamentalist Jerry Falwell, sounded more Christian than many Christians.

The vision he offered was grounded in the golden rule: “In everything do to others as you would have them to do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12). He quoted Amos: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (5:24).

He said that it would be a hard case to make that we are a just society, a society that lives by the golden rule. He spoke of the massive injustice in terms of income and wealth inequality. He said there is no justice “when so few have so much and so many have so little.”

He noted that our country has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth. He said, “there is no justice when thousands of Americans die every single year because they do not have any health insurance and do not go to the doctor when they should.” He pointed out that we are “the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to people as a right.”

He said, “there is no justice when low income and working class mothers are forced to separate from their babies one or two weeks after birth and go back to work because they need… [Read more…] about B.S.'s no BS speech at Liberty University should challenge all of us

Why do so many conservatives oppose Pope Francis?

by Sean Bresnahan in Christian Issues, Current Events

I guess I’m a bit of a masochist.

The moment before I press “enter” to begin my first search of the day, I pause and ask myself, “do I enjoy misery?”

I question my sanity in this way because I know that as soon as my screen illuminates with bolded headlines, my heart will sink and my forehead tighten. I breathe out a heavy sigh.

“Pope Francis: Communist, or Antichrist?”

“Pope Francis: Most Dangerous Human Being on the Planet”

“Pope Francis: False Prophet, come to America”

I’m quite serious. It seems that even the vicar of Christ can be given such preposterous titles left normally for men like Adolph Hitler and Henry Kissinger. Though, as I recover from my abrupt laughter, I realize that I’m not incredibly surprised.

Conservative radio host Michael Savage declared on the June 16 edition of his show: “The pope is a danger to the world.” He continued by calling the Pope a “great deceiver,” “stealth Marxist,” “eco-wolf in pope’s clothing,” and compared him to the false prophet in the book of Revelation “directing mankind to worship the Antichrist.” Savage concluded that “we are living in global tyranny right now.”

The next day, Rush Limbaugh, another prominent conservative radio host, expressed similar sentiments, claiming that the Pope was aligning himself with those on the left who wished to “leave everybody … living equally in misery,” and confirming the claim that Francis was, indeed, a communist here… [Read more…] about Why do so many conservatives oppose Pope Francis?

Dear Dispensationalist God

by Matthew Distefano in Christian Issues

Dear Dispensationalist God,

Before you decide whether or not to include me in the rapture, please read the following. Actually, I’ll just be frank—this is not going to be pretty. I fear my fate will be sealed by the end of this letter. But, it is not meant to offend you, really. I just want you to be aware as to where I stand on the matter.

Oh, but that does remind me. I’ve been dying to ask you something for some time now. Why is it that those who follow you say that my words are offensive? Doesn’t that imply that you have an issue with your ego, or what Richard Rohr refers to as the “small self?” Well, never mind…

Anyway, about that whole rapture thing…

I know there are a ton of us out there claiming “the Bible clearly says,” but, c’mon, that book—or rather collection of “books”—couldn’t be any less clear when you open it up.

Regardless, if the rapture is so important, why not have a few verses that are a bit clearer than, say, 1 Thessalonians 4:15 – 17? How can someone like N.T. Wright get it wrong, while John Hagee nailed it? I know that is not an argument but, I mean … c’mon! I can’t believe the proper way to read a passage like that is outside of the original context! See what I mean about supposed biblical clarity—how is that “clear”? In any case, since “rapture” is how you are choosing to do business, I want to get a few things off my chest.

First, didn’t the Hebrew writers describe creation as “tov tov”? I know my Hebrew is greatly lacking,… [Read more…] about Dear Dispensationalist God

Teaching Children About Hell

by Cindy Brandt in Christian Issues, Fundamentalism

I was a morbidly fearful child. I was also a highly literate child, having learned to read before school years. My mother tongue is Mandarin, and the storybooks I consumed were Chinese folk stories. Some of them were harmless tales of developing moral character, but many recounted ancient Chinese myths of hell. In Chinese folk religion, hell consists of eighteen levels, each containing a specific type of torture reserved for corresponding sins. It is not a stretch to say that the images of hell I saw in picture books as a young girl impact me to this day. I was terrified.

Fast forward to my school-age years, when my parents sent me to a Christian school started by western missionaries, where I learned of the Jesus who could save me from hell. It was a no-brainer for me. I believed swiftly because I was deathly afraid of hell.

I have told this testimony many, many times throughout my growing up years in the Christian world. It was the ice-breaker to my testimony, the chuckle-inducing anecdote to begin a speech: “I accepted Jesus because I didn’t want to go to hell!” People would smile and nod with approval at my child-like faith. How did nobody tell me it was not funny?

Certainly, as I grew in cognitive and spiritual development, I learned there was more to the Christian life than an escape from hell, but once you begin a relationship with God based on fear it takes years to unlearn the image of the punitive God to be able… [Read more…] about Teaching Children About Hell

The Paradox of Fundamentalism

by in Fundamentalism

Earlier this week on the Unfundamentalist Christians Facebook Page we linked to John Shore’s post “Is hell real?” What are we, six-year-olds?

In response, several of our readers offered their thoughts on the fundamentalist understanding of hell and salvation:

Ryan J.: They say if I don’t believe in it [hell] or don’t believe it’s eternal, that apparently I’m going to go there.

Stacey N.: That is something I honestly don’t get. It’s like, you can tell someone what you believe — that you’ve done the Sinner’s Prayer thing, you’ve been down the Roman Road, but somehow, if you’ve poured over scripture and don’t think your friends who haven’t are going to BURN FOREVER — I guess that means you’ve “lost your salvation” or never had it and jumping through the right hoops means nothing?

And then our Social Media Manager, Christy Caine, added her own brilliant breakdown of the fundamentalist mindset:

It doesn’t make sense, this paradox that you point out. But they refuse to acknowledge the paradox and as other intelligent people have made the point: you cannot remove by logic ideas that were not placed there by it.

Fundamentalists and many (most?) conservative religious people hold a binary worldview: black and white thinking, this or that (but never both), all or nothing, there is no gray.

So, even though they can say with confidence “in order to become a Christian you need to do X, and you’ve done X,” another part of their belief is… [Read more…] about The Paradox of Fundamentalism

What About My Religious Liberties?

by Christian Chiakulas in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Christian Chiakulas.

It’s hard being a straight, white man in America these days. All these social justice movements and not a one we can call our own. Being left out is hard, and everyone knows hurting a white guy’s feelings is the real racism.

So when I heard the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity (among many, many others) complaining about the “War on Christians,” I had my own little Road to Damascus moment and realized this is it — this is my persecution complex right here.

The folks championing their ridiculous war to save Christianity are closer to the mark than even they know. There is a war on Christianity in America, and hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians are being forced to live in a society that actively opposes their sincerely-held religious beliefs.

I’m talking, of course, about progressive and liberal Christians. See, we worship God by fighting for the vision of distributive social justice put forth by Jesus almost two thousand years ago.

Our God commands us to welcome the stranger into our lands, while many of our Republican politicians vow to deport these strangers with reckless abandon, even going so far as to shred the constitutional right to birthright citizenship for all people born on US soil.

Our God also cries out time and again for economic justice. Jesus himself arose from a class of disenfranchised people who were victims of a system by which the wealthy used usury and… [Read more…] about What About My Religious Liberties?