Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

A Christian Response to the Transgender Discussion

by in Christian Issues, LGBT

Caitlyn Jenner’s public transformation on the cover of Vanity Fair last week forcefully pulled the “T” from the end of “LGBT” and placed it squarely at the forefront of public discourse.

This past weekend at least nine newspapers around the country published front-page stories profiling local transgender residents. On Monday Christianity Today published a seven page story on “Understanding the Transgender Phenomenon.”

As stories about Jenner and other transgender people piled up in my news feed, spread across my television screen and seeped into everyday conversation with friends and coworkers, I realized that something extraordinary was happening.

People were actually talking about transgender issues. A subject previously considered taboo in many circles and the source of awkward jokes in others was now being discussed forthrightly. Honest questions were being asked, challenging issues were being brought out into the open.

Of course the commentary on Jenner ran the gamut that one might expect.

Conservative Christians spewed their typical vitriol:
“For the very reason that homosexual practice is wrong, transsexualism is all the more wrong because it is an even greater complaint against God for the way that one is made.” — Robert Gagnon


“What he [Jenner] most closely resembles is a mentally disordered man who is being manipulated by disingenuous liberals and self-obsessed gay activists.”
 — Matt Walsh


Other Christians planted their flag in… [Read more…] about A Christian Response to the Transgender Discussion

Churchgoer Sees Jesus in a Mocha

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

“Churchgoer Sees Jesus in a Mocha.” Can’t we picture such a headline in our news feeds? We have seen announcements like it before: “‘Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese’ Sells for $28,000.” The now-famous grilled cheese was reported to have an imprint of the Virgin Mary’s face on it. It had been stored in a baggie in a bedroom dresser for ten years before we heard about it in the news in 2004.

$28,000? Are we that hungry for a glimpse of the sacred?

Social media outlets have been abuzz recently about churches in survivor mode. Statistics paint a grim picture of the future of institutional Christianity. What are churches offering that people aren’t buying?

What are we hungry for today?

A mocha stirred up these thoughts for me. You see, I have been seeing something that looks a whole lot God’s Spirit swirling about in a mocha I have a date with each week.

The mocha itself is at best mediocre. I get it for free from one of those institutional coffee machines you find in hospitals or convenience stores. I press one of six buttons–hot chocolate, mocha, cappuccino (regular or decaf) or coffee (regular or decaf). The machine ponders my choice. Then it grinds and sputters and spits my beverage into a 6-ounce cup.

This particular machine resides in my mother’s senior adult apartment community. When my mother moved to my city, I was glad that the transition was not as difficult as other parental moves I had heard about. My mother pared down her stuff and moved with some ease from her… [Read more…] about Churchgoer Sees Jesus in a Mocha

The Duggars: Privilege and Personal Irresponsibility

by Don M. Burrows in Christian Issues, Current Events, Fundamentalism

View image | gettyimages.com

Nothing has laid bare how obviously conservatives’ own privilege trumps the “personal responsibility” they demand of everyone else than the ongoing saga regarding Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s oldest progeny and his apparent teenage preoccupation with molesting young girls.

On the one hand, the Duggars are so committed to sexual responsibility that they adhere to a rigid gender and procreative ideology that eschews all sexuality outside of heterosexual marriage, birth control (even within said marriage), and of course abortion, to the point that they will blithely imply that anyone who falls outside their sexual orthodoxy is prone to molest and prey on children.

On the other hand is their son Josh Duggar, who we now know made it a recurring habit as a youngster to not only molest females while they slept, but to do so to his own sisters, who were as young as 5 years old, annihilating pretty much every sexual taboo across cultures worldwide.

Yet of course, the Duggars are the true victims, as they told Fox News Wednesday night, because:

Liberals have it in for them, because they’re “Christian.” Actually, if liberals have it in for the Duggars, it’s because of the very public campaigns they’ve waged against equal rights for gays and lesbians throughout the years. Liberals don’t have a problem with “Christians” overall. Many liberals are Christians.
The wicked Springdale Police Department released a report via the… [Read more…] about The Duggars: Privilege and Personal Irresponsibility

Being Born Again in Unfundamentalist Fashion

by Chuck Queen in Christian Spirituality

It is unfortunate that the phrase “born again” has come to be associated with a particular kind of Christianity generally known for its belief in biblical inerrancy, its literal interpretation of scripture, its condemnation of our LGBT sisters and brothers, and its entrenchment in right wing politics.

The phrase occurs in John 3:3 where Jesus tells Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless one is born again.”

The word translated “again” also means “above” and is so translated in the New Revised Standard Version. The Gospel writer probably intended this double meaning. To be born from above does not mean that God sweeps down from the sky to invade our lives. It is simply another way of talking about being “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8), who like the wind cannot be managed or manipulated.

Fundamentalists literalize this image. They turn the “kingdom of God” into heaven and claim that unless one has a new birth experience, which they usually associate with believing the right doctrines, one cannot enter heaven or know God in a personal way.

Actually, to “see the kingdom of God” is just another way of talking about experiencing and participating in the dynamic reality of God’s life and will. John also calls this “eternal life,” which he contends is the present possession of disciples of Christ (3:15-16). Scholars of John call this “realized eschatology,” which is just a fancy way of saying that John puts the emphasis on interacting and… [Read more…] about Being Born Again in Unfundamentalist Fashion

Again: Raping Angels and Being Gay Are Not the Same Thing

by Don M. Burrows in Christian Issues, LGBT

There is perhaps no more abused passage in the Bible for condemning gays and lesbians than the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We’ve discussed other major anti-gay clobber passages on this blog multiple times, including the ambiguous Romans 1 with its mysterious interlocutor, and the equally perplexing 1 Corinthians 6:9 with its invented terms for sexuality.

But fundamentalists return time and again to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, routinely dismissing the conclusions of informed critical analysis and instead presenting this text as a definitive warning of the impending destruction that awaits those who embrace the homosexual “lifestyle.”

They argue for this understanding despite the plain and literal definition of the sin of Sodom in Ezekiel 16:49:
This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
In light of Ezekiel’s explication, it should go without question that hostile, wandering townsfolk violating the ancient premise of xenia, or hospitality, by demanding to rape the guests in your home is in no way analogous to two men wanting to share a last name and a life-insurance policy — yet the absurdity persists.

It persists despite the fact that Lot, held up as Sodom’s model citizen, offers his daughters to the rapists and yet is still spared by the Lord.

It persists despite the fact that there are parallel hospitality myths from antiquity of gods who take the form… [Read more…] about Again: Raping Angels and Being Gay Are Not the Same Thing

Welcome Dan Wilkinson, UC's new editor

by in Current Events

Since its launching in June 2013 I’ve been editor of this blog, choosing, editing, and finding an image for each piece published here, interfacing with the folks at Patheos, etc. It’s work in which I’ve taken a great deal of pleasure. Running this blog, which has been viewed over 1,340,000 times,  has allowed me to recapture some of the cooperative team spirit I so relished during the years I worked as a magazine editor. Finding and respectfully presenting new writing talent is one of my favorite things in the world to do.

From its inception, Dan Wilkinson (that’s him above, turning a mountain into a Barcalounger) has proven invaluable to this blog. Besides being a web Jedi always ready to solve any techie-style problem that arises on the blog, Dan is a fine writer who possesses a keen analytical mind that he has used, through his writing on this blog, to become a respected book reviewer.

It was Dan who, years ago, first phoned me to ask if there was anything he could do to help Unfundamentalist Christians become more than a document I wrote. And he’s been with me ever since. No one could ask for a better partner.

Today I’m handing the UC blog over to Dan; he is its new executive editor. As I’ll soon start sharing about on my blog, my life has altered in such a way that I can no longer properly serve this blog’s writers or readers. That is a positive thing for me, and is certain, with Dan at its helm, to be a positive thing for this humble little outpost in… [Read more…] about Welcome Dan Wilkinson, UC's new editor

Welcome to the Duggar's world of Independent Fundamental Baptists

by in Christian Issues

[This is an updated version of a post which originally appeared on my blog.]

The Duggar family, so much in the news lately, are Independent Fundamental Baptists (IFB), a loosely affiliated, singularly cultish denomination of Christian fundamentalists.

According to the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life there are approximately 7.85 million IFB members in America. It’s unlikely there isn’t an IFB church within a half-hour drive from your house.

Some of the beliefs and practices characteristic of Independent Fundamental Baptists are:

→ The King James Version is the only true Word of God; all other translations of the Bible are the work of the devil. Meant to be taken literally, the KJV is inspired, inerrant, infallible, and the supreme and final authority in all things. It is therefore literally true that, for instance, God created the world in six 24-hour days; Satan is real, the enemy of God, and the instigator of all false religions; the theory of evolution is unscriptural and therefore without merit; and hell is a real place where all who die without having accepted Christ as their Savior suffer consciously being roasted alive for eternity.

→ Each IFB church is wholly autonomous and free from any outside governance. Its pastor is divinely appointed and accountable to no earthly authority. He speaks for God, and God alone may judge him. To question the sovereignty of the pastor is to disturb God’s order and invite upon oneself separation from the church, and… [Read more…] about Welcome to the Duggar's world of Independent Fundamental Baptists

"Go. Be apostles of this peace."

by in Christian Spirituality

This morning we posted on the Unfundamentalist Christians Facebook page (here) a link to my blog post for today, Eight “Bible-believing” churches vs. one progressive church.

In response to that link a commenter wrote:
I find all of it so nauseating I can’t even stand church anymore. Church culture and all of the nonsense has fatigued me in a way that I’m so over saturated with the BS that I honestly feel sick. I feel this exhausted eyeroll/shudder when people say “I’m a christian”. It usually means that someone is going to shove some political or “biblical” load of crap down my throat or judge me because I don’t think like they do or believe the way they do. I’m somehow “less than” “not of the faith” “in rebellion” “not in the covenant” or whatever.
Another commenter concurred:
That is what drove me away. All of the judgement and competition, and we are better than them crap. Just couldn’t take church anymore.
And that’s when our beloved Christy Caine (who wrote the viral post The lies Christian fundamentalism taught me) chimed in with this:
Which is part of the reason we created this group. There are Christians who are different. There are Christians who are intellectual. There are Christians who are welcoming and affirming. There are Christians who believe in gender equality. There are Christians who have high emotional intelligence. There are those of us who care for the environment and all people no matter who they are, what they wear, what language… [Read more…] about "Go. Be apostles of this peace."

Heaven is not "up there" somewhere

by Chuck Queen in Christian Spirituality

Almost two decades ago I went through a crisis in my faith. The conservative Christianity of my early training had left me dry, empty, and wondering if I had made a huge mistake with my life.

Surprisingly, an evangelical philosopher and theologian helped me weather this season of my life. Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (HarperOne, 1998) prompted me to rethink my views about salvation, the kingdom of God (which was the central theme in Jesus’ preaching and teaching), discipleship and the spiritual life, the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross, and the reality of heaven.

While I don’t agree with everything Willard teaches—such as his view that the Bible is inerrant, for instance—he helped me to realize that heaven is not just up there somewhere, but is, rather, right here and now. He writes:
The Old Testament experience of God is one of the direct presence of God’s person, knowledge, and power to those who trust and serve him. Nothing – no human being or institution, no time, no space, no spiritual being, no event – stands between God and those who trust him. The “heavens” [he noted that heaven in the Greek is usually plural] are always there with you no matter what, and the “first heaven,” in biblical terms, is precisely the atmosphere or air that surrounds your body. (p. 67)
Willard references biblical stories of how God spoke and appeared to human beings “out of heaven,” noting that “in such passages… [Read more…] about Heaven is not "up there" somewhere

Shoe Polish, Gospel Gratitude, and Teacher Appreciation Week

by Jill Crainshaw in Current Events


Today (May 4) through May 8 is National PTA’s Teacher Appreciation Week.

“Shoe polish,” he said. “Listen to the words. Consonants and vowels feel and sound a certain way when you say them. ‘Shoe polish.’ Don’t you just love that sound?”

Mr. Rogers was my high school English teacher. He loved words and the artistic work of putting words together to make sentences. Mr. Rogers was also enamored of novelists who wove sentences together into tales in which memorable protagonists grappled with life’s deepest questions.

“Every one of you can write beautiful words, sentences, and stories,” Mr. Rogers said. “You can be writers and artists. You can change the world.”

I was sixteen years old. I wanted to believe him.

Political decisions in many cities and states have created complex challenges for public school teachers. In North Carolina, where I live, legislative actions have decreased resources for public schools and teachers, and some schools face significant teacher shortages. Teachers are weary and discouraged. Many are moving to other states or seeking other careers.

And yet, each year parents let their kindergarteners go into a world of public education, where their hearts and minds will be forever shaped by those who teach them about grammar and history, math and science, literature and art. Each day of the school year, teachers like Mr. Rogers stand in that boundary place between home and public life, and urge our communities’ children to read,… [Read more…] about Shoe Polish, Gospel Gratitude, and Teacher Appreciation Week