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The LGBTQ Ministry Run by a Priest

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The Catholic denomination encompasses lots of diversity. One is a Jesuit who preaches the denomination spends too much time preaching about sexual sin. He joins Pope Leo in promoting discussion of the poor and marginalized. It would be an understatement to say the priest is controversial. He is a bright light in Christian darkness.  The link reviews the Catholic prayer in which the petitioner admits to being a sinner and asked over and over for forgiveness. A revised prayer that comes from the liberal wing fesses up to being prejudiced and petitions for forgiveness and promises to be less prejudiced. This kind of fessing up would mean equal treatment of women, gays, trans and in the past black people. This confession is a bridge too far for most Catholic clergy and clergy in conservative Protestant denominations like Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans. How could one support male only clergy and preach against prejudice? Having listened to and read the theology of prejud...
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Is Trump's Problem His Governing Or People Just Dislike Him

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Days before the Midterms, pundits are talking about why Republicans WILL lose. It's not yet about why they did lose. We've all been surprised and may be this time as well. The link , a conservative site, drones on about Democrats not conducting responsible campaigns. Democrats are being evasive or dishonest, the author says, by talking about the economic consequences of the war with Iran and not the reason for the war. To me, this is misleading because sometimes issues are self-evident and do not need to be discussed. It is self-evident there is no reason to be at war with Iran. Therefore, there is no reason to discuss it. Whether it's a President, Governor, preacher or professor, people do not like someone talking down to them. People know Iran has had uranium for years and it has affected no one. If we sent a gazillion troops and tons of equipment, found it and took it, we would have to occupy Iran forever or they would start it all up again. People know this. They also k...
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Japan's Fluid Spirits and Customs Teach About Humans

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One of the best articles I have seen about religion discussed Japan . To me, much of what goes on in the minds of Japanese is similar to what goes on in minds in the West. It's just that we have different names for these thoughts. Japanese do not understand ours; we do not understand theirs.  Before discussing Japan, let's recall the Pagans of the Western World. There was plenty of superstition and different gods in different communities. There were spirits and invisible beings.  Japan's Shintoism goes back to prehistory. The link says only that Shintoism is about many different spirits. It is not uniformly thought of as religion but a set of ceremonies and practices. About the year 550 CE, Buddhism came to Japan. Over many centuries the two have overlapped and merged. Along with the Chinese Confucianism arrived with Chinese occupation and has been put into the mix. These practices are not linked to an original leader nor do they have a "home office" somewhere tha...
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Marriage and the Church Were Never a Good Fit

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Priests and perhaps preachers everywhere lament the decline in the number of marriages and the choice not to be married in churches. The clergy/church wedding was a marketing concept that probably delayed the decline in church numbers. It is easy to see in retrospect the church had no business pushing itself into the practice of marriage. They have nothing to do with each other. Along with marriage, the Christian faith has inserted itself into several issues it should never have entered.  Everyone who has studied anthropology probably come across ancient marriage practices. Marriages were arranged by the tribe or clan to establish military or economic business arrangements. It never occurred to young people their coming marriage would be to someone they chose. There may have been some religious overtones from whatever religion was practiced but the main variable was marriage to help the tribe or clan. A good review of all that is here .  The early Jews worked religion into uni...
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Where Did Abraham's God Come From

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Most public discussion today of the faith called Judaism centers on support or opposition to Netanyahu and the election there coming very soon. It was refreshing to read a thoughtful Rabbi's reflections on the origin of the faith and its place in an increasingly secular U. S.   Over the years, many have tried to "backwards engineer" history, take existing archaeology discoveries and/or what is documented in surviving ancient writing or inscriptions, taking the chain of groups backwards in time to conclude where they came from and why. This has been hard to do with the Jews of ancient Israel. No one knows where they came from or who they were before they showed up in the Bible story and known history during the Roman Empire.  The link talks of Abraham and his finding God. The Rabbi admits there are two theories about when Abraham discovered God. One is that it came to him when he was four years old, the other that it was when he was 40 years old. One the sources was Maimon...
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Church Donations Down Most in Black Churches

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A survey of pastors found giving was down more in small churches than large and down more in churches regarded as "black churches". So far as I know these are not random samples but email requests and only those who choose to respond do so. This method may introduce bias of one kind or another. Reliable information about the lives of churches is hard to come by. There are surveys of church members asking how often they attend. Preachers are asked about attendance. Both of these yield much different and more optimistic numbers than drone photographs of church parking lots on worship day. The latter show lower attendance than the self-reporting. In recent months Christian sites repeat results of a survey or two that found the decline in Christianity has leveled. That seems to refer to the rate of decline, it is not increasing but decline continues. The number of churches closing has not slowed. One would guess churches, which are small businesses, close at about the same rate a...
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Will the Narrow, Exclusive, Version of Christianity Continue to Succeed

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I've not seen any historian determine when Christian fundamentalism began to steamroll every other political and religious idea and win elections. If readers know there is such an agreed upon date when this exclusivity was first successful they can add it to the comments. There is always some subjectivity in such a judgement but perhaps agreement is possible. There are a few atheists in the House. Their political success is not the same as a national election or a state one that has national publicity. The coming Midterm might be the first to challenge the power of the false notion Christianity, and only one view of it, is the only legitimate political force in U.S. elections. A well-known Christian writer reviewed the history of Christian exclusiveness, reminding us that public statements against Jews by Christians has been acceptable for a long time.  At this moment, we have two opposing views of the Christian faith. Conservative Christians had a press event blessing President Tr...
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