A Liberal Preacher Says There is Hope for the Faith


A Protestant Preacher in NYC has been in the news for years, pundits amazed at his success. He started a church in one of the most secular settings in the U.S. and it has grown. Around his church are a collection of repurposed church shells. He is now proposing a path forward for survival of the faith. His basic idea is plausible.

His idea is to leave the politics of today behind and embrace social justice. Exactly what is meant by social justice, of course, is not so clear. The link explains what he means and there are other meanings.

Today the word "brand" is often used to simplify somewhat complex explanations. I like to use it with another popular word, "narrative." Together they tell us a group's brand is the narrative in popular use by the public when the group is discussed. The brand the public places on a group often is not the how the group likes to brand itself. For example, Christians have assigned a brand for atheists. It that atheists want to sin but not be held accountable. This is ridiculous to atheists because sin is not something known to atheists. It is a Christian term. 

It is my impression the Christian brand today, the one considered accurate by outsiders, is that of a group of self-serving and selfish people. The group is constantly trying to get more for itself at the expense of others. It wants, for example, the right to not serve people that offend them. Some Christian pharmacists do not want to fill prescriptions that induce abortions or birth control prescriptions. This makes their lives better but the lives of others worse. Readers know all the other places this happens, wedding cakes, preachers and gay marriage, etc.

A different brand of Christianity would be one of unselfishness. That would be going the last mile to serve and accommodate those they dislike or don't respect without regard for how much they themselves are made unhappy. The pastor who thinks the Bible condemns gay marriage would perform them anyway.  

I think rebranding Christianity would help it. It just does not seem possible.

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