A Progressive Christian's Blog on Faith, Culture, Doubt, and Secularism
On December 14, 2019, two-year-old Olive Heiligenthal passed away in her sleep. Olive's mother, Kalley Heiligenthal, is a worship leader at Bethel Church, a charismatic megachurch based in Redding, California. Following an impassioned worship service the next morning, Heiligenthal took to Instagram and called on the "global church to stand with us in belief that…
Continue reading ➞ Slayed in the Spirit: The Rise and Legacy of Christian Supernaturalism
"Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin" is one of those phrases that feels so baked into modern Christianity is almost shocking to discover it never appears anywhere in the Bible. At a fundamental level, there's nothing wrong about "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin." It seeks to be a more gracious counterpoint to the accusation…
Continue reading ➞ Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin? Why We Should Retire Our Favorite Christian Phrase
Tens of thousands of college students from around the country sat on the edges of their seats. From a circular stage centered in the massive arena, the speaker spoke into a wireless microphone, an atmospheric instrumental track underscoring his somber delivery. "Would you leave behind your families, jobs, friends, colleges, and familiar surroundings if God…
Continue reading ➞ Making Your Life Count For God (and Other Christian Anxieties)
On July 26, 2019, Joshua Harris, former megachurch pastor and author of the infamous purity culture bestseller I Kissed Dating Goodbye, announced to his Instagram followers that he was no longer a Christian. "By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian," Harris wrote. "I don't view this moment…
Continue reading ➞ Prone To Wander: The Allure of Deconversion Testimonies
"What's your number?" People, for the most part, like to talk about themselves and what they're learning. If you've been to a party, corporate retreat, Bible study, or group hangout over the past year or so, odds are pretty good you've heard someone talking about the Enneagram, even if you didn't know what they were…
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to announce the War on Christmas is over. And it's been over for about one hundred and fifty years. The Puritans waged the original War on Christmas in 17th century England and, later, the American colonies. A bunch of killjoys, the Puritans were a super-conservative branch of Protestantism that believed…
Continue reading ➞ The War On Christmas Is Over, and Other Holiday Misadventures
About a year ago, I was helping out at an event and one of the servers asked me if I was religious. Earlier in the night, it had come up that I write stuff about the Bible. She was gay, and I suspected she was posing a somewhat loaded question. "I don't think so," I…
Continue reading ➞ How to Talk About Jesus Without Being Weird (or a Jerk)
For the past four decades, the local and institutionalized church has positioned itself as a place to be entertained, discover your purpose, and "plug in" to community. And it's a strategy that's been wildly successful. Until now. Echoing national trends of a growing distrust of "large institutions," a 2017 Gallup poll found that only 41% of…
To the Poor in the Spirit, I may not know you, but I know how it starts. A visit to another church, a sentence in a book, a comment on a podcast, an encounter with a classmate, a shared article on Facebook, a changing political stance, a travel experience - whatever it was, something jarred the…
Continue reading ➞ The Divinity of Doubt: A Letter to Those Who Struggle to Believe
Fundamentalism wasn't pressed upon me as a child. No, I chose it for myself. While I did grow up in a Christian household, my dogmatic approach to faith was more a result of a well-intentioned - but misguided - attempt to be recognized as the smartest person in the room. I also loved to read.…
Continue reading ➞ A Love Letter (and Warning) to Progressive Christianity
