Phil starts in. “A lot of Christians,” he says, leaning on the side of the dumpster, “think that hope is in church, or in ritual, or in prayer or pious behavior. But most of ‘em believe that ultimately, hope is in heaven. They are just waiting for their tickets out of this madhouse so they can take it easy in the sweet bye and bye.” He pauses, and I shiver, nodding dumbly.

The only One

So, last week our interim minister did a sermon on the relationship between Unitarian Universalism and Christianity. I thought that it might be of interest to some of those who were in on the thread about the relationship between UU'ism and Progressive Christianity. It's now been posted to our website, so here's a link. Enjoy and if you want to discuss it, use this thread.

http://www.unitarianfellowshipoflondon.org/April5,2009.pdf

I've been thinking about something recently. Does Christianity make people conservative? Sometimes it seems like christian and conservative are so intertwined that they mean the same thing. Is it an unnatural relationship? If it's not christianity that does it; where do conservatives come from? Is it different churches that are at fault? Old people vs young? Lots of people from my generation want nothing to do with christianity because the association is so strong.

A short time ago, you were annoyed because you thought I was calling you a nazi. I wasn't. But I have begun to realize my thinking has been taking me somewhere even worse.

Hitler has been universally condemned not just as cruel - but as a madman, a monster, someone so wildly different from the normal human that he has fostered a growth industry of psychiatric studies. The Germans, too, have fallen under the same cloud, a perverse people who can only be seen as a gross perversion of normal humanity. I am beginning to realize something much worse.

Is there a difference?

Well, obviously there is a difference, but what about the more "radical" Progressive Christians, such as John S. Spong or United Church Canada's own Gretta Vosper? I've read a lot of Spong's works as well as finishing up Vosper's "With or Without God," and one comes away feeling like they both, more or less, pay lip service to Christianity while there is nothing that really distinguishes them from atheists.

         It was the third bomb this week in Pakistan. A man walked into a mosque in Jamrud during Friday prayers. The congregation was about the size of our gathering this morning. Just after the Imam said the words, “God is great”, the bomb was detonated.   Half of the congregation were killed or injured.  

Reasons people leave the faith, according to [some] Christians:

John 14:6 (New International Version)

 ⁶Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Many people claim that this passage to supports the view, that Jesus is claiming that the only way to God, or happiness, or goodness is by following him (Jesus).

<  This article >is creating quite a stir in the evangelical community. Has anyone read it? Any thoughts?

I will likely write a full blog on it when I have some time.