Open Round Table #3
We had another Open Round Table meeting for our church community again last night. Although we have a kind of body of executive elders to make crucial financial decisions, etc., about the church, we...
View ArticleLove in a Dangerous Time
Chris Hedges expresses his opinion on fundamentalism in his book I Don’t Believe in Atheists:The blustering televangelists, and the atheists who rant about the evils of religion, are little more than...
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The Anatomy of Fundamentalism
I created this chart today to help me get a better grasp on the essentials of fundamentalism. I don’t believe fundamentalism is reserved for the religious right or extremists. I believe it is a mindset...
View ArticleHow To Talk To A Fundamentalist
We are all fundamentalists at some time or another over certain issues. It is just the intensity of fundamentalism that varies. So, if I was a fundamentalist (not the extremist kind), how would I want...
View ArticleLess Monologue More Dialog
A healthy and working relationship between a pastor and the congregation is reciprocal. The pastor is willing to pastor the people, and the people are willing to be pastored by this pastor. It doesn’t...
View ArticleFundamentalism & Dialog
The most important conversation is with fundamentalists. I’m not just talking about Christian fundamentalists, but fundamentalists of every persuasion. Conversation between the moderates and liberals...
View ArticleThe Future Fail Fallacy
This post is a continuation of yesterday’s post, Fundamentalism & Dialog.One of the most frustrating things that can happen in a conversation is when someone employs what I’d like to call the...
View ArticleEmpathy 101
I’ve been thinking about empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Without empathy we will never be able to enjoy dialog with one another.I have formulated a test...
View ArticleThe Logic of Fundamentalism
In his excellent essay, “This Is a Religious War“, Andrew Sullivan argues that it must be acknowledged that religion is responsible in some way for the events of 9/11, and that we must try to figure...
View Articlediscard the trump card
One of the things I found most frustrating as a pastor was realizing that I had the trump card. Even though I might encourage dialog, I always knew that no matter what direction the dialog went I could...
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