God for Everyone

If you believe in a god who loves you, perhaps in a “heavenly Father” who is loving, gracious, compassionate, and merciful, a divine or supernatural personality who is happy with your obedience but gets angry or disappointed when you mess up or fall short, what you likely have there is not God but an idol,Continue reading “God for Everyone”

The Experience of Myth

A growing consensus regarding the sacred narratives of religion, called myths, is that we must take them literally or else toss them out as bad science and obsolete fictions. Those who would rather not fuss with interpreting the myths are content to simply believe them, and those who can’t with intellectual integrity believe the mythsContinue reading “The Experience of Myth”

Easter Reality

Religious high holy days are anchored deep in myth and symbol. These are times when true believers – as well as the larger number of unaffiliated and “occasional pilgrims” – step into the sacred stories and reflect once again on the miracles of old. Too many of them probably do this out of family obligationContinue reading “Easter Reality”

Embodied Faith

Tillich: “The history of faith is a permanent fight with the corruption of faith, and the conflict with reason is one of its most conspicuous symptoms.” “Reason” as a term referring to a faculty of human intelligence has an interesting history of its own, both on the human-evolutionary and individual-developmental scales. Its ascent in theContinue reading “Embodied Faith”