Religion

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“Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality” by Retired Bishop John Shelby Spong (II of III)

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In a similarly challenging situation several years later, Spong has people come to his house, purporting to be friends who represent his entire congregation. They suggest strongly that he, as a white man, should vote according to the racist status quo, and inform him his future in the town and as a priest is at…

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“Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality” by Retired Bishop John Shelby Spong (I of III)

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Originally posted October 2005 Credits: for Peter McWilliams, author of the fascinating Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country and a victim of the so-called “War Against Drugs,” who first let me know of Spong’s wonderful writing. Also for Retired Bishop Spong himself, for making me think…

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Thoughts on the Disciple Jesus Loved: A case for it being Mary Magdalene (II of II)

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There is no doubt in the writing of the author of John as to whether Jesus loved that disciple. Is this a physical as well as spiritual love? There is nothing in John to either verify or deny this speculation. However, in the Gnostic scriptures, also known as the Dead Sea scrolls, there is some…

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Thoughts on the Disciple Jesus Loved: A case for it being Mary Magdalene (I of II)

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Where I postulate freely that Mary Magdalene was both the disciple Jesus loved, and possibly the true author of the gospel of John. This is a paper from a truly exciting class on History and Literature of the New Testament, taught in 1993 by the amazing prof’s Buck and Luotto — thank you both so…

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Review: “The Screwtape Letters” by C. S. Lewis (II of II)

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When I was a child… On the other hand, there were a few things I found perplexing, although it’s possible I found them so due to their being anachronistic (they are quite google-able for the curious, I may add). For example, who is Farinata? Why or how did Rousseau first reveal the supposedly “very human”…

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Review: “The Screwtape Letters” by C. S. Lewis (I of II)

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Originally posted July 2005 To the librarians whose names I can’t remember now, who happily helped a small child find and devour each eagerly awaited, newly arrived Narnia book. Also to the tiny handful of wonderful, thought-provoking, and truly religious people who recommended this book to me. It took a while for me to get…

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Why Not Same-sex Marriage? (X of X)

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4. Marriage should be just for child-rearing My first thought at assertions like this is: “Why?” Kids don’t care if there’s a piece of paper holding their family together — and that piece of paper has proven notoriously incapable of doing so anyway. However, let’s work through this theory rationally. If marriage is just for…

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Why Not Same-sex Marriage? (IX of X)

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D) What is civilization supported by? The common thread running through all the societies we’ve looked at so far is quite clear on this. For them, the so-called “cornerstone of civilization” is emphatically not one man-one woman marriage. What is the fundamental assumption of civilization, the underlying principle holding it all together for these societies?…

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Why Not Same-sex Marriage? (VIII of X)

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Originality in the early US So, on to the United States of America, where we finally get to hear more from women, although they’re still mostly all White and upper class. When John Adams was helping to draw up the Constitution of the US in 1777, his wife Abigail wrote, Do not put such unlimited…

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Why Not Same-sex Marriage? (VII of X)

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Christianity’s copy So where to next in this quick historical scan of cultural attitudes towards marriage? We turn now to Christianity. For once, women are not treated as disposable breeders; Jesus plainly states a man divorcing his wife is not acceptable. Nothing about marriage as a cornerstone of civilization, of course — just an admonition…