We liberals should set up our own church

[catbert836]

dedicated to the real message of Jesus.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Quakers? (n/t)

[BayCityProgressive]

3. There already are

many progressive Christian denominations, but themedia likes to focus on the talibornagain.

[utoo]

2. there are MANY MANY CHURCHES

that actually teach the message of acceptance, forgiveness and true charity that Jesus brought..

unfortunately, they ARE NOT AN ORGANIZED DOGMA such as the Southern Baptist or Baptist in general (and mind you most of the neo-con right wing fundamentalists sprout from here)

Since the non-Paulist churches actually seek to adhere to Jesus' message they are NOT well structured to "organize and promote outside agendas"...unlike they're fundamentalist counterparts.

It would take one more involved in these "Jesus based churches" to address how they can be mobilized.

Thomas Jefferson:

Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.

[noordinaryspider]

4. Count me in.

I haven't set foot in a church since the Fallwell Fallout after 9/11, which I didn't even begin to understand until shortly before Black Wednesday.

Studying on my own and internet contact with others taught me far more in the past three years than regular church attendance from '98-'01 ever did.

I can't even get into what happened to my children and the children I met on the internet when I first retreated into my computer because it is still too painful for me to think about.

We need to take back Jesus. If the word "Jesus" is too tainted, call him something else. If the word "Christian" means "Repug" now, call it something else.

[doni_georgia]

12. Several to chose from - list of liberal denominations

You have to check out different congregations, because with each of the following denominations, some congregations are more liberal than others:

American Baptist
Disciples of Christ
Episcopal Church, USA
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
Presbyterian Church, USA
Society of Friends (Quaker)
United Church of Christ
Unitarian Universalist (not necessarily a Christian denomination, since they welcome people of other faiths, although some are strictly Christian in orientation)
Unity

[Maat]

13. I'd like to add..

1. Church of Religious Science (ucrs.org),
2. Metropolitan Community Churches.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi utoo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[indigobusiness]

5. A church dedicated to elevating the dialog beyond dogma

would serve religion, politics, and humanity in general.

[eShirl]

6. reminds me of how our Dungeons & Dragons characters avoided killing

each other over religion:

"Who do you worship?"

"I worship the ONE TRUE GOD!"

"Oh really? What a coincidence! SO DO I!"

:evilgrin:

[BOOGEX]

7. Liberalism and Christianity go well together

Where I live in Chicago there are a few churches that teach the true message of Jesus, but in the surrounding suburbs and small towns, I haven't seen very many. It would be great if there was a national, organized church that could bring liberal christians together all across the country.

I stopped going to church when I became old enough to realize that some of the things the church was saying were perverted. I haven't attended church regularly since, largely because I've been turned off by all the vocal fundies. It's a shame though, that the fundies who have the power now and the media attention are really perverting Christ's message. It's going to give all christians a bad name.

I think that one of the reasons I became liberal is because I took the message of Jesus to heart. I think liberalism and christanity should go hand in hand. There really should be a vocal liberal church to counter the trash that the fundie churches are spewing.

[SnowGoose]

8. Liberal churches need to start advertising themselves as such.

They're out there, and there are also people interested. I get church ads all the time ~ I'd love to see one that actually used the word 'progressive'.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Well, yeah.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. I'll come lead the Dances of Universal Peace

There are many of the Dances based on Jesus's words, and many are in Aramaic. I would suggest you also check out the works of Neil Douglas-Klotz, who has done much work in studying Aramaic and other ancient Middle Eastern texts and then translating them directly into English. Two of his works are Prayers of the Cosmos, which deals mainly with the Lord's Prayer and Desert Wisdom. The Lord's prayer is danced, and takes an evening to complete, and is a very transformative experience.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. People been doing that for...

about 2000 years so far. Problem is, no one's figured out to everyone's satisfaction just what that message is.

There are no politically "progressive" churches, but there are certainly many progressive congregations. The point is to find a denomination with an appropriate theology and a congregation with the appropriate politics. It's not really that hard, but could take some time.

Catholics are regularly trashed for many things, but they have been on the forefront of much of the progressive movement. Forget about abortion and see what Pax Christi has to say about economics, social justice, war, and peace. Catholics have been accused of being Socialists and <gasp!> pacifists.

The Presbyterians have the Witherspoon Society and many of their churches are leading the charge for Jesus' teachings about social justice.

The Baptists have the Baptist Peace Federation of North America and are prime movers for the ecumenical Every Church a Peace Church.

Bruderhof Communities are very interesting. They are descended from the Anabaptists, same as the Mennonites. You can visit them, but joining means living there. They are definitely not a cult, but genuine Christian Communities.

Wanna see some real Christian activism-- check out Mennonite Central.

See who's behind the Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, United Church of Christ... they all have associations and congregations that are listening to Christ's social message. Many of them are too busy trying to get their relief work and soup kitchens working to get the PR the TV preachers get.

Me, I ended up with the Quakers because we have no creeds. There is a lot of interesting theology behind Quakerism, but there is nothing that we are required to believe. We all live in the Light of Christ, but we each have our own relationship with whatever we think God to be. This relationship guides our lives, and arguments over the Trinity, the source of grace, or even the divinity of Jesus are interesting, but ultimately irrelevant.

You gotta find the right congregation, though. Plenty of individual churches out there push the Conservative line. Even a few Quaker meetings are halfway supporting the Iraq war.

[ExclamationPoint]

15. AMEN!

Let's call it the blue donkey-or not. It wouldn't have to be just jesus though, it could be for jews, muslims, and pagans as well. Kind of like progressive unitarian. :)

[JVS]

16. I think that is an extraordinarily bad idea

I think we should exert our presence in the Churches in which we were raised and demonstrate to moderate and conservative members of of the congregation that being liberal and a good Christian are not contradiction. Nobody ever convinced another person of his/her point of view by running away. Don't isolate yourself by retreating to a comfort zone where your own ideas reign unquestioned, but rather be the leaven that spreads throughout the dough

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Some churches to check out

Mind you, every congregation is different, and just because the national level organization says one thing does not mean at the local level you will find the same beliefs. So call the pastors of these churches in your area and quiz them on:

1) How to care for the poor
2) Pro-Choice
3) Gay ordination
4) Gay marriage
5) Pre-emptive war
6) Jesus is THE way or A way to get to heaven? (Plurality)
7) Is there a Hell and who goes there?
8) Any other questions you need to determine if they are conservative fundagelical bible thumpers or not

http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/liberalchristians.htm#denom

And if you are looking for a liberal non Christian faith, check the general religious resources section. :)