Along with TV preacher John Hagee and many others, the Falwells became fervent supporters of the nation of Israel, offering further evidence, to some at least, of their anti-anti-Semitism. He even asked McLaren for advice for people who find themselves in more 'conservative' congregations (this is progressive speak for people who actually believe the Bible, and is not a reference to either politics or tradition), before then going on to "trust that the book will be a help to many". When their kind faces and thoughtful eyes come to mind, I feel a deep and complex irony: might it sometimes be necessary, to follow Jesus’ example of deep solidarity with the oppressed, to leave the religion associated with Jesus entirely? In mid-May, violence between Gaza and Israel intensified to levels not seen for years, with Hamas shooting hundreds of rockets toward the Tel Aviv area and Israel retaliating with heavy strikes in .

Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Dis… Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Dis…

Through the years I have tried to rectify my ignorance about my own religion’s downsides and the upsides of other religions.It's not just that McLaren places the "integrated reality" above God; he also feels to need to set God free – as he entitles chapter 19! We're the richest, largest and most well- armed religion on the planet, and if we remain unwilling to acknowledge and learn from our past, we pose a serious threat to the very existence of humanity. in which he helps us reflect on the pros and cons of holding onto a Christian identity and, more importantly, what kind of human beings we want to be. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many scholars reviewed the history of plagues in Christian civilization and saw how these plagues often stirred up anti-Jewish sentiment and scapegoating.

Do I Stay a Christian? ProgressiveChristianity.org : Do I Stay a Christian?

The irony is so stark that it’s hard to process: a Jewish movement with a Jewish founder and all-Jewish original followers becomes, in the matter of a couple of decades, viciously anti-Jewish. He argues that leaving Christianity hurts the people who are trying to transform it into something better, that they need our help rather than our abandonment. I was even taught that Christianity was the incubator of humanity’s greatest art and literature, from da Vinci and Rembrandt to Bach and Handel to Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky.I wasn’t taught how their fellow Christians mocked, persecuted, and opposed many brilliant thinkers, from Copernicus and Galileo to Charles Darwin and Rachel Carson. If you’re a Christian who is unaware of any problems in your church, this book probably isn’t for you.