Celestial Lands The Religious Crossroads of Politics, Power, and Theology

3 Thoughts on “They Won’t All Become Religious Liberals

  1. Interesting thoughts; thanks for writing this post. I wrote a post about something similar (tho from a different angle) a few weeks ago: the Myth of Progress, and it’s helpful to get more perspectives about this thing which is still on my mind. How do we make the best of a non homogenous society?

  2. Interesting thoughts. I have one comment about this statement you included…perhaps I did not understand your thought completely….

    “In my experience, Religious Liberals are constantly seeking a creed that can never really be grasped.”

    I am not sure I would agree. The “creed” if you will is the total rejection of any one “creed” but how to encompass all “creeds’ into our knowledge and belief even those that seem 3 or 4 standard deviations out of our norm. Do we “buy” all these diverse, and at time destructive “creeds” – absolutely not.

    Perhaps your choice of “creed” may be “definition of God” that could be all organized religions are anyway…GOD in a nice, neat – understandable package.

    For me the ability to have no particular “creed” is the most appealing….

    Just some thoughts.

    Nice site….

    Be well

  3. Bill,

    The confusion probably came from my dropping a sentence into the essay that should probably be an essay of its own. As one of the goals I have with these blog essays is the groundwork for my own systemic theology, I do that from time to time to remind myself where the connections are.

    I actually was implying several things with that sentence. One is that, for many religious liberals I have met, seeking a coherent “creed” they can accept is indeed the quest, but it is like seeking the Holy Grail. Setting out on it, you know you will not live long enough to acheive it… but that does not mean you dont try. My work towards a systemic theology fits in with this kind of quest.

    I also have noticed a tendency in some religious liberals to approach their theological work with the mindset that, if they can just get it right, then everyone will realize how right they are and adopt the same views. It is a similarity with some conservatives, except the conservatives have found the answer and the liberals are looking for it. Many liberals have “found” their answer and then become conservatives in their own right. It was this kind of thinking that sparked the idea for this article in the first place. The ironic thing is that, the moment you might actually reach that “right” answer, you are no longer a religous liberal… but that does not mean that the energy behind the quest does not come from this goal.

    So, one of these interpretations is I think a healthy one, and one not so much… but with the sentence, I was implying both.

    Thank you for the question, and for visiting Celestial Lands! I like your site as well.

    Yours in Faith,

    David

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