Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed and the Disillusioned

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The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian But even so, my spiritual life has been restless. I have struggled with Christian identity constantly. Perhaps people could sense this, which would explain why so many people have "come out" to me over the years as thinking about leaving Christian identity. Significant numbers of them have been clergy; when they work "behind the curtain," they see things that make it harder and harder to stay. McLaren is one of the important gurus in my life. This follows on closely from his previous book, Faith after Doubt, which I reviewed last year. You might think that the title question is only rhetorical and the answer is a firmly implied Yes. But what’s refreshing is that the author genuinely does not have a secret agenda. He doesn’t mind whether you continue to consider yourself Christian or not; what he does care about is inviting people into a spiritual life that includes working towards a regenerative future, the only way the human race is going to survive. And he believes that people of all faiths and none can be a part of that. As a clergyperson who communicates with religious skeptics on a regular basis, my instinct is that most people struggling with faith will find the first section (leave) more convincing than the second (stay). However, for those on the fence who are looking for reasons to stay, the second section will prove helpful.

Do I Stay Christian? by Brian D. McLaren | Review

I have found the permission and freedom to be a new kind of Christian, a progressive Christian, a contemplative-activist Christian, a Christian humanist, or whatever you want to call me. I am learning to be content whatever I am called, as long as I remain passionately eager to embody a way of being human that is pro-justice, pro-kindness, and pro-humility. McLaren's] earnest, conversational tone sounds as though he's speaking directly to each individual listener." - AudioFile on Do I Stay Christian?

Christianity can be defined doctrinally, as something you believe. To be a Christian is to affirm a system of beliefs or teachings. Part I is divided into ten chapters providing ten reasons to say no. The chapter titles provide short descriptions of their contents. I've provided the ten chapter titles (i.e. ten reasons to say no) in the following spoiler. 1. Because Christianity Has Been Vicious to Its Mother (Anti-Semitism) Christianity can be defined moralistically, as a shared set of moral values or precepts. To be a Christian is to live your life by a moral or ethical framework.

Do I Stay Christian? — The Sophia Society Do I Stay Christian? — The Sophia Society

In his usual thoughtful provocative style McClaren provides a thoughtful examination of the Christian tradition, its faults and failures and its gifts and graces. He takes seriously the harm Christians and Christianity have done across the ages while considering its promise, realized and unrealized. He also casts a vision of a Christianity beyond its infancy which would be worth working and praying for. I recommend this book for individuals wrestling with their faith, pastors, book clubs and those seeking honest conversation about the very complex realities of Christianity." In Do I Stay Christian?, McLaren wrestles the scandalous theological questions and conscientiousness objections that keep so many of us awake at night—and he does so with the courage and grace that have become his trademark. If you're wondering whether it's time to shake off your sandals and walk away from Christianity, I beg you to read this book before making up your mind." The problem is, white evangelicals haven’t gotten the message. Their Faustian deal with Donald Trump gave them enormous political power, as well as a willing strongman to enforce their white fundamentalism on the wider culture. Worse, their compromised Supreme Court is now handing down theocratic rulings that will have an impact on American public and private life for decades to come. The current evangelical attempt to bring heaven down to earth has resulted in unleashing a veritable hell. And though they are declining in numbers, their power over culture is increasing, providing uncomfortable similarities between the United States in 2022 and South Africa in the dying days of white rule. Driven by militant Christianity, America is drifting toward an apartheid system, leaving many of us to wonder if America’s future is South Africa’s past. Is it any wonder then, why millions of us want nothing to do with this corrupted form of faith? Everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled.… The council … took the cash that the Jews possessed and divided it among the working-men proportionately. The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews. If they had been poor and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt.8

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, author of Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World McLaren was once an evangelical preacher. So it’s only fitting that the final paragraphs of his book have the feel of a revival meeting altar call. He invites his readers “to become the most just, kind, and humble version of ourselves that we possibly can, day by day” as we “practice a faith that expresses itself in love” so that we might “lean with others into a . . . new kind of humanity, open to every good resource that can help us, explicitly Christian or not.” His closing words are, “A new humanity—humble, just and kind—can be born. Can you imagine that, fellow human?”

Christian? Has Brian McLaren stayed Christian?

The step that many of us need to learn how to take at this moment is a step of learning how to simultaneously transcend and include. Many times we want to transcend and reject – I’ve moved beyond something, I now reject it, I hate it, I want to destroy it. But that’s where you recently were, and there are a whole lot of people who are still there.”Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, author of The Universal Christ We with so many others of various faith traditions and cultures are people of hope and eternal perspective. Of God (Divine LOVE) and Their active creating and making all things new, despite the brokenness and violence we all see or experience. We resist narcissistic patriarchs with lives of nonviolence and compassion, in a word—LOVE. As a result, staying Christian feels increasingly compromised, even dirty, a cover for siding with regressive attitudes and perpetuating systems of harm. But first he admits and chronicles the many reasons why it is very easy to leave. “Because Christianity Has Been Vicious to Its Mother (Anti-Semitism)” is chapter 1. “Because of Christianity’s Suppression of Dissent (Christian vs. Christian Violence)” is chapter 2. “Because of Christianity’s Real Master (Money)” is chapter 5. There are ten of these all total. I have no idea whether or not you should remain Christian. That is a conversation between you and God. But I do know that if you decide to stay, the next big step in your deconstruction journey just might be deciding what kind of Christian you hope to become. Or better yet, what kind of human you hope to become.