Posted on 07/26/2005 12:30:31 PM PDT by sionnsar
Contrasting his own sense of divine love with the ostensible "hate" of conservative Protestants and Catholics, Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong insisted, "I don't want to denigrate any human being."
But Spong lashed into traditional Christians in a scorching speech to Michael Lerner's Conference on Spiritual Activism on July 21 in Berkeley, California. He hailed Lerner as a "major force for peace in our nation and the world."
Hundreds at what Spong called a "consciousness-raising conference" cheered and applauded as he mocked traditional Christian and Jewish beliefs about God and the Bible.
"I rise up to say 'no' to popular religion in America today," Spong declared, calling American religiosity "tribal" and the "blessing of private prejudices."
Warning against this supposed "tribal" religion, Spong insinuated a connection between conservative Christians and Islamist terrorists. He noted, as if it were some kind of proof, that both Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush "invoke" God.
Spong, who is the retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, has long been a biting polemicist on behalf of liberal religion, writing books suggesting that the Virgin Mary was a prostitute and St. Paul a "self-hating gay man," while denying that Christ was divine and rejecting a personal God. "It's time to name evil as evil when sounded in pious accents of biblical religion," Spong declared blazingly. "In the 21st century ... my nation seems to be walking religiously back into religious attitudes that I spent a lifetime trying to escape."
Spong's Episcopal denomination is one of America's fastest declining. His own Newark diocese, during his 24 years as its bishop, lost 40 percent of its membership.
Growing churches in America and around the world are theologically orthodox, which disturbs Spong greatly.
"We have a pope who says [moral] relativity must be combatted," Spong lamented. "Protestant leaders say homosexuality is a sin. A cardinal denounces evolution." The bishop asked forlornly, "Is this what Christianity has become?"
Spong denounced the "narrow prejudice" of popular religion. "Is the current direction of Christianity in this country the right direction?" he asked. "Are we heading into phase two of a new dark age?"
Chastising a "male-dominated church" that attempts to "define women," Spong lambasted "post-menopausal" Catholic bishops who call God "Father" and tell women "what they can do with their bodies."
"Conservative Roman Catholicism and evangelical fundamentalists are growing," Spong noted with worry. His explanation of the trend was: "Hysterical people are seeking security."
Condemning popular religion that "masquerades as Christianity," Spong sneered that he did not want to walk into "what's called a Christian book store," listen to a "Christian" radio station or be "identified with the Christian vote," when these labels apply to people "bashing homosexuals" and "keeping women from choosing."
Spong fretted that the Bible in America has become a "force in public policy as an arbiter of right and wrong." Those who quote it make "fascinating points" and "assume the Bible is always right," he observed.
But the Bible has been a "major force in dark chapters of American history," Spong ominously warned. It has been used to support slavery, oppress women, and justify war, he charged. And now the Bible is being used to "make abortion illegal" and to "oppose end of life decisions," Spong complained. The Bible is even being used to justify the "preservation of living cadavers," he said, in an apparent reference to the case of severely disabled Terri Schiavo.
"Our breeding practices threaten us with environmental degradation," he further charged, in an apparent slam against Roman Catholics and others who take a positive view of childbearing inside marriage and a negative view of artificial contraception.
Spong reserved special venom for the American South, where he was raised as a "fundamentalist."
"What kind of Bible do they read in the Bible Belt?" Spong asked rhetorically. "Did they not practice slavery? Did they not allow lynchings?"
Saying that the South has more military schools than any other part of the United States, Spong further asked, "Is it not the most militaristic part of our nation?"
Spong also charged that the South is the most "homophobic" region of the country and that it executes more prisoners than all of the rest of the developed world combined.
Referring to the rise of religious conservatives based in the South, Spong claimed, to the audience's delight, "The old [segregationist] George Wallace vote simply applied perfume and call themselves the religious right."
"Does God empower us to hate others?" Spong asked, ostensibly aiming at religious conservatives who are "oblivious of biblical scholarship of the last 200 years."
The oldest part of the Bible is only 3,000 years old, Spong stated, while the Earth is 4 billion years old and humans may have existed for 2 million years.
"Is it possible that a 3,000-year-old book captures the truth of God for all time?" Spong sarcastically asked. In fact, he said, the Bible "assumes as truth the limited knowledge that people had in that period of history."
Dismissing orthodox Christians as credulously simplistic, Spong claimed that beliefs about God descending onto Mount Sinai or Jesus ascending into Heaven were based on archaic assumptions of a "three-tiered universe" that placed God and Heaven right above the clouds.
Even if Jesus were ascending at the speed of light, he still would not have yet left our galaxy after 2,000 years, Spong chuckled, crediting this clever observation to the late astronomer Carl Sagan.
The Bible calls the Hebrews the "chosen people," Spong mockingly recalled. "If God has chosen people, then he also has unchosen people," Spong warned.
"Have you read the Bible from the Egyptian standpoint?" Spong asked to laughter, pointing out that God did not treat the Egyptians kindly in the Book of Exodus.
Referring to the Bible as a "book we have called the Word of God," Spong charged that it justified genocide and treated women as property. The Old Testament urges capital punishment for a whole range of sinful offenses, including adultery, he mischievously noted. "How many of you would be alive?" he smilingly asked.
"If you take the Bible literally, there'd hardly be anybody alive," Spong observed dismissively.
But biblical literalism is on the march, Spong worried. "In our nation there is a religious mentality that would lead us to the past of tribal warfare," he warned. "This is too small a God for our expanding world and consciousness."
"The God we serve is greater than any of our religious traditions," Spong told the approving audience, which gave him an enthusiastic standing ovation.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. WARNING: Do not stand next to this individual during a thunderstorm.
What a disgusting individual.
Can't you just feel the love. Hate and intolerance, thy name is Spong!
But the Bible has been a "major force in dark chapters of American history," Spong ominously warned. It has been used to support slavery, oppress women, and justify war, he charged. And now the Bible is being used to "make abortion illegal"
Once again, it's all about murdering babies.
In other words Bishop Spong pulled his deeply-held spiritual beliefs out of his rear end.
Boy, does this sound familiar.
Thanks, Mr. Goebbels.
The most amusing thing about this disgusting individual is that he considers himself a scholar.
Now there are anti-Christian leftists who are Scripture scholars - Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza is a prime example of a socialist whackjob, but her research articles are fairly rigorous in their methodology and are widely cited by other professional scholars.
Spong has absolutely no scholarly reputation.
I haven't heard from Ding Dong Spong in a while. I wondered if he was still alive and breathing. Apparently he is and doing a little more than that. Could someone give a big ol' pacifier with crazy glue all over the nipple.
Or any other time...
It's got a better shot than a 60-year-old dimwit.
I double dog dare JSS to dare set his foot down South and repeat those nasty insults. Doesn't anyone have the guts to ask him why his own diocese shrunk by almost half during his tenure? Newark isn't exactly well known for its fundamentalist population.
Bishop Spongebrain and his Episco-Baalian followers are going to hell.
I can't imagine why.
I stopped reading at this point. I'm sure I'm not alone.
The question here is not why Spong believes this heresy and blasphemy. Apostasy and lack of faith are as old as salvation history, after all.
The real question here, is how a man who holds these views rises to a position of spiritual leadership in a supposedly Christian church. This pile of detritus reflects more on the organization in which he somehow managed to exercise authority, than it does on him.
It's one thing to be a Marxist-Bolshevik collectivist. But if that Marxist becomes chairman of the GOP, one is lead to draw certain conclusions about that organization and its likelihood of survival.
"Except for those subhuman, nosepicking neanderthals who are my opponents. They don't count as human beings."
Hundreds at what Spong called a "consciousness-raising conference" cheered and applauded as he mocked traditional Christian and Jewish beliefs about God and the Bible.
Now, now. Jewish fundamentalism is all right, since it's the belief of a quaint culture and also serves as a barometer for the secularity of society. But you and Ramsey Clark may have changed that.
Warning against this supposed "tribal" religion, Spong insinuated a connection between conservative Christians and Islamist terrorists.
There you go again! Don't you know that moslems are a quaint non-western culture and not subject to judgments of any kind? How dare you! What are you, a rightwinger???
He noted, as if it were some kind of proof, that both Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush "invoke" God.
So who is the bishop invoking? He's speaking as a bishop, isn't he?
Spong, who is the retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, has long been a biting polemicist on behalf of liberal religion, writing books suggesting that the Virgin Mary was a prostitute and St. Paul a "self-hating gay man," while denying that Christ was divine and rejecting a personal God. "It's time to name evil as evil when sounded in pious accents of biblical religion,"
Gotta love them non-Theistically based moralists! What makes them think that "evil" has any definition apart from the decrees of the personal G-d he rejects?
Spong's Episcopal denomination is one of America's fastest declining. His own Newark diocese, during his 24 years as its bishop, lost 40 percent of its membership.
No!
"We have a pope who says [moral] relativity must be combatted," Spong lamented. "Protestant leaders say homosexuality is a sin. A cardinal denounces evolution." The bishop asked forlornly, "Is this what Christianity has become?"
Whatcha gonna do when history starts "running backwards" and the Omega Point turns out to be the Alpha Point?
Condemning popular religion that "masquerades as Christianity," Spong sneered that he did not want to walk into "what's called a Christian book store," listen to a "Christian" radio station or be "identified with the Christian vote," when these labels apply to people "bashing homosexuals" and "keeping women from choosing."
Why should seat belts be optional only for women?
Spong fretted that the Bible in America has become a "force in public policy as an arbiter of right and wrong." Those who quote it make "fascinating points" and "assume the Bible is always right," he observed.
I bet John Brown is spinning in his grave.
Spong reserved special venom for the American South, where he was raised as a "fundamentalist."
Ah. So that explains it.
"What kind of Bible do they read in the Bible Belt?" Spong asked rhetorically. "Did they not practice slavery? Did they not allow lynchings?"
Actually, the perpetrators and victims in those cases read the exact same Bible and interpreted it in the exact same literal way (still do). So, really, how come anti-racist liberals and Fundamentalist Blacks never notice each other? Do they live in separate dimensions or something? Or is it another one of those "they're so quaint!" cultural things?
Referring to the rise of religious conservatives based in the South, Spong claimed, to the audience's delight, "The old [segregationist] George Wallace vote simply applied perfume and call themselves the religious right."
"Remember: only monogenism can prevent race-mixin'!"
Even if Jesus were ascending at the speed of light, he still would not have yet left our galaxy after 2,000 years, Spong chuckled, crediting this clever observation to the late astronomer Carl Sagan.
The hell . . . ?
The Bible calls the Hebrews the "chosen people," Spong mockingly recalled. "If God has chosen people, then he also has unchosen people," Spong warned.
C'mon, Spongy. Dig a little deeper. Now, lie down in your grave. That's a good boy!
"Have you read the Bible from the Egyptian standpoint?" Spong asked to laughter, pointing out that God did not treat the Egyptians kindly in the Book of Exodus.
Have you ever read a history of World War II from the Nazi standpoint, Johnny boy?
Referring to the Bible as a "book we have called the Word of God," Spong charged that it justified genocide and treated women as property. The Old Testament urges capital punishment for a whole range of sinful offenses, including adultery, he mischievously noted. "How many of you would be alive?" he smilingly asked.
The Sanhedrion's lookin' better all the time!
"If you take the Bible literally, there'd hardly be anybody alive," Spong observed dismissively.
That's funny . . . I interpret the Bible literally, and there's still plenty of people alive, last I checked.
But biblical literalism is on the march, Spong worried. "In our nation there is a religious mentality that would lead us to the past of tribal warfare," he warned. "This is too small a God for our expanding world and consciousness."
Spong then announced his conversion to the Australian aboriginal religion, noting it is far superior to primitive and tribal religions like Judaism and chr*stianity.
"The God we serve is greater than any of our religious traditions," Spong told the approving audience, which gave him an enthusiastic standing ovation.
Well, that takes care of his problem with numbers. Now he just has to get all these people to move to New Jersey.
Seriously, I'm a bit confused about one thing. Spong used to be an unapologetic advocate of western science and rationalism and criticized African Catholic Bishops for their primitive beliefs. Now he sounds like he's joining the bizarre club that uses science to bash the Biblical G-d and then goes into new age drumming and "indigenous" worship. Oh well. I guess he's EVOLVING!!! Get it? Evolving!!! HA! HA! HA!
Oh. Well, I guess you had to be there!
Well, those neanderthal, Bible-banging Southern whites wouldn't like him, but I'm sure the Black Southerners he loves so much would welcome him with open arms--what with their long history of rigorous left wing intellectualism, gay marriage, sermons based on Origin of the Species, and all.
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