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... Imagine what would have happened if, in the midst of America’s emergence as the world’s sole superpower, a leader said of those third world countries alarmed by American expansionism that they should submit to American ideals since they have “yet to face the intellectual revolution of Copernicus and Einstein that we’ve had to face in the developing world.” What if an American, particularly an American bishop of one of the wealthiest Christian denominations on the planet, spoke so dismissively of Africa, Nepal, Tibet? Would anyone care?Well they should care, for what we are currently facing is a leftist neo-colonialism...

And now the church has an openly gay bishop, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. He is the first honest gay bishop. We’ve had gay bishops and priests for years. Do you honestly see this acceptance of gay bishops as an inevitable development in the life of the church? Yes. I grew up as a racist in a segregated world (in Charlotte, N.C.). Over time, my mother changed — but not a lot. I changed more because I had more opportunities. I grew up looking forward to having a wife who was a servant, and then I...

And if Christianity doesn't adapt, Bishop Spong says, it will die. "As people change, liturgy has to change. I don't know why that's so difficult to understand," he told more than 200 people at the Church of St. John the Evangelist on Elgin Street yesterday, the first of a two-day conference organized by the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity, with the theme Religionless Christianity. ...[snip]The Christian calendar is full of stories and observances that are drawn not from historical occurrences, but absorbed instead from Jewish traditions, Bishop Spong said. Palm Sunday can be traced to the lulav, a bundle of...

Spong's lifelong quest to wrest himself from what he has called his fundamentalist evangelical North Carolina upbringing to understanding God in a radically different way is the subject of a sympathetic new drama, "A Pebble In My Shoe." The bishop plans to be at Sunday's 5:15 p.m. premiere at the Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 S. Spring St. After the 90-minute performance, Spong will be honored at a reception. He also will sign his latest book, "The Sins of Scripture." Other performances are scheduled for Oct. 15,16, 22 and 23. Written and directed by Cox, the play is based on...

Time hasn't mellowed John Shelby Spong. Quite the contrary. Now 74, the famously provocative and liberal Episcopal bishop from North Jersey has become one of America's most outspoken critics of the powerful Christian Right. "I really resent having the Christian faith being taken over by people who identify with hating gay people and abortion rights," Spong said in an interview. "The public face of Christianity is being shaped by Pope Benedict XVI, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell." Spong led the seven-county Diocese of Newark for 24 stormy years before retiring in 2000. He still lives in North Jersey, in a...

Jeff Seifert from Seattle, Washington, writes: How do I communicate with someone who only responds with biblical quotations? Robert from Denver, Colorado, writes: How do I keep my head in a place of peace when people try to push their religious views on me? Dear Jeff and Robert, Your questions are not essentially different so I ask your indulgence to address them together. Hostile behavior never has to be tolerated even if it is done in the name of religion. If you ask for dialogue with one who believes you are lost and in need of salvation that only they...

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...

Time hasn't mellowed John Shelby Spong. Quite the contrary.Now 74, the famously provocative and liberal Episcopal bishop from North Jersey has become one of America's most outspoken critics of the powerful Christian Right. "I really resent having the Christian faith being taken over by people who identify with hating gay people and abortion rights," Spong said in an interview. "The public face of Christianity is being shaped by Pope Benedict XVI, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell."Spong led the seven-county Diocese of Newark for 24 stormy years before retiring in 2000. He still lives in North Jersey, in a secluded Morris...

In his article "Political pulpit – The Bible as weapon in the culture war," John Shelby Spong is critical of those Christians who are trying to influence government according to their convictions (Perspective, May 15). Spong writes, "When leaders seek to intimidate the presumably independent courts, the first step toward totalitarian government has been taken," and then he reiterates the charge that conservative Christians "seek to impose their religious agenda on the whole body politic." What Spong fails to point out is that the liberal left also seeks to impose its agenda on the rest of us. The three examples...

'I Am a Mystic' 'I never doubt,' says Bishop Spong. 'It's not that I'm getting older and cramming for finals. It's that God becomes more real.' Interview by Deborah Caldwell John Shelby Spong was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, N.J., for 20 years before his retirement in 2000. Widely admired (and often scorned), Spong is a leader of the worldwide liberal Christianity movement. He has taught at Harvard, the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., and has lectured in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. He is the author of 15 books, including his latest, The Sins of...

May 15, 2005 Liberal Bible-Thumping By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Even aside from his arguments that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and that St. Paul was a self-hating gay, the new book by a former Episcopal bishop of Newark is explosive.John Shelby Spong, the former bishop, tosses a hand grenade into the cultural wars with "The Sins of Scripture," which examines why the Bible - for all its message of love and charity - has often been used through history to oppose democracy and women's rights, to justify slavery and even mass murder.It's a provocative question, and Bishop Spong...

O'Reilly has written a dustjacket blurb for Bishop Spong's new book: "The Sins of Scripture challenges Christians to look beyond the myths of their faith into the heart of the matter." I also got an email from a Spong-promoting outfit that says O'Reilly will have Spong on his show. Here's the Publishers Weekly review on amazon: Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop and prominent spokesperson for liberal Christianity, focuses this book on "terrible texts" which have been used to justify such "sins" as overbreeding, degradation of the environment, sexism, child abuse and anti-Semitism. These biblical texts, according to Spong, are not...

MUST CHRISTIANITY CHANGE OR DIE? A RESPONSE TO BISHOP SPONG BY THE REV. LEANDER S. HARDING, PH.D. The first of Bishop Spong’s Theses that we will take up is thesis number 1: Theism, as a way of defining God is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found. Theism is the belief that there is a God who is distinct from and not dependent on the cosmos. Christian Theism is the belief that this God has revealed himself in creation and history and perfectly in the life, death and resurrection...

The feeling is quite surreal. It is like being carried inexorably against your will. It elicits a sense of powerlessness. I search to find the words to utter a protest. They do not come easily. That is what I am experiencing as I watch my nation rush headlong toward war. My “disease” does not arise from a favorable view of Iraq. I am not unaware of the criminal behavior of Saddam Hussein. It comes, rather, from my great love for America and the ideals that I associate with this nation. So I have to state that none of the arguments...