Welcome

Welcome. Come meet at the Bellefonte Cafe on August 21 at 7:00 p. m.

I have to admit to being a little nervous, but looking forward to seeing what happens then,

As I see it, the point of this thing is give persons of a reality-based persuasion a chance to look at issues from a perspective informed by faith without anyone's giving them funny looks because they profess a faith--and to allow those who may not have a religious perspective to participate in the discussion without penalty.

Here's a little about how I ended up hosting a chapter here at Praying Liberally.

I was raised a Southern Baptist. Now, the Southern Baptist Convention that I was raised in was far different from the Southern Baptist Convention of today. Yes, Baptists were by and large politically conservative, but Baptists had not come to see imposing their political beliefs on others as part of their mission, at least not back then.

Indeed, the Baptists, in particular, were distinguished from other Protestant denominations by three characteristics: Beliefs in

1. Priesthood of the believer so extreme that the hierarchy could not--still cannot--dictate to the local church and the church cannot dictate to the congregant.
2. Freedom of speech, and
3. Freedom of religion in public life.

The behavior of the Southern Baptist Convention today seems to have lost touch with those roots.

Furthermore, the conduct of the religious right has, in many ways, discredited believers of other political leanings. I have found it in my own experiences at my local Drinking Liberally chapter. I once started to tell a story with the words, "I was talking to my pastor . . . ." and someone stopped me with this surprised-sounding question:

"You have a pastor?"

And that is one of several similar experiences.

As if the idea that one could vote and believe progressively while also attending services.

At about the same time, I was discussing the matter of prejudice against Christians with a somewhat more conservative, both religiously and politically, friend of mine. (What he considered prejudice against Christians in the quotation in question I considered justifiable lampooning of pompous, preening, self-important hypocrites--but that's another story).

And I realized that is indeed a sort of prejudice against Christians, and, to a larger extent, religious persons of all stripes, in certain parts of the liberal community.

It is, sadly, a prejudice based on experience: those who strut their "Christianity" upon the public stage too often do so in the name of injustice, intolerance, war, and contributions. They have stolen the stage.

At about the same time, I stumbled on Seth Pearce's post about Praying Liberally.

And here I am, wondering what next Thursday will bring.