What to Do about Church?
Doubter’s Parish readers discuss their relationship with institutional religion.
Entries by Martin Thielen
Book Review of Brian McLaren’s “Do I Stay Christian”
In his provocative new book, Brian McClaren offers ten reasons to abandon Christianity—and ten reasons to stay.
Orthodox No Longer
Whatever you may think about nontraditional believers, their numbers are rapidly growing, their views are taking hold among a large swath of people, and they are not going away.
Vampire Theology
The characters of Netflix’s “Midnight Mass” miniseries creatively represent at least four different types of religion that can be found in contemporary America.
The Night I Stopped Believing in Substitutionary Blood Atonement
It’s theologically offensive in the modern era to think God required a bloody sacrifice of his Son in order to forgive humanity.
Where is the Joy?
We have a huge deficit of joy these days. We need to reclaim it.
Pandemic Pastors
One pastor told me, “No matter what I do about COVID protocols, I get attacked. I’m exhausted to the bone.”
What Matters More—Belief or Behavior?
It may startle you, but throughout the Bible, God seems surprisingly disinterested in doctrinal beliefs.
Leaving Church?
Legions of people are disgusted with the sorry state of institutional religion in twenty-first century America—for many good reasons.
Christmas at First Church
I’d like to share one of my favorite Christmas stories. It’s about a United Methodist Church in North Carolina who initiated a wintertime homeless ministry.