my church QUOTES

1 " I'm surprisingly unconcerned with what people in my church believe. Belief is going to be influenced by all sorts of things that I have nothing to do with, so I don't feel responsible for that. I'm responsible for what they hear — and hearing the gospel, the good news about who God is, slowly forms us over time. "

― Nadia Bolz-Weber , Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People

2 " Seeing myself or my church or my denomination as " the blessing" — like so many mission trips to help " those less fortunate than ourselves" — can easily descend into a blend of benevolence and paternalism. We can start to see the " poor" as supporting characters in a big story about how noble, selfless, and helpful we are. "

3 " Over the years, my church gave me passage into a menagerie of exotic words unknown in the South: " introit," " offertory," " liturgy," " movable feast," " the minor elevation," " the lavabo," " the apparition of Lourdes," and hundreds more. Latin deposited the dark minerals of its rhythms on the shelves of my spoken language. You may find the harmonics of the Common of the Mass in every book I've ever written. Because I was raised Roman Catholic, I never feared taking any unchaperoned walks through the fields of language. Words lifted me up and filled me with pleasure. "

4 " there is a widespread notion in some of the most energetic contemporary Christian movements that the biblical call to reconciliation is solely about reconciling God and humanity, with no reference to social realities. In this view, preaching, teaching, church life and mission are only about a personal relationship between people and God. Christian energy is focused on winning converts, planting and growing churches, and evangelistic efforts. We have heard pastors say, “We appreciate the work you’re doing, but as the leader of my church I’m called to stay focused on the gospel and not get distracted by other ministries.” For them, Christianity is exclusively about personal piety and morals. "

― Emmanuel M. Katongole , Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing

5 " Government should not be involved in marriage at all, I believe. There’s no reason for it. I don’t get the value of my marriage government, I get it from God. I want the government out of my life. If you want to find a church that marries a gay couple, that’s totally fine. My church does not do that and it will fundamentally change what i believe is the eternal family, the basic building block. And I have a right to believe that, and I have a right to go to a church that believes that and we have a right to practice. As long as I’m not trying to force you to do anything. "

― Glenn Beck

6 " Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns in to universal, rather than religion-specific, values... it requires that their proposals be subject to argument and amenable to reason.

Now I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, to take one example, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all. "

― Barack Obama

7 " As a teenager, I began to question the Great Christian Sorting System. My gay friends in high school were kind and funny and loved me, so I suspected that my church had placed them in the wrong category... Injustices in the world needed to be addressed and not ignored. Christians weren't good; people who fought for peace and justice were good. I had been lied to, and in my anger at being lied to about the containers, I left the church. But it turns out, I hadn't actually escaped the sorting system. I had just changed the labels. "

― Nadia Bolz-Weber , Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner Saint

8 " Satanism is developing two circles, an elitist group which I always intended my church to be, and the faddists who are becoming Satanists because it’s the thing to do. "

― , The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton LaVey

9 " I built my church on Easter services, Christmas Eve services, and Norman Vincent Peale. "