An atheist pastor

[Lidless]

If you, play for Manchester United, you wear a red shirt and pass to your own players. You don't go on the pitch in your own colours and pass the ball to anyone. If you do, you're not a Man U player.

Ditto here. As mentioned above, there are some fundamental tenets to any faith, and this pastor does not hold to one of them. A Protestant, no. A Christian, no. A religious person, no. A spiritual person, certainly.

Why he's still on the Protestant roster is beyond me. He should be playing for the Red Sox, not the Reds.

[Pearly Di]

Why he's still on the Protestant roster is beyond me. He should be playing for the Red Sox, not the Reds.

What Liddy said.

If you go to a mosque, or a synagogue, or a Hindu temple ... well, you kind of know what to expect. And if you go to an orthodox/mainstream/whatever-you-want-to-call-it Christian church, you can expect to hear something ... explicitly Christian.

Which is why an 'atheist' pastor is a complete contradiction in terms to me.

Obviously the guy can believe and preach what he likes. I just don't see why he should be drawing a salary for it, especially from a more conservative branch of Christianity.

On Easter Sunday I wanted a proper Easter Communion so I went to the nearest church nearest my mum's house. Which was a beautiful and ancient Norman parish church. The service was more traditional than my usual tastes (Anglicans are very English and restrained ) but I really appreciated the lovely symbolism, like the Paschal candle, and the lovely music by the choir and most of all I appreciated the clear, confident Christian message from the splendid lady vicar.

If this woman had given a spiel about how she didn't quite know what God was or who s/he/it was and god was just a concept anyway ... I'd have walked out feeling thoroughly cheated and sad and, yes, disgusted.

There is a big difference between being allowed a creative space to express doubt -- all thinking believers experience doubt, IMO -- and turning agnosticism into a full-blown profession. OK, there may be a place for that. Sure. Just not within a church purporting to call itself Christian. IMO.

And I think that the church can engage creatively with people on the fringe. In fact, I think it should.

But I am not down with the church watering down the core message. If I weren't a Christian, I'd feel like saying to another Christian: "If you're not sure of what you believe, then ... why bother?"

[MithLuin]

I think that a Christian pastor could very easily preach about how we need to look out for each other, help our brothers and sisters, and that by loving others, we will bring about the kingdom of God.

Quite likely, this Dutch pastor could give a very similar sermon.

That doesn't make him Christian, nor does it mean that what he is preaching should be labeled Christianity. Not everyone values orthodoxy and belief as the most important attribute of pastors, but certainly it makes the list of expectations. You want your IT person to know something about computers.... I haven't read the Left Behind books, but if I recall, the basic premise is that one of the characters is a pastor...who is still there post-rapture. Thus, he didn't really believe in God, etc. This man won't have been the first Christian pastor who was more than a bit off-base in his understanding of the Godhead...but I can understand why some of his parishioners are upset.

I think there is a difference between making God in our image (he's just like us, but...moreso!) and believing that we are made in God's image. The former gives you the pantheons of the Greeks and Romans (and others), while the latter...leaves room for the concept of holiness.

[Frelga]

I think there is a difference between making God in our image (he's just like us, but...moreso!) and believing that we are made in God's image. The former gives you the pantheons of the Greeks and Romans (and others), while the latter...leaves room for the concept of holiness.