It's Holy Week, so that means I'm going to hear a number of pastors use their blog space to talk about how they don't buy atonement. They don't believe that Jesus died for our sins, they don't like using the cross which is considered a symbol of violence, they don't like the focus on blood, and the list goes on.
I don’t know when it happened, but at some point it became fashionable among both secular and religious progressives to bash the Catholic Church for basically everything under the sun. Since the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, I’ve heard a number of slams against the church including that it is old-fashioned, sexist, homophobic and the like. What is surprising and somewhat disturbing is how easily some progressive Christians have joined in the Catholic-bashing. Posts by Tim Suttle, Tony Jones and David Hayward are just some of the negative reactions that I’ve seen from progressive folk on Facebook and the blogs. People who usually get upset when people speak ill of gays or Muslims have no problem saying all sorts of nasty things against Catholics.
Now, part of this bashing is understandable. The child sex abuse scandal which has rocked the worldwide church has basically tarnished it’s reputation. I also wish the Catholic leadership were more willing to bend when it comes to same-sex marriage. But what bothers me is how we tend to miss the nuance of the Catholicism. People who are so quick to judge others for being too black and white and ready to tar the Roman church without a hint of shame.
Even though I am an openly gay man, I still have soft spot for the Catholics- the result of knowing so many of them.
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Ever since it appeared a few weeks ago, I’ve been thinking about John Vest’s blog post called “The Vine is Dying.” The Presbyterian pastor from Chicago has been involved in finding ways to help the Presbyterian Church (USA) rebound after decades of decline and his February 27 post was one borne of frustration with the church he loves:
