I am going to get back on my Old vs New Testament soapbox for this Sunday, but first I want to bring up some interesting statistics that I recently discovered.

For the first time since data has been taken, less than half of US citizens proclaim to belong to a religious congregation.

Of course, one of the primary reasons is likely MAGA/White Evangelicals. A big majority of younger generations are abandoning religion in all its forms. They see hypocrisy rather than love in today’s churches and find no place in their heart for it.

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White Evangelicals are doing so much damage to the name of Jesus that it just might not survive long-term. They have taken the Bible and it many vengeful Old Testaments quotes and turned their version of Christianity into a political cult.

Of course, Gene Robinson is not one of those. Instead, he is from the progressive wing of Christianity that is growing daily. I am finding that I am also in that group.

One of my main antagonists over the years at RJsCorner asked me where I can go to get away from white Evangelicals and Lazy minded/proudly ignorant people. She assumed that there was one place where all we “ultra progressives” congregate. I didn’t answer her on that post, but I will try to do so here.

Progressive Christians, who cling to the words of Jesus as our primary source of how to live on this earth, are not on a crusade to the promised land. We are in every part of the country. I will admit that I don’t particularly like the people in my county who voted 80% for a despicable narcissist and the same 80% who refuse the Covid-19 vaccine. But, if I just go to the next county over which is about 25 miles east those numbers reverse. So, my pilgrimage would be a short one indeed.

20+ years ago when we were looking for the “rest of our life” home, all the many folks giving advice of places to retire suggested a college town. We pretty much ignored that, to our own peril it seems, and chose a very rural low-income community instead. It so happens that the town 25 miles east is a college town.

I don’t want to close out this post with the feeling that I hate everyone in my county. That is far from the truth. There are a lot of folks who I get along with very well. I will miss them when I leave here.

If only we could get back to the “Love of Jesus” rather than the vengeance of the Old Testament, the world and even my county would be a much better place.