My Answers to the Questions of Ordination
Yesterday was a big day. I met with the Toronto Conference Ministry Personnel Committee. Well, they were actually members of the Toronto Conference Interview Committee which normally interviews candidates for the ministry, but that committee had been seconded to act as the committee that would hear my beliefs and decide whether or not they constituted […]
Bangladesh
It is no secret that I first identified as an atheist in 2013 because of the arrest and threatened execution of four Bangladeshi bloggers following the brutal murder of Rajib Haider that February. My theological beliefs had long since morphed my understanding of God from a supernatural being who could intervene in the natural world […]
Half the World
West Hill was privileged to host a fundraiser this past weekend to raise money for Bangladeshi asylum seekers. The situation in Bangladesh is terrifying for secular authors and bloggers who each risk a brutal death whenever they are in public. Some have fled the country, others remain hidden. If you’d like to make a donation […]
Here All Belong
It has been months since I wrote new words to a well-loved tune but yesterday morning, three hours before the service started at West Hill United, I felt inspired to do so. It is the first song I’ve been able to write since the review of my effectiveness was initiated by The United Church of […]
Revisioning the Bible
A project based on the Bible For over a year now, I’ve been working on a project that has me reading the Bible on a weekly basis. I had to take a break for several months to deal with The United Church of Canada‘s review of my effectiveness simply because I could not write during the first many […]
How many atheists?
I received the following query from Richard Bott, a colleague in The United Church of Canada. Richard is exploring the question of how many clergy in the UCC may be atheists and invited me to share whatever knowledge I had. My response is also posted below. Please feel free to share your thoughts on these […]
Looking for a church like West Hill?
Let’s build a list for people looking for a church like West Hill. In the aftermath of my interview with Wendy Mesley, I wanted to make sure that anyone who checked out my page looking for a congregation in their area might learn about some places they may feel welcome. This post is to make sure […]
Torching the Bridge
Are we programmed to hang on when we should be letting go? [Tweet “Whatever life takes away from you, let it go. Miguel Ruiz”] I was on Goodreads, scanning for some quotes to use in two upcoming funerals and clicked that I liked this one by Miguel Ruiz. I had just copied a quote by Kate […]
Sanctioned: The Episcopal Church
Twenty-eight years ago, I was in my first year of theological education at Queen’s. It was a vibrant time in The United Church of Canada whose General Council – the highest court of the church – was meeting that summer. The conversation was all about the ordination of gays and lesbians, as we then referred to […]
Getting Your Religion at the Gym?
For many, something other than religion meets the definition of religion It’s true. Fewer and fewer people in North America are heading to church on Sunday morning. Religion, well, its Christian iteration, is on the wane. But for hundreds of thousands of those who avoid church, alternate sources of inspiration, engagement, community, and well-being exist. We […]
You want dialogue? We’re happy to oblige.
I have not been able to blog much recently and apologize for that. It has been a hectic two months. It began early in August with Colin Perkel’s breaking of the story of Toronto Conference’s review of the effectiveness of my ministry, then moved into a hectic September as we prepared documents to file alongside […]
“Call your church back from this precipice.”
An open letter to the Moderator of the United Church from Bishop John Shelby Spong Dear Moderator Cantwell, I write with some alarm at what is happening in the United Church of Canada, a church that I have long admired. I recall your history. Your church decided that women were not to be excluded from […]
Do you really want to risk that?
A letter to United Church of Canada elected officials and senior staff from Ben Robertson, Windsor, NS To paraphrase Blaise Pascal, I apologize for writing such a long letter; I didn’t have time to write a shorter one. As a member of the United Church of Canada, I am writing to express my deep […]
Visionary Support …
… and how you can get involved It has been a challenging few months since Toronto Conference of the United Church ordered that I be reviewed due to concerns over the effectiveness of my ministry. But I have been uplifted by the wonderful support I’ve received and I wanted to share some of that with you and […]
Alien Invasion
Nones Emerge as Major Religious Category “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed . . . Wait a minute! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . are they eyes? […]
Denmark Bans Ritual Animal Slaughter | TIME
“Animal rights come before religion” As the world’s anger rages in response to the senseless (and illegal) killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe by American dentist Walter James Palmer, an avid trophy hunter, Denmark takes a provocative step toward limiting religious freedoms and preventing what it terms animal cruelty. Jewish and Muslim leaders have […]
A Progressive Path
I was delighted to see that Clair Woodbury referred to the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity’s points in his article in the Edmonton Journal today, Christianity for the Questioning Generation. Clair undertook to write a response to his granddaughter’s request for a brief outline of Christianity that she could share in her pluralistic school. It took him […]
When Girls Are Finally Seen
Often statistics and media coverage of current events continue to mirror the decades-old assumption that “men” means everybody. Rather than exploring the distinctions between how a system responds to women and girls and how it responds to men and boys, the reflections and projections are simply presented and the lack of clarity continues without anyone […]
What God is Supposed to be Saying
This and That It’s a confusing world out there if you’re attempting to discern what a supernatural, divine being is trying to do and say in this world. Between, on the one hand, the millions of Seventh Day Adventists meeting to argue over whether the Bible permits or disallows the ordination of women, and, on the […]
Witchcraft and Sorcery
We thought it would be hard not to become immobilized by fear as the acts of terror associated with religious extremism spurred on by anti-imperialist sentiment began to scroll through our Twitter and Facebook feeds and captivate our shuddering attention with alarming regularity. And yet, for many of us, as the news of beheadings slips closer and closer to […]