Given that about 22% of Americans are "spiritual but not religious", and the number is growing, structures are evolving to connect with such people. The number of debates on RF between atheists and conventional religious folk tend to follow a pattern of one or both sides taking scripture and applying it literally to prove their point. I prefer the approach that this story brings to light.
These spiritual communities discard doctrine, prefer questions over answers and have no intention of converting anybody to anything.
“We’re an ever-evolving spiritual collective,” the pastor, Cody Deese, said to those gathered in the dimly lit sanctuary on a rainy Sunday in early December. “If you’re a Christian, wonderful. If you’re post-Christian, wonderful.”
...While their Sunday morning gatherings retain the basic structure of many Christian services — music, teachings, fellowship — these collectives reject dogma, prefer questions over answers and have no intention of converting anybody to anything. Here, LGBTQ inclusion is not up for debate, people of all and no faiths are welcome and Jesus can be a savior, a radical rabbi or a metaphor, depending on your spiritual inclination.
...
“Our motto is ‘love, period,’” said Jake Haber, pastor of the Tucson, Arizona-based group. “We determine what these wisdom texts are saying through the lens of love, rather than determining what love means through the lens of a wisdom text.”
...
Vinings Lake, Heartway and Aldea espouse values over doctrine, including commitments to inclusion and diversity, enacting social justice, seeking wisdom from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, viewing Jesus as a model for spiritual living and honoring lived experience as sacred.
...
Church for ‘nones’: Meet the anti-dogma spiritual collectives emerging across the US
These spiritual communities discard doctrine, prefer questions over answers and have no intention of converting anybody to anything.
“We’re an ever-evolving spiritual collective,” the pastor, Cody Deese, said to those gathered in the dimly lit sanctuary on a rainy Sunday in early December. “If you’re a Christian, wonderful. If you’re post-Christian, wonderful.”
...While their Sunday morning gatherings retain the basic structure of many Christian services — music, teachings, fellowship — these collectives reject dogma, prefer questions over answers and have no intention of converting anybody to anything. Here, LGBTQ inclusion is not up for debate, people of all and no faiths are welcome and Jesus can be a savior, a radical rabbi or a metaphor, depending on your spiritual inclination.
...
“Our motto is ‘love, period,’” said Jake Haber, pastor of the Tucson, Arizona-based group. “We determine what these wisdom texts are saying through the lens of love, rather than determining what love means through the lens of a wisdom text.”
...
Vinings Lake, Heartway and Aldea espouse values over doctrine, including commitments to inclusion and diversity, enacting social justice, seeking wisdom from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, viewing Jesus as a model for spiritual living and honoring lived experience as sacred.
...