This may seem like an odd title to work with. For folks outside of the church, it may be a given that to be a Christian is to be a theist, one who believes in God. For progressives in the church, we know and welcome many people who are agnostic about such questions, including in the pulpit. For the right, it will seem to be the inevitable results of welcoming doubt into the church, that to question one thing means to question everything. I hope they are right of course. I think any attempts to limit questions is a threat against the life of the mind.
I should note that I believe God can be identified with all that makes for life, for love, for the good in life, and for transformation. God is the term we use to describe the growth and the development of personality and individuality. God is as Mordechai Kaplan writes “the power that makes for salvation”. As such, God is very much related to us, regardless of our beliefs. This post is not focused on God’s relation to us but our relation to beliefs about God and what that can mean for progressive Christians.
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