The Gospel of Inclusion
This is the book by Bishop Carlton Pearson who was, originally, an evangelist type of preacher, going along with the hellfire-if-you're-not-perfect type of philosophy held by so many of the Christian right. Then he had a revelation and realized that, in his words, everyone had already been saved by Christ, and there was no hell and no need to always emphasize the worst in humans.
Rather, he believes in expanding Christian spirituality (not religion) to include everyone, including gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, and other people left aside by traditional Christianity.
He paid a severe price for that, though, as his fellow Christian rightists threw him “under the bus,” so to speak. Still, he managed to recover through the help of some unexpected supporters, and he's now trying to preach this more people-friendly spirituality.
Much of what he says causes the Christian right to react extremely harshly.
“We do not need to be saved from God; we need to be saved from religion. We need to be saved from perceptions of God that portray Him as an angry deity with a customized torture chamber called hell.”
“In an effort to placate this angry God, we have created doctrines, dogmas, and disciplines that have contributed to the global conflicts that prevent world peace.”
“The authoritarian dynamics of today's religious sects are an obscene parody of Jesus speaking to and leading his disciples.”
“...religion has become an armed front with two factions facing off: 'we,' the true believers, and 'they,' everone else...This lends 'we' a sense of superiority, but also populates the world with enemies and casts believers as self-appointed soldiers in the army of the Lord. Under such influence, people will and do slander, attack, abuse, and kill in the name of whatever image of God their particular religion has.”
“The Pharisees were ethnic and religious separatists hwo, as a rule, did not congregate with anyone who was unlike themselves. IN many ways, modern Evangelical Christianity has become extremely Pharasic.”
“God is greater than any philosophical or religious concept or construct. Infinity cannot be constrained to religion.”
“The most ghastly irony in Christianity today is the preponderance of leaders who espouse hatred, prejudice, terrorism, arrogance, ignorance, and oppression while claiming all the while to be true followers of Jesus.”
“The devil is not an equal rival to God. The devil is something else entirely. The devil is legalism and stagnation; the concept that one must seek forgiveness from God through obedience and the practices of the various laws of religion. But if God, as Scripture declares, loves us with an everlasting love, then we don't need forgiveness, because God does not hold grudges and is larger than offense, anger, or hurt.”
“Religion constantly reminds us that we are not good enough.”
“The concept of an eternal hell requires that God not be benevolent and loving but eternally spiteful, sorrowful, and utterly bereft of mercy forever. He would have to be a monstrous, amoral God without conscience or compassion.”
“Faith is the anticipation of the existence of God and His blessing. Religion is the quest to systematize that feeling, to organize it under rules and laws.”
“What gives the merchants of hate more right to speak for God than anyone else?”
“Religion wants to control both the worshiped and the worshiper. IT seeks to manipulate the faith and the faithful in order to secure significance and control. Man knows that he cannot control God, but he cancontrol religion, because he invented it, and he knows that by doing so he can influence the emotions and minds of those who either bleieve or date not admit their disbelief.”
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