I didn't choose to be white, I didn't choose to be male, I didn't choose to be heterosexual, I didn't choose to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Plenty of people out there think of me as the Antichrist or the devil incarnate because I do not affirm the literal… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I'm not writing for fundamentalists. I'm writing for the people who have been repelled by that kind of thinking and yet who… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Many of the characters who appear in the pages of the Fourth Gospel are literary creations of its author and were never… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. I might define God quite differently from… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
If you begin to give people hope that there is a brighter future, there is a new tomorrow, then the people who… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I believe that is what the God experience does for us. It calls us beyond our limits into the fullness of life… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The audience that I try to reach are members of what I call the church alumni association. Now they are people who… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Human beings are hardwired by however many millions or billions of years to orient toward their own survival. That's why we're tribal… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Anybody who's a mythology ... there's always a fear. That's why we don't like people whose skin color is different, whose eye… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
A major function of fundamentalist religion is to bolster deeply insecure and fearful people. This is done by justifying a way of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
My audience is made up of two groups of people. The first group includes people whose roots are deep in the Christian… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
There's one other interesting thing about Western democracy. It didn't arrive at the end point that Karl Marx thought it would that… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
In my book, The Sins of Scripture, I traced the development of tribal religion, which included ideas like God's killing the Egyptians… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
In supporting argument for segregation, Paul [the apostol] addresses the people in his epistle to the Colossians, and he tells them how… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The trouble with Christianity was that by about 150, there were hardly any Jews left in the Christian church, and so from… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think human beings are almost, by definition, religious people,in the sense that we ask questions of meaning, we anticipate future events,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think Jesus is a fact of history. I think a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived and was crucified. I think… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Sins of Scripture is an interesting title; most people don't put sins and scripture together in the same title. It jars people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
“When a human life is open to all that humanity can be, humanity and divinity flow together as one. It was and is a… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old idea of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Bible interprets life from its particular perspective; it does not record in a factual way the human journey through history. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I want the traditional family upheld, but I don't want it upheld to the detriment of other people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
We live in a very pluralistic society today. There are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Christians like me. There are… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Bible was written between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago, and it's filled with the knowledge that people had in that period of time,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
We are in a survival mentality, and that's hard-wired into our humanity, because we are the winners of an evolutionary struggle of millions and… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
Some people think prayer stops bullets or rockets or land mines. It doesn't. That's magic, that's not God. Sometimes, you're just in the wrong… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Hebrew scriptures say it's okay to enslave anybody except your fellow Jews. It says you should enslave only your neighbors. I say to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I know Jerry [Falwell] fairly well, and he's probably not bright enough to recognize all of the implications of what he said. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
Benedict XVI kept saying that homosexuals are deviant. They're not deviant. They're deviant only if you say that anyone who is different from me… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I find it fascinating that Paul [the apostol], writing to the Galatians, responds to the question, "What does it mean to live in Christ?"… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
![“In supporting argument for segregation, Paul [the apostol] addresses the people in his epistle to the Colossians, and he tells them how to treat their slaves. "Slaves, obey your masters. Masters, be kind to yourslaves." Paul was in favor of a kinder and gentler slavery; it never occurred to him to…” quote by John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/236/john-shelby-spong-1488_addresses_in-supporting-argument-for-segregation-p_1109923.jpg)
