It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
It's almost inevitable that we become religious people. The question is, what kind of religion is it? — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
So much organized religion, in my opinion, ends up being life-denying. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think we have to recover our spiritual nature. The way we have interpreted Christianity does not do that. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
All religion seems to need to prove that it's the only truth. And that's where it turns demonic. Because that's when you… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The church is not going to survive if they are going to tell people that they have to twist their minds into… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
There are some great values in Christianity, but I think the values are located more deeply in our humanity than they are… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The Bible tells me that every life is holy; the Bible tells me that every life is loved; the Bible tells me… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The ultimate meaning of the Bible escapes human limits and calls us to a recognition that every life is holy, every life… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The Jesus experience expanded people into a position where they didn't have to have defensive tribal lives, "God loves my people, my… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The cross reveals that we're called to a deeper, fuller experience of what it means to be alive and open to new… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The task of the church, for example, becomes less that of indoctrinating or relating people to an external divine power and more… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The 20th century was a turning point; it freed and emancipated women, broke the back of segregation, and began the struggle to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
...secular journalists... tend to accept uncritically the oft - repeated Evangelical Protestant and Conservative Roman Catholic definitions that the Bible is anti… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The God content of the past no longer sustains the contemporary spirit. We sense that our only hope is to journey past… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I would like the church to be a place where the questions of people are honored rather than a place where we… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I could not believe that anyone who has read this book would be so foolish as to proclaim that the Bible in… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Some people in the church, like Martin Luther King, Jr., came out against segregation. But if you look at the bulk of… — 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
Biblical higher criticism is preserved in the particular enclave of academic Christian scholarship and is thought to be too unfruitful to share… — 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
One of my great experiences in life was to be interviewed on a late-night talk show by a guy named Tom Snyder.… — 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
I began to read [Bible] as a critic, an in-house critic. So I got to a place where when I got to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I do assert that one prepares for eternity not by being religious and keeping the rules, but by living fully, loving wastefully,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
True religion is not about possessing the truth. No religion does that. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
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 Image
I think the story of the Christian faith is how you can become more deeply and fully human, not how you can… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. If I could not move my search beyond… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
As for the status of Western Christianity, we are in a place where our task is to redefine the primary symbols of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two… — 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
The biblical texts that we Christians have used for centuries to justify our hostility toward the Jews need to be banished forever… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I treasure the Bible. I live in it and work on it all the time. But it is not the word of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must… — 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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
I want the traditional family upheld, but I don't want it upheld to the detriment of other people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
![“I began to read [Bible] as a critic, an in-house critic. So I got to a place where when I got to the university, I just couldn't reconcile that book and some of its points of view with stuff I was learning in my academic career. And so then you have a choice: either you give up your academic…” quote by John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c08/john-shelby-spong-1488_academic_i-began-to-read-bible-as-a-critic-an-in_1438471.jpg)
