My faith has changed radically in the last 5 years after 3+ decades of immersion in Evangelical Christianity.  My period of reflection started when my brother publicly questioned the faith in which we had been raised.  I immersed myself in the study of religion, theology and religious history, originally with the intention of setting him straight.  Along the way, I learned that many of his objections to the cognitive foundations of our faith were surprisingly valid.  I began to perform a thorough inventory of my beliefs, giving no conscious privilege to any proposition, reasoning that the truth could take care of itself.

Simultaneously, I undertook a thorough study of the Bible, doing my best to set aside preconceived notions of what it said and taught.  I found that it was not the unified document that I thought it was.  To be certain, there were factual discrepancies in the gospels, some minor, and others more bothersome.  Worse yet, I found major differences of opinion on many of the major themes of the faith (e.g. the requirements for salvation, the character of God, etc).  I gradually came to the conclusion that the books of the Bible reflect the wisdom of a variety of communities of faith, each with their own beliefs, biases and pet issues.  People, not God, wrote it, and though I think it to be inspired in a sense, that inspiration is along the lines of someone who watches a marathon, is amazed by the spectacle and then resolves to run.  The idea that the Bible is somehow perfect, "wholly sufficient" or has any other superhuman status is no longer part of my belief structure.  And yet I love it...

I have had the privilege of spending the last several years discussing and debating religion with a diverse group of people on an obscure science based website.  That opportunity has passed, and I am looking for a new community with whom to interact and from whom to learn.

I still worship in a church, but it doesn't have the spiritual impact that it once had in my life.  I am looking for a new place to be genuinely me and a new community of faith, a place where I can be completely honest and open about my beliefs, my hopes and my doubts.