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Pew Forum...Worth a Look...

By TheGreatDialogue June 20, 2013

http://www.pewforum.org/Religion-News/RNS-Report-US-churches-continue-growth-decline-trends.aspx

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History of the Great Dialogue...

Greetings, Friends!

In the Spring of 2004, I and my good friend, Alex, launched a Listserv for the purpose of establishing a forum for members to share their religious (and non-religious) views, and to dialogue about spiritual devotional practices and beliefs. This was very successful, and ran for 5 years.
Here's why:As it is these days, almost no other subject is so taboo to dialogue about...Spiritual matters seem to rattle most people, and they often treat theirs with great secrecy.

Introduction: Essential Christianity

Every religious discipline has Essential points of belief and behavior...often, when I have debated this with others, the conversation has gone in the direction of, “I am a Buddhist (or maybe an adherent of another spiritual perspective) even though I do not really believe many of the things that people say Buddhists believe,” etc. With this in mind, the question seems to me to be, “What makes any religion anything at all, if there are not Essentials that define it? If we cannot describe it for someone else?” Maybe, if it cannot be easily defined, our next best step is to Dialogue about these issues and come to some greater understanding? This conundrum is no where more apparent than in my home base, “Christianity.”
I, personally, have been seeking an Essential definition of what Christians believe...some of you may think, “Wayne, you know what those things are already!” and in some sense I agree. On the other hand, Christianity is fast becoming so divergent, and definitions of it are now so diverse, that as a spiritual practice Christianity is now heavily fragmented across the globe...I feel I need to have some well thought out answer to this paradoxical issue of “What are the Essentials of Christianity?”

I know I am not in the majority, but as I have struggled with this issue I have come to see it this way: It should be possible for any religion/spiritual practice to list its Essentials.

The Members of the Great Dialogue have discussed the above topic and all of the following subjects (and many more):

Christian Doctrines and Practices
Buddhist Beliefs
Hinduism
Islam
American Politics
Religious World History
Orthodoxy
Scripture Interpretation
Baptism
Purgatory
The problem of Evil
Eschatology
Just War
Mythology
Adam and Eve
World Flood Myths
Famous Philosophers and Religious Figures
Archeological discoveries

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