I spent nine years as the president of an organization headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The “Southern progressive alliance for exploring religion” was called SPAFER. It was composed of church members who could no longer believe in the faith items of their church and we’re looking for something beyond and something new and something that would fit with the discoveries of our reality in the world of science and evolution and chemistry. Twice a year we had speakers like Bishop John Shelby Spong Marcus Borg, and many others who are out in the world speaking to people about new ways of thinking about the religion called Christianity. The organization was alive and active for some 20 years. I was the last president when we had to close it down from lack of attendance. Why did we have lack of attendance, because once you have given up on the things your church so strongly believes, nobody gives you anything else to hold onto. There’s no need to keep understanding that you need to give it up so people began to drop out of our organization and once you’ve heard all of the speakers that are going around the country trying to get people to realize that Christianity is dying. There’s no need to keep sitting there hearing people say that because you agree with them. All of this is to say that Jim Palmer, you are onto the solution; we need a new religion for the 21st-century, but we don’t need to re-interpret the stories in the Bible. We don’t need to hang on anything in the old religion that has proven to be as I used to like to say Not True, so I am with you 100% and I look forward to your future articles along this line of thought.
That line, “I never feel okay,” hits like scripture. Not the sugar-coated kind, the real stuff—raw, cracked open, human.
You’re right. Religion lost the plot trying to duct-tape over despair with dogma. But you’re also right that we can’t just deconstruct and drift. We need something to stand in—something honest, communal, and built for the species we’ve actually become.
And while you're reimagining religion, I’d whisper this: Mary Magdalene was already onto it. Her gospel wasn’t about sin or sacrifice. It was about direct knowing, inner freedom, and telling Peter to pipe down. So maybe the “new religion” is a resurrection—not invention.
Either way, I’m with you. Let’s stop pretending we’re okay. Let’s build something that doesn’t require us to.
Really looking forward to this series. The idea of a "religion" that is focused on evolving is intriguing. I have spent my life evolving my beliefs by moving from one religion to another. Even CSL which claims to be "spiritual" not "religious" gets stuck in their ideologies instead of evolving.
I spent nine years as the president of an organization headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The “Southern progressive alliance for exploring religion” was called SPAFER. It was composed of church members who could no longer believe in the faith items of their church and we’re looking for something beyond and something new and something that would fit with the discoveries of our reality in the world of science and evolution and chemistry. Twice a year we had speakers like Bishop John Shelby Spong Marcus Borg, and many others who are out in the world speaking to people about new ways of thinking about the religion called Christianity. The organization was alive and active for some 20 years. I was the last president when we had to close it down from lack of attendance. Why did we have lack of attendance, because once you have given up on the things your church so strongly believes, nobody gives you anything else to hold onto. There’s no need to keep understanding that you need to give it up so people began to drop out of our organization and once you’ve heard all of the speakers that are going around the country trying to get people to realize that Christianity is dying. There’s no need to keep sitting there hearing people say that because you agree with them. All of this is to say that Jim Palmer, you are onto the solution; we need a new religion for the 21st-century, but we don’t need to re-interpret the stories in the Bible. We don’t need to hang on anything in the old religion that has proven to be as I used to like to say Not True, so I am with you 100% and I look forward to your future articles along this line of thought.
Jim—
That line, “I never feel okay,” hits like scripture. Not the sugar-coated kind, the real stuff—raw, cracked open, human.
You’re right. Religion lost the plot trying to duct-tape over despair with dogma. But you’re also right that we can’t just deconstruct and drift. We need something to stand in—something honest, communal, and built for the species we’ve actually become.
And while you're reimagining religion, I’d whisper this: Mary Magdalene was already onto it. Her gospel wasn’t about sin or sacrifice. It was about direct knowing, inner freedom, and telling Peter to pipe down. So maybe the “new religion” is a resurrection—not invention.
Either way, I’m with you. Let’s stop pretending we’re okay. Let’s build something that doesn’t require us to.
—Virgin Monk Boy
“Everything is not okay. But you are.”
Eloquent and accurate. Great post, Jim!
I would add "Quantum Theology" by O'Murchu. That's the book that set me of on my own path several years ago.
So much to agree with. We need a sense of the sacred, not to make us feel safe but to make us feel alive!
How does the evolution of religion that you have in mind relate to "New Age" ways of thinking?
very much looking forward to diving into this
Really looking forward to this series. The idea of a "religion" that is focused on evolving is intriguing. I have spent my life evolving my beliefs by moving from one religion to another. Even CSL which claims to be "spiritual" not "religious" gets stuck in their ideologies instead of evolving.
I have been reading Stephen Batchelor and Michael Meade, they both have made me feel more at ease with my time here on earth.
Very interesting.
Looking forward to this.
Can't wait to read the series.
Very much looking forward to this project