Tag: changing the script

By Daniel Schultz

It’s a question I get asked a lot, and am sure to be asked more, now that The Book (Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21^st Century), is out.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. In fact, there isn’t even one answer. Instead, many separate factors come together to create the knee-jerk equation of religion with conservatism that we know and love.

First, let’s face it: Conservative religious beliefs and practices are sexier than liberal ones. The drama of sin, conversion, and (usually noisy) salvation is much easier to grasp than the calm, rational consideration of God as the ground of existence and ethical imperative in community. Conservative religion also films better: You couldn’t make The Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum playing a Unitarian pastor, for example. And what better way to shorthand religion in movies or television than with the rituals of the Catholic church? Imagine the baptism scene from  The Godfather set in a Minnesota-nice Lutheran congregation!

So until someone finds a way to craft a compelling narrative out of committee meetings and quilting circles, I’m afraid we’ll always have a conservative bias in the media’s consideration of religion. Continue Reading →

By Daniel Schultz

It’s a question I get asked a lot, and am sure to be asked more, now that The Book (Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21^st Century), is out.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. In fact, there isn’t even one answer. Instead, many separate factors come together to create the knee-jerk equation of religion with conservatism that we know and love.

First, let’s face it: Conservative religious beliefs and practices are sexier than liberal ones. The drama of sin, conversion, and (usually noisy) salvation is much easier to grasp than the calm, rational consideration of God as the ground of existence and ethical imperative in community. Conservative religion also films better: You couldn’t make The Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum playing a Unitarian pastor, for example. And what better way to shorthand religion in movies or television than with the rituals of the Catholic church? Imagine the baptism scene from  The Godfather set in a Minnesota-nice Lutheran congregation!

So until someone finds a way to craft a compelling narrative out of committee meetings and quilting circles, I’m afraid we’ll always have a conservative bias in the media’s consideration of religion. Continue Reading →

By Daniel Schultz

It’s a question I get asked a lot, and am sure to be asked more, now that The Book (Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21^st Century), is out.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. In fact, there isn’t even one answer. Instead, many separate factors come together to create the knee-jerk equation of religion with conservatism that we know and love.

First, let’s face it: Conservative religious beliefs and practices are sexier than liberal ones. The drama of sin, conversion, and (usually noisy) salvation is much easier to grasp than the calm, rational consideration of God as the ground of existence and ethical imperative in community. Conservative religion also films better: You couldn’t make The Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum playing a Unitarian pastor, for example. And what better way to shorthand religion in movies or television than with the rituals of the Catholic church? Imagine the baptism scene from  The Godfather set in a Minnesota-nice Lutheran congregation!

So until someone finds a way to craft a compelling narrative out of committee meetings and quilting circles, I’m afraid we’ll always have a conservative bias in the media’s consideration of religion. Continue Reading →