The L Word: Liberal Christians Living In Exile?

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/05/26/Why_Jesus_Was_a_Liberal_Rev_Scotty_McLennan

Rev. Scotty McLennan ridicules the negative connotations of the term "liberal" in relation to politics and Christianity, and says it is time liberal Christians reclaim the term. "Liberal Christianity can point to the Old Testament prophets, and to Jesus, as the original, political liberals," he says.

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In Scotty McLennan's bold call to reclaim ownership of Christianity, he advocates a sense of religion based not on doctrinal readings of scripture but on the humanity behind Christ's teachings. He addresses such topics as intelligent design, abortion, same sex marriage, war, torture and much, much more.

As he says in the Preface, "We liberal Christians know in our hearts that there is much more to life than seems to meet the rational eye of atheists; yet we find it hard to support supernatural claims about religion that fly in the face of scientific evidence." - Kepler's Books

The Rev. Scotty McLennan is the dean for religious life at Stanford University. He was the university Chaplain at Tufts University from 1984 to 2000, and senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School for ten of those years. McLennan received his B.A. from Yale University in 1970 as a Scholar of the House working in the area of computers and the mind.

He received his M.Div. and J.D. degrees from Harvard Divinity and Law Schools in 1975. In 1975, he was also ordained to the ministry (Unitarian Universalist) and admitted to the Massachusetts bar as an attorney. He is the author of Finding Your Religion and was the inspiration for Doonesbury's Rev. Scott Sloan.

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[franksvenatra]

you could say jesus was the first socialist.

[Aaberg123]

As I said: All Christians believe their saviour is Jesus; yet they all rely on a set of texts that was arbitrarily decided by a vote in at the Council of Nicaea. Although differing in some books, they all have Jesus Christ the central figure, and hence, ought to be considered a Christian denomination.

[starscreamdkmo]

Im antheist but i respect lib christians

[WhiteRapStarz]

@evilbecauseyouwantme i do not quite understand what you are saying here, but I must say that if you are wishing this Rev. to suffer, it won't be him who will suffer...

[alex124241]

Very well said. There is, and should be no shame in being a christian liberaI. Liberation theologists of Catholicism even incorporated marxists ideals in there quest to fight the poor. It's been muted because liberals don't stand up for themselves due to a fear of seeming "un-American." The ignorant right will always be louder.

[bugsaregod]

good job

[Rayosun]

To see the real case for Jesus being liberal, Google "LiberalslikeChrist" (one word) and explore a site that has been averaging 500,000 pages views a year.

[boomac62]

truthful commentary, as a liberal christian myself I know I'm not alone but sometimes it feels that way.

[evilbecauseyouwantme]

suffer moron

[evilbecauseyouwantme]

that would be called "grounded"

[evilbecauseyouwantme]

you cant accept the truth. your blind baby

[oneyedo]

i like jesus fuck dumbass conservative christians becuase they call thenself follower of jesus but they are far from what jesus standed for