It will be interesting to see exactly which customs the Vatican is going to allow from the past rich five centuries of Anglican worship, life and thought.
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what do we have faith in?Dave Belden, president, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills, does not fear the big questions. He revels in kicking them around and trying to find hope in a complex world.
The ban by some Imax cinemas in the United States of films referring to evolution teaches Dave Belden a lesson about the right's distrust and the left's frustration.
Many Chinese people are embracing religion as well as the market, but is their long march leading towards Europe?
A family difference over childrearing makes Dave Belden rethink America’s political future.
The “cooperation-plus-competition” that shapes life on earth, from microbes to the internet, gives Dave Belden optimism about the human future.
The universe is creative and regenerative as well as brutal and finite – just like humans. In this lies a consolation that is open to believer and atheist alike, says Dave Belden.
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 provoked the first modern discussion about the causes of natural disasters – fate, science, God, or human failure. What lessons does the world need to learn from the Asian tsunami 250 years later?
The tastes of Christmas past, and the religious beliefs at the festival’s core, remain alive in Dave Belden’s memory.
If even reformist Muslims find a chilly welcome in Europe, what hope for dialogue across boundaries of belief?
A revival of the progressive religious tradition could be the key to Democratic recovery in the United States, says Dave Belden.
The left is guilty of political paranoia that drowns reasoned argument. But it is the failures and dangers of Bush’s post-9/11 policy that leave Dave Belden with a clear choice in the presidential election.
Does doubt lead to better judgment – and more just wars – than blind faith? Dave Belden on the difference between Abraham Lincoln and George W Bush.
To create a fairer 21st century world, secular liberals must unite with progressive religious people of all faiths in a common cause, says Dave Belden.
The political message of the Chinese martial-arts epic ‘Hero’ makes Dave Belden worry: is this entertainment a form of totalitarian art?
After almost two years and twenty–nine columns, Dave Belden is still exploring what it means for an agnostic to write about religion. But if the answers remain elusive, the need for dialogue across faith, unbelief and dogma has never been clearer.
The American left fears that government is in the hands of the religious right. The right fear that despite the best efforts of the conservative administration, they cannot reverse the tide of liberal social change. If they ever talked they would find that, unbeknownst to both sides, they are moving together not apart, says Dave Belden.
There are a great many sceptics who will one day be grateful for the legacy of at least one evangelical Christian. Dave Belden continues his dialogue with readers on the value of religion.
Religion need not be the vehicle for a narrow, exclusive conformism. It can be the means for individuals to reconstitute themselves as whole human beings – and thus a route to social progress.
Religion doesn’t have to mean repressive institutionalised mystification, it’s not even about God. It’s a way to organise a community around our core human values, and anyone interested in social change needs it.
Religion can bring hope, respect, salvation. Dave Belden, a non-believer, makes the case.
Images like those of the abuse at Abu Ghraib can destroy our hope for a better future. But democracy only works when images are uncontrolled. Dave Belden sees a chance.
Video games are violent, addictive and they stop us reading. But can they help us build a better future? Dave Belden explores the left and right sides of our brains.
From Iran to China, America to Rwanda, we are all looking for faith in something. But our beliefs can let us down. Disillusion requires reinvention not fanaticism or despair.
It may not sound like it, but the “End of History” is an abandonment of utopia. Market-based liberal democracy is about pragmatism and trade-offs. Dave Belden on whether this is enough to inspire us.
Across America, gay couples are declaring their vows in civil unions and marriage ceremonies. Dave Belden witnesses his friends’ marriage in his hometown and admires his nation’s never-ending adaptability.
Arabs and people of the American South share a painful heritage that includes humiliation, religious fundamentalism and violence, says Dave Belden. Can they rewrite the historical narrative they inhabit - and become actors rather than victims?
Even leaders of the most modern nations are subject to the codes of honour of older societies. But where does that leave George W. Bush?
Young women’s public display of Islamic belief exposes Europe’s fears about immigration. Dave Belden takes the long view.
The story of a California-based friend reminds Dave Belden that while medical science can keep you alive, ordinary human compassion is the deepest source of progress.
The gospel of a passionate, hopeful Christianity speaks more directly to many of the world’s poor than do secular politics, established churches, or Hollywood. Will it also win the 21st century’s culture wars?
The inequitable sharing of wealth makes the poor miserable and the rich guilty. How do Christians cope with a world of unfairness? Can celebration of a society of decent affluence be combined with anger against its injustices?
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