this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
6 points (87.5% liked)

OpenChristian

155 readers
1 users here now

(Formerly Lemm.ee)

This is a community for progressive Christians and friends to discuss our faith, support each other, and share inspiration for our spiritual journeys.

We seek God's message of Peace, Love, and Grace through following the Spirit of Christ.

OpenChristian Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenChristian/s/K3NwAgNj2a

OpenChristian Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/KwyUcXv

LGBT Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/e8HXnzV

Wiki: https://reddit.com/r/OpenChristian/w/index

FAQ: [https://reddit.com/r/OpenChristian/w/faq]

[Lemmy mirror of FAQ] https://lemmy.world/post/32102984

Online Resources: https://reddit.com/r/OpenChristian/w/onlineresources

Community Rules

  1. No bigotry or oppressive rhetoric.

All misogyny, racism, antisemitism, LGBTQ+phobia, etc. will result in removal and a permanent ban. This includes commenting that LGBTQ¢+ love or relationships are sinful. Be aware that using “Pharisee” as a negative slur is considered anti-Semitic.

1b. Side B folks are welcome, but follow Rule 1. If you are a Side B Christian, please respect Rule 1 above, but know that you belong here and we want you to participate.

  1. Do not promote oppressive/harmful ideology.

This includes all attempts to promote or normalise hate, shame, or fear within Christianity (e.g. purity culture, scaremongering against gender-transitioning, “complementarianism’”, or “demonic” attacks).

  1. No sectarianism.

Legitimate criticism of other Christians/Faiths is allowed but refrain from prejudice against entire denominations/groups, and against other religions (e.g. Islamophobia).

  1. No disparaging Christianity

This is primarily a supportive space for anyone who identifies as Christian. While everyone is welcome to participate we ask that no one disparages Christianity.

  1. Be respectful and polite.

No personal attacks or accusations, harassment, misrepresentation of others, or insults. This also includes forcing debate, gatekeeping, and denying the validity of another's faith.

  1. Don't be a Troll, or a Jerk.

Don't concern Troll, play Devil's Advocate, or pretend to be confused when you really just want to start a debate. This Rule will be interpreted at the moderators’ discretion.

  1. No spamming or proselytizing

Don't post here if you're mass posting to other Communities. Don't post here for self-promotion unless it's particularly relevant to this subreddit. This is not your soapbox, and we are not here for you to preach at us. If you want to promote your media please ask permission from the mods.

  1. Be sensitive about linking to triggering content.

Because we want this space to be as safe as possible, we discourage posting images or links to oppressive rhetoric from others. However, we do understand that venting is important sometimes. If you must post something potentially triggering, mark it nsfw or use spoiler tags, and censor any identifying information.

  1. Discussion of the ongoing israeli-Palestinian conflict is temporarily prohibited.

This topic has proven to be too divisive to discuss without consistently violating this Community’s rules. In order to maintain peace and to continue supporting one another, content regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict is not permitted at this time.

Notice:

OpenChristian is inclusive, open and welcoming of all. We are LGBTQ+ affirming, but we welcome any who have chosen celibacy, as long as you respect Rule 1.

Do not post or comment about how you believe homosexuality is a sin.

We have heard this a thousand times, and you have nothing new to contribute to the conversation.

If you do this, you will be banned.

Please note that as a progressive Christian community, we are explicitly followers of Christ, as well as LGBTQ+ affirming and egalitarian.

Friends are very welcome to participate, no matter what you believe.

But this is not the place for questioning or debating these positions.

founded 5 months ago
MODERATORS
Pacrat173@lemmy.world
Teknevra@lemmy.ca
RicoPeru@lemmy.blahaj.zone
6
So, how'd you get here? (infosec.pub)
submitted 1 month ago by bfordham@infosec.pub to c/open_christian@lemmy.ca
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm curious about other people's journeys.

For me, I didn't grow up in a religious household. When I became a Christian my senior year in high school I went to church with folks I knew. That was to a small baptist church in southeast Georgia. I ended up in your stereotypical First Baptist Church, was ordained and preached in various places. Pastored a small church, was an elder in a church plant. This whole time being pretty conservative, reformed, and definitely homophobic.

Mainly, church drama ran me and my wife off, and at the same time I was watching the complete silence from Christians about what was happening in our country (this was around the time of the murder of Tamir Rice, and the start of BLM).

In conversations with people not like me (ie, white and straight) I started learning a good bit. I decided a few years ago to only read theology or philosophy if it was written by a non-white person and/or not a guy. This ended up lasting a bit more than a year, and really impacted me.

I'm leaving quite a bit out, and I feel it's already too long. I'm planning to attend my first Pride event this Saturday (Savannah Pride Festival). My asked what 20 year old me would think. He'd probably hate me.

What about you? What brought you here?

top 2 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] modernangel@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I grew up in a "culturally Christian" family in that we observed traditional rituals at Easter and Christmas, but we never attended church. My father was a narcissistic abuser, which doesn't work with Christian values like humility, temperance, charity, etc.

I had some school friends who conveyed rather dire, exclusive Catholic doctrine. Their notions of God were a turn-off. I internalized my father's dim view of religion.

In my late teens or early 20s, Ayn Rand held a brief fascination among some of my friends, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit it but I got pretty Randroid for a hot minute myself.

Following Rand's admiration of ancient Greek philosophers, I got interested in formal philosophy as an academic topic. Rand doesn't really hold up by comparison, her would-be contribution to the discipline of philosophy is regarded as unimportant by serious academia.

Somewhere in the branch of philosophy dealing with causality and existence, we eventually confront the question: what causes the universe to exist, or is the universe itself an "uncaused first cause"? Causality with no First Cause felt more awkward to me than living with the assumption of a Prime Mover, and we may as well call it God.

I reserve a healthy skepticism around most supernatural claims, but bottom line? It felt like a particular mistake to dismiss the Resurrection as mere myth.

Every major religion embeds some variety of the Golden Rule. It's right there in the Great Commandment. Now and then I contemplate other mysteries of my relationship with the First Cause, but the Great Commandment is my pole star.

[–] bfordham@infosec.pub 3 points 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing. The philosophical route is a bit similar to mine, though I was younger and more clueless about how to interpret certain things lol.