Oppressive Religion and Anarchy: A Tribute to John Spong

Oppressive Religion and Anarchy: A Tribute to John Spong

John Spong is an archbishop in the Episcopalian church. He is the author of many books and a gay rights activist. Most important, he is the author of, “Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism.” Virtually everyone with any brains looks at the Bible and says, “Yeah, there are a lot of iffy things in there.” However, there is the religious right that would have us believe every word of it. This religious right is nothing short of annoying, and many people that are not a part of it would say the same. I like John Spong because he spoke out against the religious right. He is a bestselling author that exposes the Bible for what it is and that is that a fundamentalist point of view is essentially a fraud. His books Resurrection and Born of a Virgin are in this vein of antifundamentalist writing. Many people that are outcasts in virtually any other congregation come to hear John Spong speak, and they are welcome, as they are. He knows the answers that fundamentalists give, and he knows why they are wrong. The religious right would have us fit into cookie cutter images, while John Spong would have people be as they are, such that he has become a strong voice in a humane cause.