Quotes from John Shelby Spong

Prayer is not adult letters written to Santa Claus, and God is not some parent-like figure up in the sky who's going to take care of us.

I grew up in North Carolina being told that the Bible approves slavery and segregation, that it was the will of God.

It's just not easy enough to say that I pray and God will accomplish.

I believe that God is very real.

Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.

We are in a survival mentality, and that's hard-wired into our humanity, because we are the winners of an evolutionary struggle of millions and millions and millions of years.

We have a democracy within the bounds of a constitution which provides certain guarantees related to the basic humanity of every person. I think that's the best way to go.

I don't think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of Heaven to play golf.

I experience God as the power of love.

I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists to try to capture the essence of a God experience that they believe they had with Jesus of Nazareth.

Religion is a mixed blessing.

There are some great values in Christianity, but I think the values are located more deeply in our humanity than they are in our religion. There are certainly some survival values.

So much organized religion, in my opinion, ends up being life-denying.

I think I could make the case for any kind of organized religion, but I'm not an expert in those, so let me narrow my focus to talk about Christianity.

When I'm asked to define God, I'm almost wordless.

When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it.

Oh the Christian church has encouraged enormous immaturity among the peoples who are its primary adherence.

My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear down?

The Bible tells me that every life is holy; the Bible tells me that every life is loved; the Bible tells me that every life is called to be all that it can be.

I learned early in life that you get places by having the right enemies.

The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person.

Whatever diminishes life is evil, and whatever enhances life is good.

I admire our ancestors, whoever they were. I think the first self-conscious person must have shaken in his boots. Because as he becomes self-conscious, he's no longer part of nature. He sees himself against nature. He looks at the vastness of the universe and it looks hostile.

The way you become divine is to become wholly human.