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Welcome! At Signs and Wonders we sift through the World Wide Web looking for evidence of emerging religious futures. Our mission is to provide our readers -- religious futurists, ministers, and just plain spiritual people -- with a guided tour of the web, stopping wherever we see the future of faith unfolding before our eyes. We update this site every three days or so, so come back again and join us on our next trip. If you want to comment on anything you read here or discuss religious futures in general, come over to our forum. |
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July 14, 2000 [social] -- The Bobo Revival: upper class boomers go back to church by Cody Clark at 3:27 PM (EST)  An essay on Bobo spirituality from beliefnet. Bourgeois Bohemian (Bobo) Boomers are back at church but on their own terms -- a dichotomy of traditional religious values and personal autonomy. As Bobo David Brooks puts it: "There you have it. The generation that gave itself "unlimited choices" recoiled and found that it was still "searching for something." In so many ways we seem to want to return to some lost age of (supposed) spiritual coherence and structure. We seem to sense the cost of our newfound freedom is a loss of connection to other people and other communities. We want to re-create those meaningful ligatures. And yet, more often than not, we're not willing to actually go back to the age of limits, which would mean cutting off our options." [political] -- Catholic Church in Mexico may thrive under new party by Cody Clark at 3:21 PM (EST) a story details cautious optimism about the effects of the recent Mexican election on the Catholic Church in Mexico. [social] -- "Atheist Church" no longer an oxymoron by Cody Clark at 3:46 PM (EST) Fascinating article about the atheist North Texas Church of Freethought and the budding atheist church movement they've started. They believe church is about fellowship and morality and not faith in a God. editor -- Personally, I think this is pretty cool. People gathered for the sake of fellowship and morality cannot be too bad a thing in my book. Fundamentalist Christians may grouse, but these folks would be atheists with or without a place to gather and share. I gotta believe sharing is better than not sharing - a step in the right direction. Anyway, if this is not definitive evidence of the fact that people want a sense of community and belonging and not so much dogmatic teaching from their churches, I don't know what is. [social] -- Episcopalians recognize unmarried relationships by Cody Clark at 3:45 PM (EST) That's both heterosexual and homosexual. A decisive vote by the denomination's bishops Thursday determined that long term committed relationships outside marriage will be recognized and supported by the church. editor -- This seems big to me. A major denomination making major doctrinal accommdations to changing societal attitudes toward family and sexuality. What happens when one Church adapts when all the other majors refuse to bend? One to watch for sure. [feature] -- Web Page on Religious Futures by Cody Clark at 12:18 (EST) Check out this religious futures resource page at Global Options which appears promising but is still under construction. Drop them an email and let them know that you're anticipating the completion of that page. Gentle prompting, you know. [feature] -- New Futurist Religious Order forming by Cody Clark at 12:19 (EST) Check out the Order of the Academy of Christ "MISSION: A practical Christian theology of pastoral care for now and the future: a chaplaincy to the Stars from the Temples of Today and Tomorrow. Building a community of the chaplains of Tomorrow, the pastors of the Future. " editor -- This is being formed by the WNRF's own Dr. Richard Kirby and Rev. Bill Thompson. The site looks as if it's in progress and not fully there, but worth watching. [social] -- Rise in Non-Denominational Christianity represents New "Reformation" by Cody Clark at 12:04 (EST) Religious Futurist Bill Easum says the rise in the number of Non-Denominational Christians in the face of declining mainline Christian Churches is a shift equal to that of the reformation where new Christian churches were formed upon a rift in the Catholic Church. Says Easum: "The church culture is dead -- and with it all the formal trappings of religion. But that doesn't mean spirituality of Christianity is dead -- it's more alive now than it was 40 or 50 years ago." |
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