x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray

Sermons from the Community Christian Church of Springfield, MO. We are believers in Jesus Christ who accept all people without judgment and who desire to work and worship as a community striving for social justice.

religion & spirituality philosophy

All Episodes

24:58

The Great Divorce

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2025/03/23

The greatest moral failing of the modern world may be our quiet acceptance of what Dorothy Day called "our filthy rotten system." Every year the income gap grows wider and the gap in ownership of capital becomes more stark. If we cannot change course it is not hyperbole to predict that the USA is on its way to becoming what we have too easily called a "third world country."

en

22:08

Compassion is the Key

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2025/03/09

If we ask ourselves what it was about the historical Jesus that inspired the loyal following and explosion of writing on his behalf in the first century of the common era, beyond all of the talk about a kind of divine fire insurance, we find a message that is unique and powerful and nearly impossible to incorporate into our lives: Love your enemies. As Marcus Borg described him, Jesus was the teacher of radical compassion and that, in the most healthy spiritual context, is why we still talk about

en

25:39

The Bible vs the Bible

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2025/02/23

The Bible doesn't speak with one point of view nor does it teach a singular message. Religious people have to be willing to enter the debate which is found even within the pages of scripture in order to choose the right path towards a healthy spirituality. You can find harsh judgement and prejudice in the Bible, and, if you look, you can find the cure for harsh judgement and prejudice. It just depends on what you are looking for.

en

20:20

To Live Without Love is a Mistake

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2025/02/09

Realizing that he had made a tragic mistake by ending his engagement to Regine Olsen, the Great Dane, Soren Kierkegaard, wrote in his journal, "To live without love is a mistake for which there is no reparation, either in this life or in the life to come." Successful coupling is more difficult in modern times when we no longer need a spouse for the basics of survival but, in the end, falling in love was never really about survival. It is about meaning, and who couldn't use more meaning in life,

en

16:55

Four More Years

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2025/01/26

This week's inauguration of Donald Trump was painful for most if not all of our listeners. Still, short of resignation, illness, or an implausible impeachment, his chaotic administration will be a threatening fact of life for the world for four more years. How then can we adapt ourselves to a reality we wanted so desperately to never face? How do we protest or resist his insanity while trying, at the same time, to heal the lethal divide of our nation?

en

17:31

The Economics of Immigration

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2025/01/12

If Trump keeps his campaign promise to undertake a mass deportation of undocumented migrants in the USA, we should prepare ourselves for some economic and service industry hits and we are not going to like. Acknowledging that our immigration system is broken and than neither a coast to coast wall or an open border is a workable solution, what can we do to fix this problem which is crucial to our future as a nation?

en

17:18

Once More, Into the Breach

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/12/29

We are entering a new year with the single glaring feature of the return of Donald Trump to the presidency which will have far reaching implications both domestically and internationally. For most of us, this is a future to fear and yet, for good or for ill, we must face the reality we have been given, regardless of the future we had hoped for. So, now what? I say that we refuse to surrender and commit ourselves to the roll we progressives know best: resistance.

en

19:42

Jesus: from preacher to God

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/12/15

How Christmas is celebrated has evolved a great deal through the centuries but most of us alive today inherited a very churchy version of Christmas that focused on the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke and the whole incarnational theology of the ancient church. Modern progressives find it more uncomfortable to fit into those beliefs than an ugly Christmas sweater. If we demythologize the birth narratives we may be able to find merit in some of the Christmas traditions without all of the phony

en

21:56

Speaking Truth to Power

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/12/01

A prophet is not someone who predicts the future. A prophet is a person, religious or not, who accurately describes the present, even if no one wants to hear it. There is a saying in journalism that says journalism happens when you publish something that someone doesn’t want published. Everything else is just advertising. The ancient prophets were the ones who could speak truth to the monarchy, to the priesthood, and to the marketplace, especially when they didn’t want to hear it. We don’t have many

en

14:27

Morality and Climate Change

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/11/17

Climate change is not merely a matter of either science or politics. Wealthy people don’t tend to live in mobile home parks, after all, so the stronger hurricanes and tornadoes have a direct impact on those who are forced by economics to live in the least substantial housing. We must do more than open our hearts and wallets to participate in relief efforts. We need to “go upstream and see who keeps throwing all of these poor people into the river.”

en

16:28

Voting in an Empire of Lies

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/11/03

It is not hyperbole to say that our election on Tuesday is probably the most important election in our life times. In fact, it is entirely possible that this could turn out to be the last free election held in the United States if the anti-democracy wing of the Republican Party gain the reigns of power. We have been subjected to increasingly insane political lies during the campaign as Donald Trump and JD Vance attempt to use fear to motivate voters. We can only hope that voters who are able to

en

17:54

No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This...

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/10/20

In light of the recent assassination attempts against Donald Trump, in which the infamous AR-15 assault style rife was used, it seems like a good time to raise the issue of passing much needed gun reform legislation. The majority of Americans want sensible gun laws passed and yet we keep re-electing politicians who refuse to give us what we want. What about this – what if we stopped voting for candidates who won’t do what we want and started voting for candidates who will?

en

22:56

Gaza One Year Later: The Publicity War

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/10/06

We have arrived at the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the war drags on and even threatens to escalate. The Israeli response has, for many, overshadowed the horror of the original attack. The world is asked to witness a problem with no evident solutions, endlessly debating who is to blame while hostages, at least the few who have survived, continue to be daily raped, tortured, beaten, starved, and held in inhumane circumstances. What now?

en

21:54

Misogyny in 2024? Unbelievable!

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/09/22

We cannot feign surprise at the outrageous and hypocritical misogynist attacks on Kamala Harris, but isn't it a shame that we are still having to fight this fight in 2024? Women have fought for a place at the table in law schools, medical schools, and in America's pulpits with a great deal more success than they have had in executive and legislative politics. Since this is clearly not because of some inherent deficit in leadership skills, what else can we call it but the fear that weak men have of

en

20:14

The Ten Commandments vs The Beatitudes

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/09/08

When Louisiana's new governor, Jeff Landry, signed an order that every state classroom from Kindergarten through university classrooms would have to post a poster sized copy of the Ten Commandments, you probably heard a voice in your head saying, "What an idiot." But what if he wasn't just trying to make culture war news and appeal to his base of conservative voters. What if he is, in fact, cueing up the Supreme Court for their next unbelievable reversal of settled law. Anyone else feeling that

en

28:26

Giving Capitalism a Conscience

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/08/25

All of the world’s religions promote compassion towards the poor as a central spiritual value. However, it should be noted that the world’s major religions all were born in times of great scarcity of resources. It was impossible to prevent poverty because there simply was not enough resources to lift everyone up to a decent standard of living. However, in the modern world, scarcity is not the issue. Our problem is an economic system that allows for the hoarding of resources in the hands of a few

en

23:15

Assisting in Our Own Victimization

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/08/11

“Why do the innocent suffer? And can we consider as well how many who are clearly victims are also unconsciously coconspirators in their abuse? Just as Bob Marley sang, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds,” we all must consider the ways in which we have failed to take responsibility to allowing or even empowering those who have caused us pain. We should have tons of compassion for all of those who suffer unjustly, but it is also important for us to

en

18:29

Project 2025 as seen by a Pastor

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/07/28

In the hope that Donald Trump will win the November election, the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has composed a huge book of plans and resumes to transform our government called the 2025 Project. It is 900 pages long and too much for any one news show or religious podcast to treat comprehensively but this message attempts to take a pastoral view of the changes this powerful minority would like to impose on the USA. This may serve as a good introduction to your own study of the

en

20:56

Religion and Politics – Natural Bed Fellows

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/07/14

What makes some topics controversial is because you can make a rational defense of either side of the issue. For example, you can mount logical arguments in favor of either socialism or capitalism but you cannot have a reasonable debate about whether the Earth is round or flat. Unfortunately, we often fail to have the needed rational debates that help us to grow and learn because we have become afraid of the kind of divisive fighting that crops up around subjects for which there really isn't a

en

26:52

Liars: Erasing Your Own Soul

Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray ·

2024/06/30

The news has been uncommonly full of conversations about who lied and about what. Hunter Biden lied on his application to buy a hand gun. Michael Cohen lied about lots of things, specifically around the hush money payment made to an adult film actress to remain silent about her sexual encounter with Donald Trump. But it goes a lot deeper than that, with rampant conspiracy theories and obviously false narratives created to gain political sympathy or to provide political cover. Isn't it about time

en

399 results

Similar Podcasts

Jeff Haygood, Pastor

PodPoint

PASTOR ALVARO VALENCIA

Pastor Alvaro Valencia

Grace Life Church CT.

Joseph Levesque

Pleasant View Church

Ted Nance

Christian Heritage Church"s Podcast

PodPoint