I think by eighth grade I knew I wanted to be an actor. I'd done church plays and stuff, but my first actual acting class was in eighth grade. I was obsessed with it.
I wrote in my book, 'unPlanned,' about a church that kicked me out when they found out that I worked for Planned Parenthood. I often get questioned about that, whether I still think they made the wrong decision. My answer is a resounding 'Yes.'
If the church doesn't minister to sinners, then who will?
The seminaries must be like the churches' poor relations, prolonging their existence with austerity.
State assaults on the separation of church and state are nothing new.
The United States may be a religious nation. But it is also a nation with a strong commitment to separation of church and state.
When my kids were growing up, I wanted their teachers to teach them science, reading, math and history. I also wanted them to care about my kids. But I did not want my children's public school teachers teaching them religion. That was my job as a parent and the job of our church, Sunday school, and youth group.
Our society is divided by the culture wars into the Left and Right, and the United Methodist Church has always stood historically in the center and has been willing to listen to and to bring together those things that often are found in opposite camps.
You are not indispensable to your church, but you are indispensable to your family.
I think church and state should remain entirely separate at all costs, and that the decision of religious marriage should be of each faith to debate and decide free of political influence.
