New Church In 2011?

[TripleX]

I've been going since I was two. I was Baptized there, my sister was married there, my mom is a Trustee. It has the reputation of being stiff and formal and it's said that our members are stuck up. My city's first Black Mayor is a member, and our current Mayor was in my Sunday School class when we were kids.

My Pastor is affable and funny, he's very much like Bill Cosby and rarely preaches fire and brimstone. Sunday he talked about "prosperity preachers" and how they want to make it easy to get to Heaven as long as you pay your tithes. He said real Christianity is taxing and requires more of you than a financial contribution and that often times when you turn your life over to Christ that's when the devil works hardest against you. Long story short, he says little I can disagree with. He calls himself a teacher and not a preacher and he's NOTHING like the charlatans and hypocrites you see on t.v.  But it's just not working for me, I pay close attention and I'm better for going, but my life isn't progressing the way I want it to.

I've visited other churches with brothas in pastel colored pimp suits and felt out of place. I've watched their members shout to the point of convulsions and looked on in disbelief (maybe I'm a lil stuck up too lol). I'm a free spirited,  thuggish, bohemian, artist type cat and I'm open to other spiritual doctrines. I think I want to be Buddhist because I've liked everything I've heard about it, but that's too big a leap and I don't know how accommodating they'd be to Black folks. Plus it would really hurt my mom and my family would react as if I joined the Moonies or something. lol I think I just need to pray harder.

[Curtis Metcalf]

I am not the guy to offer suggestions for religion but...
Are you sure it's an either/or proposition? As I understand it, Buddism is a practice not a faith. Maybe you can seek without abandoning your history.

[BmoreAkuma]

I've visited other churches with brothas in pastel colored pimp suits and felt out of place. I've watched their members shout to the point of convulsions and looked on in disbelief (maybe I'm a lil stuck up too lol). I'm a free spirited,  thuggish, bohemian, artist type cat and I'm open to other spiritual doctrines. I think I want to be Buddhist because I've liked everything I've heard about it, but that's too big a leap and I don't know how accommodating they'd be to Black folks. Plus it would really hurt my mom and my family would react as if I joined the Moonies or something. lol I think I just need to pray harder.

That is expected if you were a person whom "grew up christian" especially if you're black and American. It will be very difficult changing from one faith or practice to entirely something different. What you can do is maybe get in contact with someone whom is well versed in that practice. Just like how you were going to different churches with your buddies. But it may be hard since one don't see too many of them in united states.

As for "hurting" your mom, that will come with the territory of how difficult it would be. But if you are seriously into the new practice and have strong knowledge and understanding you will be fine. It will be very similar how your mom has her understanding of Christianity. When it boils down to it, you are the person who will make the decision what practice you want to continue to follow.

[Cheirel]

Here it is March and I haven't set foot in a new church either. Instood I have been more of a coward in my opinion I have been sending a my daughter to church with my mom as late. I have been partially usuing the fact that I have been having problems with my back but it is hard to make that change.

Religion shouldn't be so hard....

[Curtis Metcalf]

I found this intriguing:

Double belonging: Buddhism and Christian faith
Theologian reveals how Buddhism helped him rediscover mysteries of Christian faith
Paul F. Knitter, author of Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, is Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is a leading advocate of globally responsible interreligious dialogue and author of more than 10 books on the subject. In this, his newest book, he writes very personally, sharing his struggles with his Christian faith while relating how his study of Buddhism -- and his own Zen practice -- has helped him through this struggle.

Excerpt from the interview:

In your book you speak of “double belonging.” Just what does that mean?
Double belonging is being talked about more and more now, both in the theological academy and in the area of Christian spirituality. I think it’s the term that is used when more and more people are finding that they can be genuinely nourished by more than one religious tradition, by more than their home tradition or their native tradition.

How widespread is double belonging?
I wouldn’t say it is for general consumption, but in areas of Europe and North America, I think that the number of people who are serious about practicing their faith are finding that some degree of double belonging is becoming more and more a part of their lives.

Why such a broad interest today in Buddhism among Christians?
There’s no one answer. In the book, I quote a friend of mine, Fr. Michael O’Halloran, who is formerly a Carthusian monk and now a priest here in the New York archdiocese. He is also a Zen teacher. Michael once told me that Christianity is long on content but short on method and technique. So I think Buddhism is providing Christians with practices, with techniques, by which they can enter more experientially into the content of what they believe.

What are the needs among Christian believers that you think Buddhism is addressing?
I hope I’m not generalizing here too much, but I think a lot of it has to do with the dissatisfaction that many of us Christians feel with a God who is all out there, a God who is totally other than I, the God who stands outside of me and confronts me. I think we’re searching for ways of realizing the mystery of the divine of God in a way in which it is more a part of our very selves.

I think Christians are searching more for a way of experiencing and understanding God in a unitive way, or what I say in the book is a “non-dual way,” where God becomes a reality that is certainly different than I am, but is part of my very being.

[Cheirel]

Okay good people PLEASE explain to me why the Black churches want to get involve with the Dodgers? I don't understand why?