Support Matthew Fox

The Papacy has been closed to new ideas, yet embraces the false teaching of John Darby, and the weird Jesus of Mormonism, in order to overcome an old enemy.

I am that OLD ENEMY – risen from the dead! Let my people – be! Get out!

Jon the Nazarite

Matthew Fox Nails His Own 95 Theses at Wittenburg Heralding “The New Reformation”
Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, a former Dominican priest who was silenced by then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in the late 1980s, is one of my spiritual heroes. Imagine my surprise when an Episcopal priest friend of mine gave me a link this week to Fox’s new blog where he writes about his recent trip to Wittenberg, Germany to post his 95 Theses announcing “A New Reformation.” That is where Martin Luther posted his own 95 Theses on the church wall which began the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. Silencing Matthew Fox, of course, is like attempting to halt a speeding train with a feather. Instead of keeping quiet, his Center for Creative Spirituality at Mundelein College, was disbanded. Fox ultimately left the Dominicans after 38 years and created Wisdom University in Oakland, the headquarters for what has come to be known as the Friends of Creation Spirituality. I have heard that he practices religion as an Episcopal priest now, but have not been able to confirm this.

The Christian right is not going to like Fox’s 95 Theses, this I guarantee, but every one single one had me shouting out loud, “Yes!” as I read them. You will find all 95 in his blog and in Chapter 5 of his new book. I read them all and for the first time in a long time, I feel hopeand some fear because I know there will be fall-out from those who are not tolerant to this kind of thinking and logic. Some Christian rightists call Matthew Fox (and about 50 other liberal thinking Catholics, Protestants, Buddhist and Hindus) the anti-Christ which I personally find laughable. Over time, I will write my own take on the 95 Theses at Sacred Ordinary as every one of them calls me out to be the best human being I can possibly be for my time on earth. So here are a few to whet your appetite:

1. God is both Mother and Father.

2. At this time in history, God is more Mother than Father because the feminine is most missing and it is important to bring gender balance back.

4. God the Punitive Father is not a God worth honoring but a false god and an idol that serves empire-builders. The notion of a punitive, all-male God, is contrary to the full nature of the Godhead who is as much female and motherly as it is masculine and fatherly.

5. “All the names we give to God come from an understanding of ourselves.” (Eckhart) Thus people who worship a punitive father are themselves punitive.

11. Religion is not necessary but spirituality is.

26. Empire-building is incompatible with Jesus’ life and teaching and with Paul’s life and teaching and with the teaching of holy religions.

54. The Holy Spirit works through all cultures and all spiritual traditions and blows ‘where it wills’ and is not the exclusive domain of any one tradition and never has been.

72. Since homosexuality is found among 464 species and in 8 percent of any given human population, it is altogether natural for those who are born that way and is a gift from God and nature to the greater community.

83. The Dark Night of the Soul descends on us all and the proper response is not addiction such as shopping, alcohol, drugs, TV, sex or religion but rather to be with the darkness and learn from it.

85. Not only is there a Dark Night of the Soul but also a Dark Night of Society and a Dark Night of our Species.

So, I strongly encourage you to read Fox’s 95 Theses and I applaud his courage. I call myself a “heretic,” but do consider myself a spiritual person and I would venture to say that he could be described that way, too. I wish I had his scholasticism, compassion, and courage. I’m such a wuss I quake in my boots as I post this.