Tribal Church

Carol Howard Merritt surveys the religious landscape

Avoiding the trappings of power

As progressive Christians become more relevant, can we learn from the religious right?

Nov 19, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

On many accounts, it would be good to learn from the religious right and their demise. What happened? Why did they fall into irrelevancy? Can we avoid the same problems? How?

Diana Butler Bass: Christianity After Religion

A conversation with Diana on her new book

Nov 15, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

As we read about the rise of the spiritual but not religious, how do we respond? Do we think of it as a threat? A challenge? Or do we resonate with the category?

Changes in the PC(USA) dues structure 

Why putting more financial burden on younger clergy is not the answer

Nov 03, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

As common sense dictates, an insurance company needs a good percentage of healthy people in order to do well. Why would our insurance plan give incentives to retirement-age clergy to work longer while making it cost more for clergy with dependents?

Where I've been

Oct 25, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

I've participated in a few writing projects that I need to let you know about.

The guts of the passage

What do you do to connect with the emotional life of the text?

Oct 22, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt
In my tradition, we pride ourselves on the intellect and roll our eyes at emotional sermons. We think of them as (1) dumbing down content or (2) manipulating people. But ignoring the importance of emotion in our spiritual lives can make us... well... boring.

Speaking to the fear

How do we respond to our anxious culture during this election cycle?

Oct 09, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

The fear is palpable. The Obama supporters feel that a Romney presidency will completely erode our safety net, so that only the rich will survive. Women feel like any gains that they have eked out in society for the last few decades will be taken away completely. The Romney supporters think that we need to get someone in there who knows about business, or else our economy will collapse. They worry about the looming deficit and an oversized government, so they want Romney to make the tough decisions.

Constructive use of jealousy

How can we idenitify jealousy and use it to recognize our calling?

Sep 27, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

I get jealous. I try not to, but I hope that I’ve also begun to recognize and constructively use the emotion. Here are some dos and don’ts that I practice to make sure that the little green monster doesn’t take over my life.

Feeling threatened

When someone you distrust shows up at church

Sep 19, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt
Someone who tries to control through words has been trying to contact me for years. While he acts as though he is interested in saving women from violence, the way he does this is through distorting the truth, triangulation, manipulation and, lastly, by exerting the power of place: showing up to my congregation.



Social media and social change

How do we respond when a good cause becomes a fad?

Sep 10, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

Social media can reduce activism to a fad—something that we take part in because a particular Twitter hashtag is trending, a video has become viral or a Facebook cause has become popular. It can ignore the hard work that has been taking place over decades and discount a long-term strategy that a community might have.

Playing the mom card

Does pointing out the needs of your family help or hurt the next generation?

Sep 08, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

I always feel like using the mom card highlights some sort of gender defect. My husband was a work-at-home dad for three years, and he has been just as involved in the diaper changing, sick days and parent/teacher meetings as I have. But I always have a feeling that when a guy uses the parent card, people think, What a great dad. But when women use it, people think, What an inept worker.