All too often, today’s churches, despite science and reason, have become stuck in 20th century traditions.  They either insist upon outworn fundamentals and dogma or stick blindly to the idea that science has reduced the Bible to mere metaphor and symbol. As a result, many have either morphed into voices of rigid intolerance or declined into cultural irrelevance.

John Wesley, founder of the largest religious movement of the 18^th-19^th centuries and attuned to the latest science of his time, believed that the Bible must be read by the light of not only tradition and personal experience but also science and reason. The Bible\’s not meant to be carved in stone, but to be a living conversation about life. Sadly, that’s a perspective that’s been lost, even in the Methodist movement Wesley founded.