About
I'm Dale Westervelt. In the pic, I'm standing on Mars Hill in Athens, where Paul preached. The podcast tied to this website is a passion project that's been boiling on the stove for a couple of decades. I am a believer and a disbeliever. I am a believer in the good and great Christian gospel and I am a disbeliever in much of contemporary Christianity. I am also neither disgruntled nor displaced, as my faith community is a fountain of light and hope. My Masters degrees are in Theology and in Church History, with additional graduate studies in Moral Philosophy at Georgetown University. I am pleased you stopped by.
According to a Barna Group report, the number of self-identified "practicing Christians" has dropped by half since 2000. This podcast and website addresses this reality with three main ideas:
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Christianity has an obvious and serious problem...
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Owing to a widespread and fundamental misunderstanding about the essence of Christianity...
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And the solution is simple and extravagantly good
I point to alarming statistics, but the data are not the problem. Human persons have been injured or oppressed by their experience with Christians and the church. One particular Barna survey (unChristian book c. 2007) revealed that non-believing Millennials reported their impression that Christians seem: too political, arrogant, anti-gay, judgmental, and unloving.
I have been part of the Christian church--Protestant, non-denominational, reformed, and para-church organizations--since the early 1980s. Other than my friends and faith community, I have the same impression.
“Dear Christianity…” invites the weary, the disenfranchised, and the curious to come and engage in a thoughtful look at the undying human impulse to find meaning and hope in something grand and good. My aim is that "Dear Christianity..." will be a refreshing voice in the ever crowded world of podcasting.