God is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu: God Dwells in Us, Around Us, as Us

By Bishop Carlton Pearson

Bishop Carlton Pearson dares to openly ask the questions that many Christians will not allow themselves to ask, even in secret: questions about the divinity of Christ, the real political motives of the church, and the nature of God. The acclaimed and controversial author of The Gospel of Inclusion boldly proclaims in his newest work that within each of us there is a “deep and everlasting connection to the substance of God that requires no church or dogmatic mediation for us to experience and know.” He declares that living in Christ consciousness has nothing at all to do with rules, rites, or rituals and even less to do with what has come to be known as “Christianity.”

Bishop Pearson dethrones the anthropomorphic, patriarchal, warlike, and decidedly male version of God. He suggests that what is needed instead is a radical transformation of our whole culture’s perception of God, beginning with gender, and he advances an inclusive vision in which religious belief can no longer serve as fuel for intolerance, violence, and hatred.

Bishop Pearson’s book will surprise, unsettle, and inspire like-minded seekers as he reveals how he lost everything he had in the world when he sought and found a “pure, passionate spiritual experience untainted by rules and regulations and intimations of damnation.” That this fourthgeneration Pentecostal could face the loss of his ministry, his income, and even his fellowship with his Pentecostal brethren and come through it all feeling that his losses were more than compensated by his newfound freedom will be an encouragement to those still trapped in what he calls an “addiction to religion.” Those unwilling to set their rational minds on the back burner when approaching the divine will resonate with his assertion that “scientists and spiritualists should be the best of friends — and they can be. It is the theologians who tend to cause the friction.” Those who seek spiritual awakening but find that religion only numbs their souls will learn, as he did, that instead of relying on a second-hand experience of God, mediated by the church, “to truly capture your original essence, you must become a practicing mystic.”

Bishop Carlton Pearson is an independent spiritual leader, author, New Thought teacher, and gospel recording artist who has twice won the Stellar Award. He has been featured in the national media and currently serves as interim senior minister of Christ Universal Temple for Better Living in Chicago.