Truth has long been regarded as a core value within many religious traditions. We find ourselves in a time, however, when not only the culture at large, but people of faith are confused and doubting:
- What is truth?
- Can we even know what is true?
- Does it even matter?
- Is lying always wrong?
- Can’t I have my truth and you have yours?
- Can we be in relationship with one another if we don’t hold the same truths?
These are not specifically religious questions, but they should have special urgency for people of faith. How can we claim to hold certain beliefs as true, if we don’t know what “true” means? How can we claim God as "True" if we don’t have an understanding of the word itself?
Reclaiming Truth is a network of preachers who share the conviction that a commitment to truth is fundamental to living their religious tradition faithfully. Our work is not to debate particular truths of faith. Indeed, we come from a variety of different faith traditions that interpret sacred texts in a variety of ways. Rather, our work is to reclaim that the notion of truth itself matters. We hold that--regardless of our religious tradition--we are all called:
- To seek truth;
- To speak truthfully; and
- To be true.
As a network, we commit to do what we can do as preachers to speak about the value of truth from our pulpits, in our online presence, and any other means of communication available to us. We have built this website to offer resources to preachers who want to talk about the value of truth in their own communities. Whether you come from a tradition that preaches sermon series or from a lectionary, you have come to the right place. We are compiling here an ever-growing sample of sermons, popular and academic articles, and online resources that explore the practices of seeking truth, speaking truthfully, and being true.
We invite preachers to speak about these topics regularly within their congregations throughout the year. We name each October, however, as the one month each calendar year when we will harness our common efforts to speak about the value of truth in pulpits across the country. We provide several sample sermon series (for both lectionary and non-lectionary based traditions) to help you prepare to speak about truth during this month as well as short print resources for your bulletin or social media presence.
