My name is Joseph Daffer, and I live in Omaha, Nebraska. I recently completed my Masters of Arts in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University and I’m a first year Masters of Divinity student at Wartburg Theological Seminary.
My earliest faith memories are of two distinct faith traditions: Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. These two traditions, with their different spiritualities, blissfully coexisted within me until I was introduced to the Southern Baptist Church as a teenager, where one absolute “right” way of thinking, being, and believing was forced upon me. There was no longer the bliss of knowing God in diversity; instead, only uniformity was acceptable. In the Southern Baptist Church, conversion meant coming to believe the way I was expected to believe. Conversion in my evangelical experience was nothing like the conversion I have come to understand in the Christian Spirituality Program. There is no freedom in being brainwashed into conformity. Having a narrowminded and judgmental view of the world may make life easier in a black-and-white world of absolutes, but it is a self-imposed straight jacket. My experience with fundamentalism was focused on Jesus’ return and going to heaven. I was raised to look towards a future Kingdom, which unfortunately does not resemble living the way Jesus calls us to live now in the Kingdom of God on this earth and with our neighbors.
I have come to recognize that the golden thread of my faith journey is the diversity of my faith experiences. The same diversity has been a cause for divisiveness in some of the Christian traditions I was a member of over the course of my journey. Unfortunately, division is easier to find in our society and in some Christian traditions today than unity and community. My journey through the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton has enabled me to see how the Christian community can grow as we appreciate the faith traditions of others, participate in an exchange of spiritual gifts, and simultaneously grow in our individual understanding of faith. As we move towards unity, we form communities where Christian Spirituality and Spiritual Ecumenism enable us to connect more deeply with God, within ourselves, and across what divides us in our society.
I loathe politics and I am registered Non-Partisan.
The only way to take our country back from the billionaires and multimillionaires that have bought and paid for our government is to stop electing Democrats OR Republicans who are more loyal to their party than their constituents. Follow the money, look at the financial disclosures and if the candidate you’re considering voting for receives money from a PAC, billionaire or multimillionaire pause and cosider who they are really working for.
I have no desire to become a politician so please don’t contact me about becoming involved in politics beyond the stand I’m taking on this site.
Bottom line – stop electing politicians—of any party—who are no longer working in the best interest of the people.
If you must contact me, use this domain name (at) outlook.