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From the Cairns Community in Milngavie, Scotland, an online forum for people who want to explore a more relevant and meaningful faith or spirituality in today's modern world.

WELCOME to THINKING ALLOWED online. Here you will find a variety of videos and articles by academics, philosophers, theologians and ordinary people who prefer to consider faith and religion free from the shackles of church orthodoxy and the ancient past.

THINKING ALLOWED online is a digital extension to the now highly-acclaimed Thinking Allowed lecture series which has been running at Cairns for the past 16 years.

The lectures themselves are an integral part of a process - some might desribe it as a 'journey' -  which centres upon living the Christian faith now in our daily life, ever-searching, ever-enquiring. The end of the journey is perhaps subsidiary to the journey itself: questions do not necessarily require definitive answers.  

In an era where there is a high degree of scepticism about the supernatural - and both testaments of the Bible are full of this - the real danger is that the 'baby is thrown out with the bath water'. In other words, that the essence of the message is lost among the unbelievable, and is thus disregarded.  

THINKING ALLOWED addresses a growing demand for a more contemporary or progressive approach to Christianity. For many people today faith and uncertainty are seen not as unlikely bedfellows, but as identical twins.

In a society in which there is no longer one accessible language for conveying religious ideas, truth must be felt, reasoned about and discerned within the context of things lived and experienced in our lives day by day. 

A theological outlook that is both tentative and thoughtful need not be a sign of weakened convictions and half-hearted commitment. Quite the opposite. A questioning faith will always prove stronger than one which relies too heavily on external authority.

During the past 16 years, the lecture series has attracted a wide range of distinguished speakers, details of which can be viewed by here: Thinking Allowed Lecture Series

We hope you enjoy THINKING ALLOWED online. Please take part in the debate by leaving your views in the comment section.

Click here to start.