No Gays Allowed

An owner of a hardware store in Grainger County, Tennessee decided to stick to his beliefs such as they are.  Jeff Amyx, who also happens to be a Baptist minister put up a sign in his store window that says, "No Gays Allowed."

This is a result of the supreme court decision on marriage:

"They gladly stand for what they believe in, why can't I?" Amyx told WBIR. "They believe their way is right, I believe it's wrong. But yet I'm going to take more persecution than them because I'm standing for what I believe in." Amyx said he has no plans to take the sign down.

Persecution.  Really?

Actually, the correct word is prejudice and it's the same as it has always been.  

Mr. Amyx might want to take a lesson from the Berenstain Bears...

It's not nice to exclude. Reminding you of your manners is not persecution.

Supremes Say "YES!" to Marriage Equality!

My daughter, Katy, posted on her Facebook page that she and her wife, Amber, are legally married in Tennessee.   The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Friday that states cannot ban same-gender marriage.  

I am sitting here in front of the computer screen not sure what to write next.  I am speechless.  So many have worked so hard and so long and suffered so many disappointments, suffered through so much hate and name-calling and spiritual abuse.  

To all my friends, thank you for never giving up.

Love and justice have overcome.

Godless Engineer Interviews: John Shuck!

I was interviewed just after Easter by John Gleason host of the Godless Engineer (Facebook, Twitter).  He saw my guest post in the Friendly Atheist and spent over an hour with me.   He asked some great questions.   Topics included a "belief-less" Christianity, the evolution of "God," Christopher Columbus, Ken Ham and much, much more!

Check it out the video!

Or audio to download via Spreaker!




I will delve into these questions throughout the summer during BYOS (Bring Your Own Sermon)!

If you are looking for thoughtful podcasts about religion listen to Religion For Life!   New 30 minute shows are uploaded every Sunday!  Download and subscribe to podcasts at KBOO, Religion For Life podcast page, or i-Tunes!

Summer Worship Guide for BYOS (Bring Your Own Sermon)

The last three weeks have been updated including welcoming Kile B. Jones, Interview An Atheist at Church on September 20th!

Questions and sermon topics have been submitted (25 in all) and I have distributed them over 12 sermons during the summer.     

In this guide you will find the theme for each service based on the questions asked.   After each sermon there will be a few minutes to discuss the questions and the sermon with your neighbors.  During the coffee hour we will meet in the sanctuary for a longer discussion. 

If you have a creative element (poem, song, children’s sermon, etc.) for one of the services, it will be most welcome!  Send me an email!  

Here is the line-up of questions.    Sermons (text and audio) will be posted here.  

June 21^st     Lament and Faith                              

• How did the death of your son impact your faith?  Did the impact include changes or affirmations?  Honestly, does such an event impact everything in your life?
• Not believing in a supernatural  God, or heaven,  how do you comfort people who are dying?
• You don’t believe in “afterlife” but would you tell a grieving person that their loved one is just “dead and done” – what would you say to them? In reading what you believe, this no-afterlife is the one I struggle with most. I agree with no heaven/hell places or no God person but I want to still believe that my loved ones are somewhere peaceful and happy and loved, or that their spirit is with me. I sense or believe in something, a creator that unites us all; science has an important role but did not give me love. Reading you has gotten me to focus on what I believe – good news – so I will ponder ‘afterlife’ some more.  On a lighter note, does belief in no afterlife mean no ghosts or spirits so would you walk through a graveyard at night?

  

June 28^th    Talking Theology with Family (and others)                         

• Why does it seem that Western culture has so much difficulty discussing, with any degree of rationality, the big three of Sex, Religion and Death?
• It seems to me the most strident of fundamentalists are frightened of the ambiguity of nothingness represented by death. What are John's views on that subject?
• It's fun to talk about theology but it can be divisive too, and it can degenerate into cant, or worse, doctrinaire judgment, prejudice and hatred. What guidelines would you give for discussing theology with members of our congregation? With our families? With acquaintances?
• How do I describe to my 90+ year-old Mother your belief system?   If God doesn’t tell you what is right and what is wrong, how do you know?

           

July 5^th      Mission Trip Sunday Led By Our Youth

Our youth lead the worship and inform us about their exciting adventures over the summer!

July 12^th    Deconstructing Sacrifice

                         

• The whole thing about sacrifice in the Bible.  Animals sacrificed in the Old Testament & Jesus sacrificed.  I don’t see why God just can’t forgive without a sacrifice.
• If Jesus was not born of a virgin (that being a myth) then he is not God's begotten son, and could not be expected to die for the sins of the world. Furthermore, if God said he didn't require sacrifice but justice, and he saved Abraham's son at the last minute, he would never require Jesus to be a human sacrifice. In fact, a God who requires any human sacrifice is repugnant to most of us. So how are we to see Jesus' death on the cross? Not as propitiation for my sin? I'd like to hear some discussion of this.

           

July 19^th    A Belief-less Christianity

• So, you’ve been quoted as referring to a belief-less Christianity.  What does that mean? And since the Presbyterian faith is grounded in numerous “beliefs,” how is it that you’re Presbyterian?

July 26^th    The Bible and the Universe Story

•  What poems, songs, works of art, novels, short stories, movies, cartoons, etc., from the last 50 to 100 years might/should be included in a bible that would be canonized 400 years from now? Why? Extra points for ones that actually do more than echo familiar portions of the current canon.

August 2^nd   A Heart for the Existential Jesus                                 

•  You use the term Jesus ________????   ( Ask John what phrase he uses and fill it in.)   What do you mean by that.
•  Please talk about Sartre, Camus and other existentialists (maybe Tillich, maybe not) and whether or not they have a strong kinship with Jesus and how some of that might be important to Southminster.

August 9^th  Deconstructing (and Reimagining) God                   

•   If God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and all powerful and needs nothing then why does "He" need 8+ billion of these little critters here on earth to worship "Him" to feel complete?
•  What phraseology do you use to speak of God?   How do you internalize it or find meaning in it (the phraseology)?
•   What do you mean when you say you don’t believe in God?  (or a supernatural God)

August 16^th    unKingdom of the unGod

•   Have we succeeded as Christians but failed as followers of Jesus?
•   From your very new perspective is Southminster alive with respect to the building of the kingdom of God?  What makes you answer that way?

August 23^rd     Prayer in a New Key

•  How to understand prayer; does God intervene in human affairs?  Are we to praise God?  Thank him?    
•  I saw an electronic church notice board today with "help is just a prayer away". What would Jesus say about that? Would he agree or disagree? Would he tell a parable? One he used before or a new one? What would Kushner say? How does the gift of free will constrain prayer? Why pray? How do modern people sort that out? Be sure to mention "apocalyptic" and "sapiential".

August 30^st     A God That Could Be Real

On this Sunday we review the book we have been reading over the summer, A God That Could Be Real:  Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet by Nancy Ellen Abrams.    But here is the cool part:  the author herself plans to be with us via Skype on the big screen.  The sermon will be a conversation between Nancy and I and then the congregation will have the opportunity to ask her questions.  By the way, a podcast of our Religion For Life conversation will be available June 28^th.  www.religionforlife.com.  

September 6^th   Celebrating our keyboardist, Kenn Wilson, and Some Softball Questions

•  What has been the most asked question from us, what topic of most concern, and is there a question you thought we would ask but no one asked? Was there a big response? Let us know how this experience has been for you!
•  What are your impressions of Oregon and of Southminster? Are there things you miss or especially like or were surprised by?  You probably find beauty everywhere, but seriously, isn’t Oregon just the most beautiful place ever??

           

September 13^th   A Community Without Answers             

This will be another dialogue sermon.  Associate Pastor, Rev. Don Ludwig and I will discuss these three questions:

•  As a Progressive Christian I do not believe in a Supernatural Deity. Therefore there is no reason to think that the man Jesus was the Son of this Deity.  So he was bound by all the natural laws that bind us.  i.e. No miracles, no Resurrection, no Second Coming, and no dying for my sins either.  Now Jesus seen in the proper context of his times was a wise man who talked about a very different approach to life.  A way that deserves consideration and implementation.  Many other wise men and women of history and the present have done likewise.  We should take wisdom from where ever we find it.  So here is my question, given all this, how does the Christian Church not just become another civic club doing good works?  Or is that where it is headed?
•  What do you see our church becoming?  Are there changes you would make in the direction we are going?  The issues upon which we focus? Less biblical? Would you speed up the timeline? Does what you want for us always include room for those less inclined to jump in?
• As a congregation we wrestle with some of the seemingly negative aspects of traditional and progressive Christianity.  At the same time we teach our kids about the Bible and faith in Sunday school.  How can we present the discoveries and clarifications given by Borg, Crossan, Spong, et al, to our children as part of that teaching?

September 20^th   Interview an Atheist at Church (special guest, Kile B. Jones)

Interview an Atheist at Church Day is a project created by Kile B. Jones, a Ph.D student at Claremont Lincoln University, an inter-religious school to train ministers. Kile is an atheist who is interested in helping liberal religious people work together with unbelieving communities for the betterment of society.

Some questions for Kile include:

How does your atheism influence your day-to-day actions?
Why don’t you believe in God?
How do you find meaning in an atheistic universe?
Where do you think morality comes from?
How can we find a way to work together?

BYOS (Bring Your Own Sermon)

In addition to Southminster Reads, members and attendees of Southminster Presbyterian Church are invited to Bring Your Own Sermon by asking me a question or picking the sermon topic.    Submit a question or sermon topic to Mary, our administrative guru, and she will send it on anonymously to me.   I will arrange the questions or topics over the course of the summer from June 21st through September 20th.  

The sanctuary will be set up around tables.  After the sermon you will have the chance to discuss around the table.  After the worship service ends, grab a cup of coffee and join back in the sanctuary for an open discussion so you can offer me your thoughts.  

What kinds of questions might someone ask?   You can ask me to address an ethical issue or a theological question.  You can ask me to preach on a text in the Bible.  You can ask me about Progressive Christianity, God, Jesus, whatever you like.  

If you ask me questions that are beyond my pay grade (ie. particle physics) you will get what you pay for.  That said, I am putting no limit on the questions or topics.  You can get personal, too.   For example,

"I am confused about your views on God, could you explain?"  
"What is your view of afterlife?"
"Who is Jesus for you?"
"How did the death of your son impact your faith?"

You can ask about our community.

"What do you see our church becoming?"
"Does organized Christianity have a future?"
"What is the church's calling in light of Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Overpopulation?"
"Should the church embrace non-violence?"

You can ask about daily life matters.

"How can I better communicate with my spouse?"
"How can the church be a resource for people caring for aging parents."
"I am having a hard time making ends meet.  Will the church accept me if I don't have much to give?"

Get the idea?  Ask the big questions.  Ask the small questions.  Ask the hard questions.  It's all good.

Now, I am just one guy, a simple country preacher.  I don't pretend to have answers to all of these questions!  I will give them my best shot and then open the table to the wisdom of the community (which is far smarter than the wisdom of any individual).  

I think this will be an opportunity for you to get to know me and for me to know you.    It might be an opportunity for us to dream a little and catch a vision.   All in the spirit of fun and learning which is a big part of what Southminster is all about!

Send Mary an email soon.  The hard, fast deadline is June 10th.

Southminster Reads

This summer, Southminster Reads!

Modeled on Oregon Reads, and Everybody Reads, Southminster will read a book over the summer and we will engage that book in worship and discussion on my birthday, August 30th, 2015!   (Don't tell anyone it is my birthday).

Since it is my birthday and I am the pastor, I get to choose the book.  We are reading Nancy Ellen Abrams, A God That Could Be Real:  Spirituality, Science and the Future of Our Planet.    

According to Abrams, we’ve all grown up so steeped in tradition, whether we’ve accepted it or rebelled against it, that it’s hard to grasp that the chance to re-define God is actually in our hands. “But it is,” she proclaims, “and the way we do it will play a leading role in shaping the future of civilization.”

Did you get that?  Re-defining God is in our hands.

The concept of God is always evolving.  The first two chapters of Genesis demonstrate this.  Think of how the concept of God or gods has changed over the course of human history.   Human beings are constantly in the process of re-defining God.   We are often less than honest with ourselves about that.   Yes, our conceptions of God are the result of human cultural evolution.

OK.  So, if we "made up" God, why not forget "God" altogether and move on then?  Some do.  But think about that.  Must we do that?   "God" is a powerful symbol.  It is not going away anytime soon.  Perhaps we can reclaim and re-define the symbol.   All of our language and symbols are products of cultural evolution.  There is no reason to throw out our stories just because we know they are stories.   We don't throw out "Love" just because we created the concept.  We don't throw out language just because we developed language.   We don't throw out mathematics just because we invented numbers.  All of these things are from us but bigger than us.  They are realities that have emerged and are emerging.

What do our God stories tell us about ourselves?  They tell us that we aspire.   We aspire to learn.  We aspire to achieve justice.  We aspire to love.   We aspire to be in awe.  We aspire to goodness.  We aspire to transform ourselves and the world. Those aspirations are real and they have a "life of their own" so to speak.   Together as a human community we make meaning and seek to name these growing, evolving aspirations that in turn shape us.   Perhaps that emerging reality is worthy of the name God.  Abrams writes:

"This God did not create the universe—it created the meaning of the universe."

I had a chance to meet Nancy Ellen Abrams and her husband, Joel Primack at a conference a few years ago.  (In case you are wondering, I am the guy on the right with the hair).

I invited them to be on Religion For Life to talk about their book, The New Universe and the Human Future:  How A Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World.  You can listen to that interview here.

I am thrilled to share this new book with Southminster and to hear your thoughts about it and about the project of re-defining God.

Fascinating?  Yes.  Controversial?  Absolutely.  Fun summer reading?  No question!

Pick up the book from your favorite retailer and enjoy the conversation we will have on August 30th.  I will also talk with her about A God That Could Be Real in a couple of weeks on Religion For Life!

BYOG

In my post on a belief-less Christianity over at the Friendly Atheist, I talked about BYOG (Bring Your Own God).   Some commenters say that BYOG is idolatry, making God in our own image.

The criticism as I understand it, is that the correct image of God has been revealed to us by God himself.  Consult the holy texts.  Moses, Mohammad, and the Apostles already got the divine memo and we just need to read it, believe it, and stay on message.

This was a huge debate when I was in seminary.  Since most images of God had been male (i.e. Father, Son, and Mr. Holy Ghost) expanding the range to include feminine as well as masculine images met with charges of idolatry.   I was on the expand the images team.  I consider myself in good company.

Higher criticism of scriptural texts demythologized them.   This has led an increasing number of people to regard these texts as products of human creativity.   All images of God are our images.   Is there a place for revelation?   Whatever you call it, revelation or evolution, Life is change.

Who decides that revelation stopped somewhere in the past?   I call any claim that revelation (or evolution) has ended, idolatry.  Idolatry is accepting someone else's version of God without doing your homework.

A.A. knows better.

Step 3:  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives our to the care of God as we understood Him [sic].

That is a clear a statement of BYOG as I have heard.   God can be everything from an inner voice, to the community, to gravity, to humanity's emerging aspirations.  It is whatever keeps you sober.  

Another point:  just because you BYOG that doesn't mean you will leave with the same G.   You will meet others who have brought their G or are skeptical about G altogether.  They may have an idea that disturbs you or enlightens you and changes your G.   The various Gs in our various spiritual traditions might provide challenge or comfort to your ideas as well.

Any claims that BYOG is soft-pedaling or idolatrous is missing the point.  BYOG requires spiritual maturity, creativity, courage, and hard work.

So BYOG, my beloveds! You have permission and you are welcome!

The Soaring Nones

The Pew Forum study is out.  "The Nones" continue to soar.

Nationwide, the "Unaffiliated" have increased their market share from 16% to 22.8%.   In my neck of the woods, that number is 42%. According to another study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute,  Portland, Oregon is America's Most Religiously Unaffiliated Metro. 

Of these unaffiliated, 43% do not believe in God.  That is compared to 10% of all Americans.

68% of the unaffiliated "completely disagree" with this statement: "It is necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values."

It seems that the concept of "God" and "belief in God" is a problem for a significant number of people.  This is a legitimate question that we practicing theologians need to raise.   Is Christianity tied to a particular concept of God?   This topic needs to be raised in the church in a safe environment free from charges of violating "ordination vows" and what all.

I declare that it is time for a full discussion about God within the Presbyterian Church (USA).  

God is on the table for dissection.  How has the concept of God evolved?  Does the concept have a future?  Is there a reality to what this concept points?  Is it possible to retain the concept of God in a modern understanding of the universe?  Can we be Presbyterians with or without God?

I am going to do my part in rousing up the deity discussion.  If you haven't read my article in the Friendly Atheist yet, check it out.   You should also visit the website of my friend and radical theologian, Gretta Vosper.  She's poking the hornet's nest north of the border.

Here is a start to the discussion.

This summer, we are doing a program called Southminster Reads.  I received the privilege of picking the book!  We will read it over the summer and I will do a sermon on it in September.    It is Nancy Ellen Abrams, A God That Could Be Real:  Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Our Planet.  I recorded an interview with her about the book that will be coming up on Religion For Life in June.

   
For a sneak peak into what this God might be like read her articles, part 1 and part 2 at NPR. 

Embracing Change

The LayMAN continues to think that I am interesting.   They wish to introduce me to Moderator Heath Rada.   We have met already.   I interviewed him and his wife, Peggy, on Religion For Life.   He and Peggy have done great work for the church.   The LayMAN thinks they "got him" when he says that ministers like me all say "yes" to ordination questions.   The LayMAN thinks it can't possibly be true because we aren't all fundamentalists like they are.


The LayMAN and its fan club are not that different from the demonstrators who shouted niceties at us on Palm Sunday.


Those gentlemen made their own video of their "rebuke" of us.  They say similar things that you find in the comment section of the LayMAN:

Gleeful Elbow: "John Shuck is an eruption, sort of like a boil, of the “infection plaguing this denomination. The fact that no governing body is willing to lance the infection and drain the puss means the PCUSA will grow more and more septic."

Don: "I have a quibble regarding the title of this article. Instead of “Rev. John Shuck”, it should just be “John Shuck”. “Reverend” is an adjective that does not describe him."

Roy H. Koerner: "I have read John Shuck’s blog. He should immediately be brought up on charges and subsequently defrocked. How can we maintain an evil liar and unbeliever in our midst."

Dr. Patricia Slomanski: "I wonder if it is possible for our Lord Jesus Christ to pick up the entire PCUSA Headquarters in Louisville and throw it into the lake of fire. I hope so. Let’s hope the ringleaders of this apostasy as [sic] in it when this happens….including John Schuck [sic]."

Loren Golden: "May God have mercy on his soul."

With a signboard and a milk jug megaphone they can audition for the Portland Street Preachers.

The author of the article, Paula Kincaid, fuels the vitriol with her libelous statements:

"...[Shuck] has done precisely what the moderator says is not happening: Presbyterian ministers are knowingly lying and taking ordination vows in jest."

And...

"...Rev. John Shuck and others who have taken their ordination vows with a giggle and a wink."

I do not answer my ordination questions by lying, jesting, giggling, or winking.  I take my promises to be a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister seriously.   Not only do I see no contradiction between these questions and my work, but my work is the fulfillment of these questions.   I take seriously our language of faith and seek to interpret it for today with "energy, intelligence, imagination and love."  That is also true for other clergy who are accused of "lying" and "giggling" their way through the ordination questions.

The LayMAN and the Portland Street Preachers seem to think that the only way a person could honor ordination questions or even be a Christian is to embrace magical thinking and deny science.   How literal is one supposed to be regarding liturgical and confessional language that was created in the pre-modern world?   Are Father, Son, and Holy Ghost playing croquet somewhere northeast of the Milky Way?   Does Dr. Slomansky truly think that a divine being, Jesus Christ, could literally pick up a building in Louisville, Kentucky and toss it into a lake of fire?   It is a challenge to understand the mind of a fundamentalist.   How literal are they, really?

It is most certainly a challenge to reinterpret Christian symbols that were created in the premodern era.   It is a challenge that I think we must accept.   Does saying "yes" to ordination questions require ordained officers to deny science and higher criticism of scripture?  If so, then, yes, the questions are anachronistic.  They certainly are used that way by people who wish to keep us trapped in the 17th century.   I think the ordination questions are about something altogether different.  They are a commitment to honor our tradition as we look toward our future.    I think my own statement of faith (conveniently preserved in pdf by the LayMAN) reflects this commitment.

What is happening is that the PCUSA is embracing change.   The LayMAN and friends were on the wrong side of the LGBTQ justice movement and they are angry and they feel persecuted.  They are on the wrong side of theology as well.   They will get a great deal more angry before they finally realize that the PCUSA has left them behind.   The PCUSA is saying that we are in the 21st century.   We are reexamining our symbols of faith for this exciting and challenging new era.   Our theology  is catching up with reality.

This important work of theological innovation is what I do with my radio show, Religion For Life.    Check it out!





Religion For Life has a new home, KBOO in Portland!  Here is my podcast page on KBOO.   You can subscribe to podcasts here.   Radio stations WETS/Johnson City, TN, WEHC/Emory, VA, and KZUM/Lincoln, NE continue to carry the show.   Please ask your favorite public, community, or college station to carry it, too!

Recent guests include Lloyd Geering, Reimagining God:  The Faith Journey of A Modern Heretic.

Doug Pagitt, Flipped:  The Provocative Truth That Changes Every Thing We Know About God.

Carolyn Baker,  Love in the Age of Ecological Apocalypse:  Cultivating the Relationships We Need to Thrive.

Rachel Held Evans, Searching For Sunday:  Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.

John Dominic Crossan, How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis through Revelation.

Harvey Cox, How to Read the Bible.

Nancy Ellen Abrams, A God that Could Be Real:  Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet.

Good stuff!  If you have ideas for guests, do let me know by emailing me.

Always appreciative of the LayMAN for the publicity.  Keep it coming!

Believing In God

I believe in God.

I don't believe in God.

Those statements seem crystal clear, don't they?  You either do or you don't.  You believe in God or you don't believe in God.  You are a believer or a non-believer, a theist or an atheist, religious or non-religious.  Never the twain shall meet.

I find this polarization unfortunate and simplistic and I challenge the either/or.  I think that both statements "I believe in God" and "I don't believe in God" could be true for the same person. Once we start to parse the statements, "I believe in God" and "I don't believe in God" things become far less clear.  The words "believe" and "God" require definition.    These words mean different things to different people.  In fact, they can mean different things to the same person depending on how and when we use these words. 

Let's start with the word "believe."  What does the verb "to believe" mean?  I am not interested in the proper use of the verb as if that can be determined.  I am interested in the way it is used by those who use it.  We may object that we shouldn't use the word in a certain way.  Fine.  Still we do.

1)  The verb believe is at times used as a synonym for assert or affirm or declare--as in assert, affirm, or declare as a fact.   For example, in my eight points, I wrote that I believe in evolutionary theory.  I affirm, as fact, evolution.  I believe North Dakota borders Montana. I believe Earth is a sphere.  I believe in the existence of protons.   In this sense of believe, believers affirm, assert, or declare the existence of God (in whatever definition they assume for God).

2)  The verb believe can be used to express an opinion that may or may not be shared widely.  "I believe that 9/11 was an inside job" or "I believe Sarah Palin would make a great president."  It can be used to express a hope or a fear:  "I believe that marriage equality will be the law in all fifty states by 2017." My eighth point expressed this use of the verb when I stated that I believe that industrial civilization is headed for a long descent.  It is an opinion of what I think will happen.   This sense of believe may have some urgency about it.  That I believe in this long descent means that I think we should prepare for it and take it more seriously than we seem to be doing.

3)  It can also reflect a commitment.  The synonym might be trust or even love.   We might say, "I believe in you."  We mean, "I trust you" and "I am committed to you."  In point two I stated, "I believe in higher criticism of the Bible."  Higher criticism obviously exists.  I am declaring its existence as a fact.  But I am also stating that it is a good thing to use.  I have a commitment to using higher criticism as an approach to the Bible.  I trust it to deliver good results.  This is similar to the way I believe in evolutionary theory as well.  I have a commitment to using it to better understand life including human life and of course, religion and theology. 

4)  It can also reflect a value even if what is being valued is not real, or is fictional, mythical, or highly abstract.  "I believe in love."  We may have a debate over whether or not love exists or what we mean by the word, but still value it.   "I believe in Harry Potter."  In this sense I am saying I value what this character communicates as a way of being in the world.  Adults can say, "I believe in Santa Claus."  They are "believing in"--that is valuing and making a commitment to--what the Santa Claus mythos represents: generosity, joy, human kindness, etc.   To say, "I believe in God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" may involve my commitment to, trust in, and value of, the totality of what this particular collection of symbols means for me.  It doesn't necessarily mean I believe that these entities exist. That is not the point.  To believe in this sense is to embrace a particular way of engaging life, a Christian way in this case.  I believe in, that is I trust and love what these metaphors imagine. 
 
In summary, the verb believe can mean to affirm as fact, to state an opinion, or to express one's love for and commitment to X.  The verb believe can be used as a combination of the above ways or in a particular way that excludes the other(s).

I think the reason the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has avoided making its leaders and members subscribe to a list of "beliefs" or essential tenets is because to do so would emphasize the affirmation or opinion aspect of believe over the more relational, trusting, and commitment aspect.  Nonetheless, we still can't seem to get beyond the notion that belief is about affirming the existence of external realities.  If that is the best we can do, we should jettison belief altogether and become belief-less or do more work to communicate the relational aspect of the verb to believe.

When Hemant Mehta titled my piece and I approved the title, "I'm A Presbyterian Minister Who Doesn't Believe in God" he was responding to what I had written: "I don't believe in God as a supernatural agent or force."   No, I do not affirm the existence of a supernatural being, nor am I committed to such an entity.  But as a Christian I do trust, love, and am committed to--that is I believe in--what the symbols of faith invite me to be in this world.   I do believe in God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I do believe that the Bible is "God's word to me" and I do believe in Jesus called the Anointed.  All of those beautiful and powerful symbols beckon me to a particular way of living.  All of this is God. 

I don't believe in God.

I believe in God.

Yes.