Religion divides.Mercy unites.Meet Shawn the Baptist.Join The Front.
Religion often serves as a mechanism to divide individuals of faith, splintering every individual off into their own religious microcosm; we are highly equipped to develop religious opinion, but highly ill-equipped to withstand the existence of that opinion with another. The solutions presented to us exacerbate the issue: the religionist counterintuitively doubles down on a harder line of division, motivating individuals through unfounded certainty, faith's opposite, while the anti-religionist takes the religionist at his word and abandons faith altogether - throwing the baby out with the bathwater for individuals who truly value faith in some form of a God.
Shawn the Baptist promotes a critical alternative: MERCY, which actually serves to deepen faith more than certainty, and increase one's capacity to manage the difference of perspective inherent to human experience. Meet him as he travels the nation with boots on the ground, inviting all to join “The Front,” unite through mercy, and steady our quaking society.
Religion often serves as a mechanism to divide individuals of faith; in the face of religiously based familial tension, social and cultural frustration, presumed political and lifestyle deviations, every individual has splintered off in their own religious microcosm. Perhaps this resulting freedom of religious thought is not the issue, but our incapacity to withstand the abundance of difference is. We are highly equipped to develop religious opinion, but highly ill-equipped to withstand the existence of that opinion with another; we only seem to see exclusion, isolation, conflict, animosity, hate, violence and even war… we only see division. But, why? Division is not only futile but it is counterproductive for individuals who care about faith: it causes us to fixate on parcels of information that are limited or uncertain, diverting us from the presumed goal of faith, as it instead appeals to knowledge, faith’s opposite.
Unfortunately, the solutions we see presented to us do not address, but exacerbate the issue. The religionist doubles down on a harder line of division. Through often well-meaning intentions, religionists re-assert certainty as a way to reinstate what they deem as true. Through claims to authority — doctrinal, priesthood, intellectual, logical or cultural, the religionist position motivates individuals through fear, which ironically hinders faith in the end. They disregard the fact that an increase of varying perspectives is not a threat to true faith, but an exceptional tool for its growth. On the other hand, the anti-religionist understandably calls for an abandonment of faith altogether, as it takes the religionists at its word and conceives of God as appropriately represented by the systems of thought humans use to represent God; as those systems prove faulty, they come to disregard God entirely. This reaction throws the baby out with the bathwater for individuals who truly value faith in some form of a God, which in itself can be incredibly beneficial to individuals and society.
Shawn the Baptist promotes a critical alternative: mercy. When we assume a merciful disposition in the face of difference, faith is both deepened, and individuals grow more capable of managing the difference inherent to human experience. Mercy can be an essential solution for individuals of faith to steady the massive instability caused by religious division.
Meet Shawn the Baptist, as he travels the nation with boots on the ground to face and resolve religious division, one person at a time. He invites all to join “The Front”, unite through mercy, and steady our quaking society.
Shawn the Baptist is the public moniker of Shawn McCraney, a punk, iconoclastic, independent biblical philosopher. Shawn’s public work and approach have been known for their unrelenting boldness in the face of religious bondage, and unyielding care for the individuals he comes into contact with, especially the broken.
As a Son of Yeshua, he comes to confront the bondage that religion has placed on individuals in the name of Christ. Shawn’s message: you have been lied to; religion has told us that the objective of faith is to exclude, divide, and hate. He detests this unfounded objective, and is putting boots on the ground to confront that narrative head-on, promoting, instead, unity through mercy, one person at a time.
Shawn has been an observer of culture and God since childhood. He was born and raised a devout Mormon, and continued that devotion in ministerial training under Chuck Smith upon a seeming “born-again” experience. His experience with religion was always met with a dissonance between his genuine heart for God and his disconnect with religiosity. Over time, through public, independent study via open-access teachings, shows, books, art, and one-on-one counseling, Shawn has come to a body of theological work that serves as a living experiment of one’s ability to learn and grow through a direct account to God, and not through any inserted mechanisms of authority.
Shawn’s exceedingly prolific body of work is freely available at Yeshuans.faith. Ask any question and this search engine will pull from his work to answer with context.
Shawn was “washed and anointed” with the name of God across his body:
Shawn the Baptist comes to any and all in the spirit of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of Elijah. He comes to help prepare the way for the true Spirit of Christ, defined by sacrificial agape love, to rise in the hearts of any and all individuals, no matter their religion. He hopes to bring individuals liberty from the religious chains inflicted on well-meaning seekers of God, and hopes this message finds all who resonate as we watch the walls of religion come down, especially over the next few years.
The Front, formally called A United Front, is a grassroots collective of individuals committed to God’s mercy for all people, especially toward those who differ from them. Intentionally, the definition of God is left undefined - in this context, it does not matter. A United Front gathers all who assert that the God they believe in cares about mercy for others above all.
A United Front is a unity in spirit. It has zero material or religious requirements, and it collects no contact information. This initiative aims to change the world through genuine intention, one person at a time.
Shawn is starting a tour of the nation to meet and speak with individuals as a boots on the ground effort to build the grassroots initiative: The Front. The calendar below shows all dates and times currently scheduled. We communicate about Shawn’s meets through text. Submit a mobile phone number below where it says “MEET SHAWN” and we will send you the location, which are typically a longitude and latitude pin in a remote location, akin to John the Baptist’s “wilderness”.
Find a scheduled eventRequest Shawn in your area, at your school, or on your platform
The Front requires no trackable information from you. You can join in your heart on your own. But if you want to let us know that you are in unity with us, we’d love to hear from you. Click here.
Shawn is open to most forms of communication with any earnest individuals or institutions. He has no qualms talking with anyone in agreement or disagreement with his message, or discussing any category of his work. His one stipulation is that the engagement be conducted with earnest intention to learn from one another, meaning he will not debate.
Request Shawn in your area, at your school, or on your platform
Meet Shawn in the deserts of Utah. Hear a message of hope and join the grassroots initiative to increase God’s mercy in the world.
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Live Every Tuesday
Shawn has hosted his show Heart of the Matter since 2006 via live television and YouTube. Watch the current series: HOTM: Shawn the Baptist every Tuesday night starting in October.
