I applaud Jane's effort to promote the upcoming "big tent" event in Raleigh. I hope it gains traction at CUCC. (I'll miss the event because I'll be in Massachusetts officiating the wedding of Jo's niece.)
The event's organizers speak of "big tent" Christianity as finding areas of agreement among the multitude of issues which sometimes divide Christians. But there's another way to think of "big tent" Christianity that is worth noting as well.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we find an unambiguous message that we should all engage in rescuing the broken and beaten man lying by the side of the road. And that was something the Good Samaritan attended to himself. A fair amount of detail is provided as to exactly what he did, but there's no suggestion in the parable that the details in themselves are what's important. For example, the Good Samaritan is described as "pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn." If a cool spring had been nearby, and if the Samaritan had happened to live nearby, then bathing the wounds with water and taking the injured man home would have no doubt been conduct just as meritorious as what Jesus described.
Where so many of our divisions arise is when we move from the realm of personal action to arguing over what we should lobby the government to do. One group wants the government to do such and such, and another group wants the government to do something else. But you know what? When we argue about that sort of stuff, we're arguing about strategy, not about core values. We need to keep our tents big enough that the strategy arguments don't divide us. The size of our tents can be quite large if we define the tent based on core values. And remember that Jesus didn't talk a whole lot about strategies.