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John Shelby Spong (born 16 June 1931 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is the retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). He is a liberal theologian and author. He promotes traditionally liberal causes, such as racial equality. He also calls for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief, away from theism and from the afterlife as reward or punishment for human behavior. His views are so radical that some more conservative Christians consider him not Christian at all. However, he is representative of a tradition of dissenting theologians like John A.T. Robinson, and Don Cupitt which has been a component of Christianity and especially the Anglican tradition.