[3] His father, Dr. Robert Meyers, was originally an ordained minister in the Church of Christ and Professor of English Literature at the church-affiliated Harding University; however he lost his job in 1959 for supporting desegregation at the school.

[5] He told the Congregation: I remember vividly the stands my father took on civil rights, his protests of the Vietnam War from his pulpit, and his unshakable faith in the life-saving power of a non-literal interpretation of Scripture.

[3] Meyers is a fellow of the Westar Institute (home of the Jesus Seminar), and a frequent preacher and speaker at church conferences and communication workshops across the United States.

[11] Meyers credits the late American New Testament scholar, theologian and author Marcus Borg as a major theological influence, as well as his seminary Preaching Professor and mentor Fred Craddock.

[1] In his writing and preaching Meyers emphasizes the humanness of Jesus and the literary (rather than literal) nature of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, stating that: "I seek to build, not a collection of 'believers', but a beloved community devoted to embodying peace and justice".

[1] His goal to empower Christians to live subversively according to a different way of being has been compared to that of the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann[15] and endorsed by South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

[7]Meyers opposes the death penalty and attempted to save the life of Wanda Jean Allen, whom the State of Oklahoma executed by lethal injection in January, 2001, for the murder of her girlfriend.

[19] Meyers is also involved in interfaith dialogue[20] and spoke publicly against a Florida church's plans to burn copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

[24] He contends that high divorce rates in the "Bible Belt" states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma are linked to "fairy-tale conceptions of marriage" within fundamentalist Protestant denominations in that "they have that whole dogma of 'This is right, this is wrong' and nothing in between.

[27]Shortly after George W. Bush was re-elected as US President in November 2004, Meyers became known via the Internet for an anti-war speech he delivered at an Oklahoma University peace rally[28] at which he told the crowd: "This country is bankrupt.

[29] In this respect Meyers has been read or reviewed alongside writers including Jim Wallis,[29][30][31][32][33] Rabbi Michael Lerner,[29][30][31][33] Bill Press,[30] Linda Seger,[30] Randall Balmer,[30][31][32] Brian McLaren,[31] Peter Laarman,[31] former U.S. president Jimmy Carter,[29][30][33] David L. Holmes,[29][30] Jan G. Linn,[29] Sister Joan Chittister,[29] the Rev.

[33] Meyers' support of environmental issues has been seen as part of a wider movement within American Christianity that now includes some members of the traditionally-conservative evangelical branch of the church.