I heard this on the radio the other day, and I was all, what?
I heard this on the radio the other day, and I was all, what? But it seems that the United Church of Canada's liberal policies have led it to a bit of a dilemma. It seems you can decide you are an atheist and you're welcome to attend services and hang out and do stuff with church groups, but you don't want to go there if you are one of its ministers. I mean, that seems obvious on the surface, but apparently it's more complicated?
According to some, the timing on pulling the trigger on this issue falls close to her expressing an opinion in public on the Church's public statements about the Charlie Hebdo incident. I don't know that that's really the deal, but I found a link with her letter and the UCC's statement and it is interesting to read. (I could only find a very partisan link, but the content of the letter/prayer are presumably accurate). That's the second link, if interested. She sounds like someone who is thoughtful, at any rate, whether you agree with her or not.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-11-2016-1.3398187/atheist-minister-fights-to-keep-her-place-in-the-united-church-1.3398237
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yearwithoutgod/2015/01/26/the-courage-of-gretta-vosper/
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-11-2016-1.3398187/atheist-minister-fights-to-keep-her-place-in-the-united-church-1.3398237
According to some, the timing on pulling the trigger on this issue falls close to her expressing an opinion in public on the Church's public statements about the Charlie Hebdo incident. I don't know that that's really the deal, but I found a link with her letter and the UCC's statement and it is interesting to read. (I could only find a very partisan link, but the content of the letter/prayer are presumably accurate). That's the second link, if interested. She sounds like someone who is thoughtful, at any rate, whether you agree with her or not.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-11-2016-1.3398187/atheist-minister-fights-to-keep-her-place-in-the-united-church-1.3398237
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yearwithoutgod/2015/01/26/the-courage-of-gretta-vosper/
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-11-2016-1.3398187/atheist-minister-fights-to-keep-her-place-in-the-united-church-1.3398237
As a fairly athey atheist, I have to say that I question even the definitional basis of "a post-theistic expression of church."
ReplyDeleteI think they want to hang around and humanist together. We don't really have a name for that, so I think they still want to call it church.
ReplyDelete