gay church swapping
[seriously, if any google searcher gets a hit on that title, I will be very impressed]
Interesting .article showing some anecdotal evidence in relation to the way that the Episcopal Church in the US has handled the issue of homosexuality:
Some lifelong Episcopalians have left their churches, saying the vote to affirm a gay bishop was the last straw in what they saw as the church’s long slide away from orthodoxy. Many of these people have started attending Roman Catholic churches.
“It breaks my heart,” said Shari de Silva, a neurologist in Fort Wayne, Ind., who converted from Episcopalian to Catholic this year. “I think the Episcopal Church is headed down the path to secular humanism.”
Some Episcopal parishes, meanwhile, are welcoming clusters of new members, many from Roman Catholic churches, who say they want to belong to a church that regards inclusivity as a Christian virtue. The newcomers include singles and families, gay people and straight people.
Throughout this debate, I have thought that on a practical level, this seems to be an obvious solution. If you have a church which comes out and states that it will ordain homosexual people, presumably those that cannot countenance such a thought will go and find another church which shares that opposition (because we all know that there are plenty of those).
Meanwhile, the people who believe that homosexual people should be ordained, are more likely to be part of a church which holds (or at least allows) the same viewpoint. There is nothing to stop each camp pointing at the other and proclaiming that the position is wrong (let’s presume for a moment that churches would engage in such unchristian behaviour).
So why do we care? If it just results in a bit of swapping between denominations or congregations, nobody is being lost to the kingdom.
December 29th, 2003 at 7:17 pm
Bless you for your wisdom and level head!!
December 29th, 2003 at 7:17 pm
Bless you for your wisdom and level head!!
December 30th, 2003 at 2:07 am
If only more people shared your level-headed view, Dan.
January 5th, 2004 at 2:37 pm
Except they’re not the only ones involved. A vast majority of the world’s anglican community is seriously pissed at the u.s. episcopal church, so much so that the bishops from africa refused to take communion with the american bishops before a recent conference aimed at “reconciliation.” Only a last minute bit of theological sleight of hand by the archbishop of canterbury avoided certain embarassment.
September 7th, 2004 at 1:03 pm
I agree with your stance on this, in theory. The problem is, its not just a matter of personal opinion. For most people, it is a matter of eternal salvation.
This subject has the capacity to split the church. Note i didnt say churches, but THE CHURCH, as a whole.
This saddens me.
September 28th, 2004 at 7:32 pm
The Church is not under threat of being split, it is split. Gay people are rejected and excluded from the church (and society in general) and it is up to the Church to have a lovingly and compasionately accept gays.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Yes, I got this article by googling - came up in the first ten. What exactly was I searching for? I had to check this out cause it was fairly off the mark.
February 17th, 2006 at 8:31 am
Cindy, you should read more often to get similar tidbits…