Reactions within the Episcopal Church
to Rev. Redding's acceptance of Islam
Sponsored link.
Rev. Redding's harmonization of Islam and Christianity:
As noted elsewhere, Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, 55,
was ordained as an priest of the Episcopal Church, USA in 1984. She has since
accepted Islam and regards herself as following both religions.
Some within the Episcopal Church, USA had a neutral or positive
reaction to her decision:
Officials at the denominational headquarters do not know of any other
of their priests who believes in a second faith along with Christianity.
They indicated that it is the local bishop's responsibility to decide whether
she can continue performing the functions of a priest. 1
According to The Columbian newspaper:
"Redding's bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vincent
Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and
that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting. Her announcement,
first made through a story in her diocese's newspaper, hasn't caused
much controversy yet, he said." 1
Doug Thorpe was a member of St. Mark's faith-formation
committee with Redding. He has noted how her decision has deepened her spirituality.
He feels that Redding is being called:
"... by her very presence,
[to be] a bridge person. And we desperately need those bridge persons."
Postings by conservative Anglicans to the blog at the VirtueOnline
website -- "the Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism" -- were
universally negative. 2 Some
were quite vicious:
Railbirdbc wrote on 2007-JUN-17:
"My God, where does the Episcopal Church keep digging them up from?
Of course, we should not be totally surprised by this ridiculous notion
that one can be a Christian and a Muslim, a Christian and an atheist, or
a Christian and a mass murderer. We've seen it all in the last century
with totalitarian states embracing Christianity while murdering millions
of helpless people, and with liberal theologians like Tillich speaking
about God in impersonal and pantheistic terms of reference, which ended
in the 'Death of God' theology in the 1960s. But it's only in a
spiritually dead church that such nonsense is tolerated. I'll go out on
a limb here and state without reservation that Ms. Redding is not a
Christian, nor is she anything close to a Christian. Without a
Divine and eternal Jesus, who was and did
everything the New Testament claims he was and did, then you have no
salvation. And where there's the absence of
salvation, there's the absence of genuine Biblical Christianity. So,
good luck, Ms. Redding! Believing as you do, you're going to need it."
Isaac wrote on 2007-JUN-17:
"Apparently, Ann Holmes Redding has gone mad. But what about the
people at Seattle University who hired her to teach, and what about
Bishop Vincent Warner?"
"Sin and stupidity both seem to be running amok."
Sponsored link:
on 2007-JUN-17:
"If TEC had one minute shred of theological integrity, or any
integrity of any kind for that matter, Redding would be inhibited,
defrocked and caste out in about two seconds but that won't happen, of
course. Inhibition and defrocking are reserved for the faithful who are
so 'unenlightened and un-inclusive' as to preach the gospel and to call
out the heresy of TEC."
"I have a suggestion. If Redding thinks Islam is so wonderful and so
inclusive and so understanding and that it is possible to be 'both
Muslim and Christian,' go to Saudi Arabia, to Riyadh, stand next to the
wall in 'chop-chop' square and declare loudly 'I am a Muslim and a
Christian'. It will be a short lesson in what the lovable Muslims use
chop-chop square for."
"This woman belongs in an institution with rubber walls. Yet another
example of why WO is a really bad idea."
FrankV wrote on 2007-JUN-17:
"I think Anton LaVey lives on in the Episcopal Church." 3
Sentinel wrote on 2007-JUN-18:
"You know, if this was mere satire, it would be hilarious. But since
this is all too real, it is sad to see such a confused, hell bound,
soul."
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
Janit I. Tu, "Reverend drawn to
Muslim faith," The Columbian, WA, 2007-JUN-17, at:
http://www.columbian.com/
David Virtue, "SEATTLE: "I am both Muslim and Christian,"
VirtueOnline, 2007-JUN-17, at:
http://www.virtueonline.org/
The late Anton La Vey was the founder of the Church of Satan.
As of 2007-JUN-18, A Google search for
redding islam christianity
returned about 2,800 hits.
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