Get up off your knees
Cody Keenan
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: Op-Ed
Anyone who's known me for much of the past decade would be surprised to find that I was a devout Christian in high school. One night a week and five weekends a year, I joined my peers in lifting hands and eyes heavenward in praise and song. I tried to bring in as many classmates as I could. I taught church school, I read the Bible cover to cover, and I twice delivered the sermon at my church preaching the message of spreading Jesus' love.
But somewhere along the way, I got lost. Or rather, religion lost me.
Between the politicization of religion and the requisite adherence to narrow dogma, it wasn't for me anymore.
Recent events rekindled my frustration. A few weeks ago, the top bishops of the Anglican Communion held their decennial gathering in Tanzania to discuss church direction and outreach. But one issue heavily dominated the meeting. In 2003, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican denomination's American branch, consecrated the first gay bishop in all of Christendom. The growing rift over the American Church's views on homosexuality assumed center stage.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, who last year was elected the first woman to lead the Episcopal Church, not only supports the new bishop's consecration but also the blessing of gay couples. And so at the conference, seven bishops led by an archbishop from Nigeria and a bishop from Tanzania refused to take communion with Jefferts Schori in protest of her views.
I would think there are more urgent obligations on the African continent and across the globe, like genocide, famine, rape, AIDS, poverty and disease. Instead, they chose to focus on saving the American Church from homosexuals.
Exactly which missions are more Christian and worthwhile?
As an Episcopalian, I've always been proud of the denomination's liberal stances on issues of equality and social justice, from poverty to homosexuality. But this institutional infighting detracts from important work to be done and ultimately pushed me away from organized religion.
But somewhere along the way, I got lost. Or rather, religion lost me.
Between the politicization of religion and the requisite adherence to narrow dogma, it wasn't for me anymore.
Recent events rekindled my frustration. A few weeks ago, the top bishops of the Anglican Communion held their decennial gathering in Tanzania to discuss church direction and outreach. But one issue heavily dominated the meeting. In 2003, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican denomination's American branch, consecrated the first gay bishop in all of Christendom. The growing rift over the American Church's views on homosexuality assumed center stage.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, who last year was elected the first woman to lead the Episcopal Church, not only supports the new bishop's consecration but also the blessing of gay couples. And so at the conference, seven bishops led by an archbishop from Nigeria and a bishop from Tanzania refused to take communion with Jefferts Schori in protest of her views.
I would think there are more urgent obligations on the African continent and across the globe, like genocide, famine, rape, AIDS, poverty and disease. Instead, they chose to focus on saving the American Church from homosexuals.
Exactly which missions are more Christian and worthwhile?
As an Episcopalian, I've always been proud of the denomination's liberal stances on issues of equality and social justice, from poverty to homosexuality. But this institutional infighting detracts from important work to be done and ultimately pushed me away from organized religion.
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