Episcopal Church

Hello Fellow DUers,

I am not too big on organized religion for the most part although I do participate in actions with some religious groups. I have attended my local Unitarian Church on occasion and they are all wonderfully progressive people. They host the local gay rights group in their church and they have a committee on environmental protection. There is also a Jewish Synagogue in my town that labels itself "Liberal" and has done a lot of good for our town, recently creating an annual Diversity Festival. I know the Episcopal church has come a LONG way on gay rights by recently making an openly gay man a Bishop. Does the Church bless unions for gays or is this decided by individual congregations? What about womens right to choose? What about women in leadership positions? I read an interesting book by a Episcopal Bishop titled "Why Christianity Must Change or Die". Basically it talked about leaving behind dark age era ideas on religion and moving in a more universally accepting and self analyzing direction. Thanks for any help regarding these questions!

I have links to many "liberal" church denominations, though some are more so than others. :)

http://geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/

That said, some parts of the Anglican Communion--namely Africa and South America--can be pretty conservative. I was raised C of E, and now I go to an Episcopal church. We jokingly call it Catholic Lite--all the fun, without the guilt. Check it out for yourself.

Besides, the head of the Church--the Archbishop of Canterbury--is a Simpsons fan, who may appear on the show in future, so he can't be all bad...

ions ago and have used it frequently since re: Episcopal vs. Catholic

"All the pagentry, none of the guilt." LOL

Having been raised Catholic, I got a large charge out of it.

on gay unions. Here in rural Mississippi, our union was blessed by a priest without our even specifically asking (he knew us well). The vast majority of Episcops support the right to choose, and we have women in the highest leadership positions-bishops.

The church allows you to use you own reasoning and not rely on literal translations of the bible.

Out of a small town congreg of about 100, only 3 or 4 are cool to my partner and me. All the others are very warm and supportive.

I e-mailed the local Church. It is a fairly large congregation of about 600 people. The Priest wrote me back telling me to give him a call. I asked him about the issue of homosexuality in the e-mail so I guess I will find out the answer.

...ECUSA (the acronym for the Episcopal Church) and their Canadian counterparts, the Anglican Church of Canada, are liberal enough that the primates of some of the more conservative regions of Anglicanism (particularly Africa and Southeast Asia) recently tried to have us kicked out of the Anglican Communion. The effort failed, but, knowing them, I'm sure they'll keep trying. :eyes:

A word of caution, though: while ECUSA nationwide is progressive, there are a number of dioceses, particulary in Texas and Florida as well as the area around Pittsburgh (for some reason), who seem to want to become Southern Baptists with more elaborate ceremony, and who attack the national church on a regular basis. So, if you live in any of those areas, you may need to choose your parish carefully.

At this point, same-sex blessings are not officially among the church's liturgies, but are done pretty openly in various congregations. (I should note that the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster -- Vancouver and British Columbia -- has officially approved a same-sex blessing liturgy for the entire diocese.) Women can hold all positions in ECUSA, including the office of Bishop. On abortion, they have the same sort of "middle-ground" position typical of mainstream churches (or Democratic politicians) -- they are not in favor of abortion in principle, but don't think it should be outlawed. (I remember a General Convention resolution from about twenty-five years ago, stating that the only generally-justifiable grounds for abortion were when the mother's life was in danger, the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, or tests showed that the child would have severe birth defects. In all other cases, the parishoners were urged to consult with their priest.)

The book you mention was written by retired Bishop John Shelby Spong. I'm not too impressed with his writings -- even when I agree with his conclusions, I don't see much of a chain of logic in the way he reaches them, and he also has a distressing tendency to pigeonhole people and attack his potential opponent's character (suggesting that disagreeing with him automatically makes you sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, or a fundamentalist) in a manner that's not all that different from right-wing "thought." There are many better liberal Christian voices in ECUSA -- my first suggestion would be Marcus Borg.

But I wish you well, and hope you secede in your efforts.

I can only say that i am not a member of any church nor will i ever be most likely. And the reason is that I feel the churches have moved away from spirituality and toward a very bland form of non ceremonial ceremonial.
I have always felt that the porpoise of religion was to have a ceremony preferably one steeped in tradition that, binds the church together; and I do not see that in any church today including the Catholics which at one time had a mass in Latin with many symbols and historical meanings.
Most Protestant just sing songs and listen to a preacher give his message and that is it.
To me real spiritually is all about the ceremony and has little to do with lame songs and a preachers interpretation of the bible.
It is just my feeling.

http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/16957_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=15647

You'll find that "reason" is as important as scripture and tradition in the Episcopal Church. I appreciate that parishioners are allowed to have their own interpretation(s) of spirituality, the Bible, etc.

For what it's worth, my father is a retired Episcopal priest, and one of THE most liberal people I have ever met!

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wonderfully progressive. Just got off the phone with the pastor. I think we have found - finally found - a church that fits. Pastor says they are a welcoming congregation (i.e. they welcome gays and lesbians). The pastor and I discuss cosmology, politics, abortion, the death penalty, war - basically the kitchen sink. It was very enlightening and refreshing. We will be going back to this church on Sunday.