Is the Episcopal Church a frothing water feature? Foaming attractively for the amusement of shoppers in the mallspace of American religion but going, ultimately, nowhere?
Here's the Dean of Virginia Theological Seminary, Ian Markham, gushing from General Convention about the Episcopal Church:
"So why is this General Convention going to be historic? It is because we offer a “product” that our age needs and wants; the immediate cultural war is coming to an end; and we now have leadership in the Church that is ready to be imaginative about our programming for the future. I am confident that in 50 years’ time, the General Convention of 2015 will be the moment that historians identify as the turning moment in the fortunes of The Episcopal Church."
This is Markham foaming about culture:
"now The Episcopal Church is where the majority of Americans are (especially the younger demographic). Large evangelical megachurches are very aware of how they will alienate the young if they are too overtly hostile to the inclusion of gays and lesbians. Being pro-gay is good in modern America; and as we have seen with the Supreme Court decision last week, the affirmation of equality embedded in the American story from its founding finally reaches our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."
Right on, Ian. All the secular liberals and the people that just don't care are going to start flocking to your gay church. Really? Just like they did with the ordination of women? Maybe you remember how that was going to fill the pews, and dismally didn't.
The Episcopal Church has lost over a quarter of its worshiping attendance in the last decade, some 200,000 people. Let's see if Markham's froth and foam will turn that around.
Your Pal,
LSP
The only people who will go to a gay church are gay people. Which means no families. I'm sure that TEC will sponsor homosexual and transgender adoptions, but you're still left with a fraction of the 3% of Americans who are queer/sodomites. The pool of people to draw from who will come to a gay church is embarrassingly small. The population of out-of-the closet gay people in rural Texas and the rural south is microscopic. The same is true of black communities where homosexuality is looked down on and they tend toward the charismatic entertainment-based ethnic faith that they are known for. The Latin community is Catholic.
ReplyDeleteJust because people think that homosexuals should marry does not mean that they want to come to a gay church. In fact, I suggest to you that a HUGE majority of the people who support same-sex marriage don't go to church at all. Did your expert do any research or focus groups on any of this or is he just pulling it out of his miter?
Some people have accused Markham of being a dancing monkey.
ReplyDeleteLSP, he might have a job opportunity outside of the Episcopal Church in the event that it capsizes. I hear that Hillary R. Clinton is hiring an army of flying monkeys...
ReplyDeleteKoyaanisqatsi - a Hopi word that means
ReplyDelete1. Crazy life or
2. Life our of balance or
3. A way of life, which if not changed,
will lead to destruction.
BTW, excellent exposition of some of downtown
SLC's water features with the narrative.
I think the only thing 2015 will be remembered for, is the Great Facebook Unfriending War, that broke out spontaneously between Confederates and Skittles fans. Thousands, if not millions, of friendships were torn asunder, in less than a week.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to buy skittles now.
ReplyDeleteI think he missed his last rabies shot.
ReplyDelete