In an interview at her West Hill church, Rev. Gretta Vosper said congregants support her view that how you live is more important than what you believe in.
"I don't believe in...the god called God," Vosper said. "Using the word gets in the way of sharing what I want to share."
Vosper, 57, who was ordained in 1993 and joined her east-end church in 1997, said the idea of an interventionist, supernatural being on which so much church doctrine is based belongs to an outdated world view.
What's important, she says, is that her views hearken to Christianity's beginnings, before the focus shifted from how one lived to doctrinal belief in God, Jesus and the Bible.
"Is the Bible really the word of God? Was Jesus a person?" she said.
"It's mythology. We build a faith tradition upon it which shifted to find belief more important than how we lived."
Oh I like her!
A church that rejects the idea of God, and ignores the Bible entirely, in favor of teaching people to utilize their critical thinking skills, love themselves as they are, and celebrate the differences in others.
I think that might actually be a church I would be willing to attend.
Me too!
ReplyDeleteOh Gryphen, you tease! You will attend a church as soon as Sarah Palin and her family do.
ReplyDeleteNow that right there was funny! LOL!
DeleteThomas Jefferson would be giving this a big ol' thumbs up and passing her a copy of his "Jefferson Bible"
ReplyDeleteThe Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was a book constructed by Thomas Jefferson in the latter years of his life by cutting and pasting with a razor and glue numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's condensed composition is especially notable for its exclusion of all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels which contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages indicating Jesus was divine. ...wiki...
If you REALLY want to piss off an xtian fanatic, tell them Jefferson didn't believe jesus was "holy" or "divine". They will scream and holler and damned near turn violent. It makes my day and I really have to laugh.
DeleteThat's all well and good but there is just as much historical evidence for the existence of Jesus' miracles as there is for Jesus himself. Which is to say -- NONE.
DeleteNot that I don't agree with her point of view, but since it's at odds with her profession, I think she should resign. I liken it to when a politician you voted for when he or she was of your party, changes party affiliation while in office. Really screws those who "hired" him or her.
ReplyDeleteOr a pharmacist who won't provide a necessary medicine (Plan B, for instance) even with a doctor's prescription.
DeleteWhen I went to a Catholic university, seveal of my Jesuit priest professors were agnostic.
ReplyDeleteThere is a denomination that emphasizes how one lives and does not have a creed that must be believed, Unitarian-Universalists.
ReplyDeleteBut I will say that I attended the Unitarian church here in Anchorage, and apparently I had the nerve to contribute a thought about impoverished school children taking some responsibility for the free winter jackets and hats that were being donated to them, and not leaving them strewn all about the playground and ending up in the lost-and-found (which I, as a Title I teacher, regularly observed), and you could have flash-frozen a salmon on the silence that resulted. So a church is a church is a church ... you pretty much have to go along with whatever program they espouse to fit in. Now I go hiking on Sundays.
DeleteExactly. If you don't believe in Christ, fine, but maybe don't try working for a business with Christ in the name. Unitarians would be better.
DeleteGryphen, I was raised Catholic but never believed any of it, and stored attending church as soon as I could as a teenager. I never thought I would go to any church again. Then someone took me to the Unitarian Universalist church. You can be an atheist and still be a UU! Or a pagan, or a Christian! They go by seven secular principles rather than a creed that involves God. I believe Jeanne Devon isa UU.
ReplyDeletePerhaps she might like to call herself a Buddhist.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Gryphen. Her's in one congregation I might consider if I was looking for one, but I'm not.
ReplyDelete