According to this Saturday article in the Charleston Post & Courier regarding the rift in The Episcopal Church:
Those on the other side of the issue say disagreements boil down to the manner in which Scripture is interpreted, and that none of the church’s core beliefs have been subverted.
“The creeds remain intact,” Barbara Mann wrote last month. Mann has held various national positions in The Episcopal Church and currently is director of the Episcopal Forum of South Carolina. “Belief in the Holy Trinity is not in question; belief in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as Savior, including his incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection, are not being questioned. Nor is the calling of Episcopalians as disciples to live out their baptismal covenant being endangered,” Mann wrote.
Really? I’m not sure Mann has been paying attention to what leaders in The Episcopal Church have been saying in recent years. In fact, I’m not sure this recent national Episcopal Church ad campaign was informed, either. I thought the following examples were well-known by now:
“Since 1979, I have quietly restored the natural flow of worship by omitting the creed; none of the members of my congregations have missed it. I would encourage others to let go of the creed and feel the freedom.” — The Rev. John Beverley Butcher, Pescadero, California, reader letter in Episcopal Life, June 2008, pg. 23
“‘I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to God except through me.’ The first thing I want you to explore with me is this: I simply refuse to hold the doctrine that there is no access to God except through Jesus. I personally reject the claim that Christianity has the truth and all other religions are in error… I think it is a mistaken view to say Christianity is superior to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism and that Christ is the only way to God and salvation.” — The Rev. Dr. George F. Regas, Rector Emeritus, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, California, April 24, 2005, guest sermon at Washington National Cathedral
“The story of Jesus‘ bodily resurrection is, at best, conjectural; that the resurrection accounts in the four Gospels are contradictory and confusing… the significance of Easter is not that Jesus returned to actual life but that even death itself could not end the power of his presence in the lives of the faithful.” — The Rt. Rev. John Chane, Bishop of Washington, D.C., Easter sermon in 2002
Read even more examples of how many core Christian beliefs are no longer held by Episcopal Church leaders. The contrast between what Mann and The Episcopal Church’s ad campaign have been saying and what Episcopal leaders have been saying is drastic.
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