Uncomfortable

August 24, 2007 by · 4 Comments
Filed under: Religion 

Now I’ve gone from itchy to uncomfortable.

Enthusiasm for God:  high
Enthusiasm for His followers:  low

The Presbyterian bloggers have been at each others’ throats this past week or two.  As always, there are still two camps:  progressives and conservatives.  The progressives are willing to (for the most part) allow conservatives to co-exist with them, but they are not willing to allow exclusion based on conservative criteria.  The conservatives see themselves as the last bastion of the True Faith and are unwilling to bend in their defense of only people who follow their rules being ordained.

In the past few weeks it’s gotten even uglier.  Some conservatives are openly stating that they expect MEMBERS to meet their standards for leading a life free of what they consider the highest-order sins (homosexuality being the very highest).  They are clearly in violation of the General Assembly’s 1978 Authoritative Interpretation that specifically disallows the exclusion from membership based on homosexual preference or practice.  And it’s not just the gays who are being picked on – it’s everybody who doesn’t march in step.

It’s only going to get uglier.  It’s clearer than ever that the evangelicals are going to accept nothing less than a denomination where their beliefs are dominant and where heresy trials are the rule rather than the extreme exception.  The progressives are looking for a big tent.  These are fundamentally incompatible positions.

This affects me personally.  My enthusiasm for my own local church work is waning.  I’m at the point where I’m seriously leaning towards taking Sunday off this week just to see what having a lazy Sunday was like.  Last year I was trying to figure out whether or not I could stand a life that included organized religion.  Now I’m wondering if I should go back.

Oh, I’ll probably go to church on Sunday.  And I’ll lead my little committee.  And I’ll work with the youth group.  Just please understand why my enthusiasm is absent for a while.

Tags: , , ,