Episcopal Priest Sees No Barrier To Also Practicing Islam

From fundamentalist Christians, she may expect some harsh criticism.  From fundamentalist Islamists, she risks severance of her head from her body.  I expect a lot of Episcopalians will be cool with it.

Actually, this is an improvement.  A couple of years ago there were two bi-vocational TEC priests who also moonlighted as Druids, and CofE has/had a priest who was also a practicing Hindu.  At least both of hers are monotheistic faiths.

Yep, I think most Bishops will condone her choice, especially at the Primate level.  I suspect ++Frank has already sent his congratulations and is asking for council on how he might join her.  The New Congress and Senate might want to enlist her as a diplomat to go to Iraq and Iran.

Interesting… Given that Dr. Redding holds a PhD in New Testament she will be aware that the Bible states very clearly that Jesus died on the cross. The Koran, against all the historical evidence (Christian and non-Christian) rejects this claim - suggesting that Jesus suffered but didn’t actually die. This has long been a thorn in the side of Islamic exegesis and something of an embarrassment to Muslim scholars. How then would this work out for someone claiming to be both Christian and Muslim? Did or didn’t Jesus die on the cross? No doubt Dr. Redding would say that we’re asking the wrong questions but the fact of the matter is this: Christianity without Christ’s death on the cross is not Christianity - so, if she is a true Koran believing muslim then Christ didn’t actually die on the cross -in which case, she can’t go around calling herself a Christian; on the other hand, if she is a true Christian then she’ll affirm with the New Testament witness that Christ truly died on the cross - in which case she contradicts the teaching of the Koran, and so oughtn’t call herself a Muslim. Glad it’s not my dilemma!

You sure this isn’t just a skit on Saturday Night Live?

Surreal…

Your first inclination is to scream, pull your hair out and write the obvious—that the two faiths are mutually exclusive in that to even mention that Jesus is the Son is anathema to followers of Islam.

However, after a while you realize this is no more bizarre than the existence of an Episcopal Wiccan Priest or the confused, lost meanderings of Spong and his progeny.  A common thread is the rejection of Jesus Christ as divine. Once that bridge was crossed, nothing should surprise us.

The fact that it is highlighted in a feature article in Episcopal Life, without condemnation, reflects that everything, and anything (except traditional Christianity) is now considered part of the mainstream in TEC.

Um, if you hold two monotheistic faiths .....???? Why not just go ahead and say outright that you don’t believe anything in particular, but lots of little things you’ve picked up here and there and cobbled together?

She’s probably an Arian…  And why shouldn’t she be.  The only rule for doctrine in TEC is experience…  The three legged school is like a pogo-stick…

But hey, let’s form a “listening process,” you never know, maybe the Spirit changed his mind again…

Does this mean that she is unequally yoked by herself?

Today’s sign that the apocalypse is coming soon.

I would bet she is not that far removed from most liberal seminary New Testament Professors.  It means nothing and it means everything and it is significant and irrelevant…it is NEW EPISCOPAL WAY.

Her only recourse, as I see it, is to also embrace Orthodox Judaism, that way her entire weekend can be devoted to following the Abrahamic covenant(s); Friday for the Peace (al Islam) with the sons of Ishamael; Saturday for the Hebraic Covenant and the sons of Israel, leaving her Sundays open for ...whatever…, but certainly NOT the Son of God!

I wish her well, I just don’t wish her to be around me when the Queen of Hearts shouts, “Off with her head!”

Signs of the times, indeed…if you cannot firmly believe in something, you will surely fall for anything, and everything.

Kyrie eleison!

Does she wear the Hijab under or over her cassock?

You could not make up this stuff if you tried.  But what else can you expect from a church whose theology rejects the existence of sin, Satan, the Trinity, the Atonement, the Virgin Birth, the divinity of Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Light and the Tooth Fairy!

Just when you don’t think it can get any sadder than it already is .....

Wow, I never would have guessed that there were any sects of Islam so liberal as to allow Episcopalians in. (I have met one Imam who I think might be open to such an idea, but I am almost certain even he would require that his followers refrain from participating in, much less celebrating, a Christian Eucharist). What next, will she advocate sharia law for Seattle?

You know, if you are going to file presentments over abandoning the faith against bishops for the audacity to practice Christianity as it was practiced 30 years ago, you would think there would be some form of correction for an Episcopal priest who admits (brags about) worshipping Allah. Not to mention presentment against a bishop for allowing such conduct (assuming no immediate inhibition follows this news story) in the diocese.  I would certainly love to hear, as well, from some Islamic scholars on whether one can be Islamic “part time.” 
I know this is not, strictly speaking, a Windsor compliance issue, but perhaps someone would be good enough to forward this on to the Primates.  You might want to include the line: please read only after taking blood pressure meds.

This may well be the most distrubing thing I’ve read in some time.  Is there, at last, no shame within TEC?  Sadly, she’ll be a Bishop someday, no doubt, awaiting her invite to Lambeth!

Redding credits her upbringing for early exposure to interfaith relationships. She was baptized by an African Methodist Episcopal minister but the only Sunday school she attended was Episcopal. She attended a Unitarian youth group in high school when the Episcopal group disbanded. She was influenced by a cooperative community near where she grew up that was comprised of mostly Quakers, Unitarians and Jews.

And what other groups?  Inquiring minds want to know just how
inclusive this community really was!

Actually, contrary to David G’s perspective, I know lots of Episcopal clergy who believe in the Tooth Fairy.

Can it be that the Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding has single-handed found the answer to Nigeria’s problems I wonder?

Dave G - When did ECUSA reject the toothfairy theology?  I thought it was the founding premise of at least two or three of the House of Deputy resolutions.  I mean really, you should check your facts more carefully.  Someone could mistakenly think that ECUSA was willing to reject some liberal mumbo-jumbo in favor of (gasp) real doctrine.

You could not make up this stuff if you tried.  But what else can you expect from a church whose theology rejects the existence of sin, Satan, the Trinity, the Atonement, the Virgin Birth, the divinity of Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Light and the Tooth Fairy!

I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to write Satan off just yet.  Keep you eye on Episcopal Life, and listen carefully for clergy reciting the mass backwards.  If you can be Episcopal-Islamic, Episcopal-Druid, Episcopal-Wiccan, well why not Episcopal-Sata…..Wow, I meant that to be funny and sarcastic when I wrote it, but now I’m afraid I might be prophetic.

Let me get this straight: her orders are secure—but clergy who transfer to another Province of the Anglican Communion are subject to having their orders revoked for “having abandoned the Communion of the Church”?

If the above understanding of canonical discipline is accurate, could someone please explain it to me?

Please, those of you still in communion with this apostate heretic, please, please leave.  Please leave.  The property isn’t worth it.

Sometimes I think that people tell these stories just to see how other people will react. My reaction (if you are unable to decipher it from my previous comment):  Ann Holmes Redding is fluent in episcobabble.

Perhaps the Rev. Dr. Ann is looking for God in the only ways she has ever known.  Perhaps, not having found Him in TEC or her intellect, she seeks elsewhere.  Perhaps someday someone can give her the Truth she seeks, if she will just stand still long enough to receive Him.  This is the future- and present- of TEC—that many will be lost. 

Christi eleison!

Point of clarification: Yes, there are clergy in TEC who still believe in the tooth fairy BUT - TEC has no official teaching or doctrine and so you can not be presented for denying the tooth fairy’s role in the Christmas story.  Or was that the feast of the Ascension?

Let me get this straight: her orders are secure—but clergy who transfer to another Province of the Anglican Communion are subject to having their orders revoked for “having abandoned the Communion of the Church”?

Well, remember, any belief is acceptable to TEC except the Christian faith. Once you understand that, all is clear.

Someone needs to send a list of the inscriptions on the Muslim Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to our confused friend.  Below is a good example:

O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning God save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God, and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in God and His messengers, and say not ‘Three’ - Cease! (it is) better for you! - God is only One God. Far be it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And God is sufficient as Defender. The Messiah will never scorn to be a servant unto God, nor will the favoured angels. Whoso scorneth His service and is proud, all such will He assemble unto Him. Oh God, bless Your Messenger and Your servant Jesus son of Mary. Peace be on him the day he was born, and the day he dies, and the day he shall be raised alive! Such was Jesus, son of Mary, (this is) a statement of
the truth concerning which they doubt.

Apparently the Muslims might have a problem with her views.
a

This is worse than episcobabble; this is incoherant thinking at quite a fundamental level. Rev. Dr. Redding attempts to believe mutually contradictory propositions simultaneously. As such, it is a repudiation of logic and reason themselves, in favor of a way of thinking that cannot be described.

We know that Islam claims exclusive possession of God’s “final” revelations dictated verbatim to Mohammed, which deny Christianity’s claims that Jesus is God and that Jesus was resurrected. Rev. Dr. Redding evidently thinks that her ostensible belief in Christianity does not encroach on her simultaneous belief in Islam. But I’ll bet a nickel that her belief in Christianity encroaches and offends real Moslems. I want to see how Moslems react to her attempt to be a believer and an infidel simultaneously.

Considering ENS has a link to Episcopal Life on episcopalchurch.org, one must assume this is condoned by the powers that be. 

Anyone have an email address to the Covenant Design Committee?

From her point of view it is just like Woody Allen who, when asked about homosexuality, stated he believes it doubles his chance for a date on Saturday night. Indeed, she must have an increased chance of a pleasant afterlife even though 72 virgins are not in her future.

“Episcopal Priest Sees No Barrier To Also Practicing ______.”

Is this existing or proposed canon? Just askin’

“You see the idea—the Episcopal friends touch her on one side and the Muslims on the other, and she is the complete, balanced, complex woman who sees round them all.”  Screwtape, Letter X

Prior to 2003 I would have been shocked.
Now that VGR is wearing purple, I figure pretty much anything goes.
My only question is why didn’t she go for the triple-crown and include scientology? That way she could please everyone, all of the time, and continue to serve and stand for nothing.

TEC is full of people who nominally embrace Christianity and some other incompatible philosophy.  The only distinctive thing about Dr. Redding is that the incompatible philosophy is Islam.

This is easy to do when you adopt the external rituals and professions of Christianity but don’t feel that this requires you actually to believe what you profess in the sense that the Church has always taught those beliefs.  There are plenty of Episcopalians who claim to be Christian and recite the Nicene Creed but believe Jesus was not divine (or no more divine than anyone else) and did not rise from the dead (at least no more than other inspiring peoples’ influences “live on” after their deaths).  If you accept the very watered down definition of Christian orthodoxy that prevails in TEC, then there’s nothing to keep you from being both Christian and Muslim at the same time, at least from the TEC side.

I have, however, always understood that Muslims are not accepting of such watered down definitions of their faith as TEC.  I expect most Muslims would regard the professions Dr. Redding would be expected to make in TEC worship as apostasy, even if Dr. Redding herself does not believe them in any sense that historically would have been recognizable as Christian.

Episcopal priests see no barrier to practicing Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Wicca…. pretty much everything, in fact, except Christianity.

Re: Publius’ statement—“this is incoherant thinking at quite a fundamental level. Rev. Dr. Redding attempts to believe mutually contradictory propositions simultaneously.”
Just a note for Dr. Redding:
This would fit in nicely with Buddhism.  Maybe she needs to incorporate that also—
Just trying to help
Jane, Edwin’s wife

I have already demanded a new computer monitor from the elves at T19.  The forehead dents are impossible to remove.

What disturbs me most beyond the obvious impossibility of reconciling the statement Jesus is Lord with Jesus is not Lord is this.  This woman in her role as a Christian minister or participant in Christian service recites the Nicene Creed.  At Easter she renews her Baptismal promises.  Both of these affirm belief in the Triune God a heresy to Muslims.  She is in short a liar.

Jesus had harsh words to say about lying.  He tells us that Satan himself is the father of lies.  So when a person with full consent of conscience lies they are a child of Satan.  One can not be both a child of Jesus who is all Truth and that liar Satan.  With the lies she has on her lips and upon her heart she has brought blasphemy into the Sanctuary.  Every time she receives Eucharist she profanes the Body and Blood of Our Lord.  Each time she denies the divinity of Christ in her mind while reciting the creed the Angels weep.

We can be forgiven our lies but each time we lie it makes it easier to bear falsehood.  All sin begins with a lie.  Adultry is a lie against the vow of marriage.  Murder is the lie that another’s life is yours to end.  Stealing is the lie that you have a right to another’s goods.  But these can be repented and forgiven.  But to knowingly lie against Jesus Christ, how dark that stain is upon a soul?  I fear for her and will pray that the Holy Spirit lobs her a good one upside the head.  Maybe that will bring her to repentence.

Rev. Dr. Ann should talk to Lina Joy in Malaysia.

DoW

One more example of how far ECUSA has departed from the Christian faith. No one in their right mind can believe the contradictory claims of Islam and Christianity. One or the other must be true. They cannot both be true at one and the same time.

Just one more event pointing to the end times. I fervently believe that we are definitely living in the last days. Our Lord himself wondered “will the Son of Man find any faith when He returns.” Those truly adhering to the Christian Faith seem to be declining more and more rapidly as time goes on.

Lord, have mercy on us.

As an interesting sidelight, until recently, Dr. Redding was the Director of Faith Formation for the diocese:
http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p=18611
Is that scary to the rest of you too?

Its all OK folks, because it dosen’t violate the polity of The Episcopal Church!

Lord have Mercy on us all.

RSB

Doesn’t contradict the baptismal promises?  How about the part of the service where the congregation says the Creed?

I’m sitting in the corner sucking my thumb and reading Sufi Rumi. 

I know I could find at least one bishop in TEC who would “ordain” me.

As Rick Warren would conclude: “It’s all about me.”  And the more shocking and the more outrageous I act, the more the attention gets focused on me!  Pike - Spong -  Bennison - Robinson.  All in a race to outdo the other.  Labrynths.  Mother Jesus.  Wiccans.  And now Muslims.  What’s next?  Human sacrifice?

Laytone, this didnt start with Schori.

Come on folks, she’s just refusing to put God in that awfully small box that the PB speaks of.

Of course she was Director of Faith Formation!  Who objected then or now?  She has moved on, others replace her.  The only thing that might change is that the people who would actually take notice all leave.  She is teaching what TEC preaches!!  By now this should not be a suprise to anyone.  Is anyone still “listening”?  It is NOT about SEX!

Mr. Manley -
If all the orthodox abandon ECUSA, they are not abandoning bricks and mortar.  They are abandoning those who are lost and those who are seeking.  Who will raise up the voice in the wilderness to provide a compass?  And what of the rest of society where these ills are becoming increasingly prevalent?  The Lutherans are standing on the edge of the abyss pretending it is not there.  The Baptists, the Methodist - even the RC are fighting this battle.  If the Orthodox allow the Revisionist in ECUSA to win and things like this become “blessed” the battle will be that much harder for the rest of Christianity.  The day may come, and may come very soon, when the orthodox are called out of ECUSA but until that day, are you suggesting the Orthodox ignore God’s call to stand and fight?

Since, through her interviews, PB Schori reveals herself to be a Christian of convenience this is not surprising.  Her approach is as a Christian I understand that Jesus is a way to salvation, rather than I Believe Christ is The Way to The Father, therefore I am a Christian.  How pathetic that there is no presentment or discipline ot either this priest or to Spong, yet 815 is suing individual vestry members for leaving the Episcopal church over matters of conscience.  It is a sad state of affairs.

Timothy,
“Laytone, this didnt start with Schori.”

You’re right! I’ve been watching the downward slide of TEC for the past 30 years! Every convention seems to be another “cake-taker”.

Just when you thought we would be delivered from Griswold, along comes VGR, and then Schori. The hits just keep on comin’.

I’ll stay in the battle until they tell us to take the cross down. I guess in this case, Dr. Redding will be tacking up a crescent moon right beside it.

Barnum and Bailey has got nothing on us!

Maybe someone should tell the good folks at the Al Islam Center of Seattle about Ms. Redding’s support for same-sex marriage and transgenderism…

I challenge everyone reading this entry to email this article to your bishop and ask for a response.  It is time for the light to shine in all the cracks and crevices and reveal all.

And how long before Jake posts that we’re on a “witch hunt”?

This is off topic, in a way, since the resemblance of the below to the original post is superficial. (BTW, does the good Reverend Doctor wear a burqa?)

As a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators, I have twice talked to colleagues who speak of followers of ‘Issah’ being found in the context of mosques, in two countries, respectively in Africa and Asia. In one country, the Issah followers remain behind in the mosque after the ‘orthodox’ Muslims leave and they discuss the content of the gospels.

Marty wrote: “Maybe someone should tell the good folks at the Al Islam Center of Seattle about Ms. Redding’s support for same-sex marriage and transgenderism…” I, too, would very much like to know about the Islamic thoughts on this. And does she now support sharia law and stoning of homosexuals?

Relax, she’s just diversifying her spiritual portfolio.  Good business given millenial market uncertainties.

“Episcopal Priest Sees No Barrier To Also Practicing Christianity” would be more surprising.

Does anyone know if she wears a burqa?

Hmm.  Is that Shift coming up the road in the presence of Tashlan, or is it just Puzzle in an old, wet lionskin?

I am pleased she worships at St Clements—they need every Muslim that they can get—ASA of 75 and falling
http://12.0.101.88/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_642007113815PM.pdf

Mind you as they are “A multicultural, welcoming, open and affirming Christian congregation” they will undoubtedly be blessed within TEC.

I have a little different take on this - I hope her purpose is to bring Muslims to Christ.  Evidently she is able to speak the language and that in its self brings the possibility that Muslims will be more open to the Holy Spirit. 
Too few Christians learn the languages of our enemies and Muslims very seldom get a true picture of Christianity.
If we made the effort to learn the language of our enemies possibly they could hear the spirit of the Holy Ghost and remark as they did on Pentecost:
Acts chapter 2, Verse 8:
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born.
I will pray that God will use her for His purpose even if that is not her purpose.

Khomeini:
The real Day of God is the day that Amir al mo’menin (1) drew his sword and slaughtered all the khavarej (2) and killed them from the first to the last.    يوم الله واقعی روزی است كه امير المؤ منين عليه السلام ، شمشيرش را كشيد و خوارج را از اول تا به آخر درو كرد و تمامشان را كشت
Thanks be to God??
Gee..come on and pack in the kids in the car and let’s go to Katie’s church…..hope there is an empty seat.

Taliban Eucharist??

Dear KJS,

I guess I now understand that Inclusive means that you deeply offend all Faiths.

Kudos…

Satan

Now we know where Roger Rabitt worships…

If she has no problem with her Christian baptism, she must have been baptized in the name of Allah, and a second-rate first century prophet, and that voice in your head that tells you to do what you want because it’s all OK.  Given this was a Piskie baptism, I can accept that this is possible.

Is she ministering to the Muslims?  Well, if they can tolerate her, no infidel has anything to fear from this Muslim group.  But even Muslims deserve a better Christian witness than this ditz.  What she is selling is not Christianity by any traditional definition.

Well, this is a kind of elephant in the room comment, but the Rev. Redding is black.  Just like many white European missionaries were rightly faulted for spending more time making people white an European rather than Christian, there is in the American “black church” a very squishy theology that sometimes places black identity above any theological core.  This story isn’t as surprising and TEC-centric as it might seem at first look.

Well, now we know where all those disappearing Episcopalians have been going!
I guess the Christmas and Easter Services will have a different flavor this year.

I wonder if she were a Roman Catholic priest (I know can’t be, but for purposes of argument only) and she announced that being a Muslim was a fundamental part of her Christianity - what the Pope might say or do.  And there you have it, somebody is in charge ... not the case for the Anglican Communion.

I have already written my letter to the Bishops of the Diocese of Olympia.  I am awaiting a response from either one of them.
It should be noted this was in the Episcopal Voice NOT Episcopal Life.  The Voice is the newsletter of the Diocese of Olympia.
You should read her article in the February Voice:
http://www.olympia.anglican.org/publications/Voice/Feb2007.pdf
(see p 6)
Then read my letter in reply in the March issue, p 8.
http://www.olympia.anglican.org/publications/Voice/March2007.pdf

Does anyone know where this priestess of the New Universal Religion got her “Ph.D. in New Testament” and went to seminary?

But then, this may explain much: Rev. Ann Holmes Redding

Jackie,
As someone who was an orthodox Episcopalian Christian and is now an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I really appreciate the difference between the orthodox Christians struggling in TEC and the Orthodox Christians I now worship with. You remain in my prayers, but as you pray for God to show you the way through this, He may show the way out the door. He did that for our family. I do not know God’s mind for all His Children, other than Jesus’ statement that the day is coming when all who worship God will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. I cannot encourage any orthodox Christian to continue membership in TEC, because the leadership has become so blatantly anti-Christian; however, I do believe there are those Christians who are looking to God for direction and He has not directed them to leave TEC yet. You remain in my prayers, and please pray for me, a sinner.

Wait until the Muslim half of this bimbo cuts off half her head.

I live in the Diocese of Olympia, and have sent the following letter to Episcopal Voice, and a slightly different version to the Seattle Times:

There is an old proverb that says, “oil and water don’t mix”.  Neither do Christianity and Islam: the two faiths hold mutually contradictory views of Jesus. The Nicene creed summarizes the Christian view: Jesus is the Son of God, “eternally begotten of the Father, God from God…begotten, not made, of one being with the Father”. A few minutes with an introductory book on Islam would have told Dr Redding that Muslims consider these essential Christian doctrines to be shirk, a very grievous sin.

Whether she realizes it or not, Dr Redding hasn’t succeeded in being both Christian and Muslim, she has decided in favor of Islam. The view she now holds is, in her own words, “compatible with Islam”, and she now sees Jesus as “created by God”, not begotten—as a “human example”, rather than God incarnate. She is unwilling to “put ‘only’ in front of those affirmations about Jesus” which Christians make at baptism.
The Seattle Times (6/17/07) story on Dr Redding reports that she said her shahada last year. In doing so she professes belief in Mohammed as God’s prophet, and hence accepts that Mohammed’s view of Jesus is the true one. If this article and that act accurately reflect her beliefs, she has departed from the Christian faith, and should, to be consistent, resign from the priesthood.

The thing that really surprises me about this story is that there are Muslims that are swallowing this. I didn’t know Islam has revisionists, too.