Posted on 09/10/2016 6:08:34 AM PDT by Loyalist
TORONTO -- An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for her beliefs, a United Church committee has recommended in a split decision that seems likely to stir further dissent in the church.
In its unprecedented report, the reviewing panel said Gretta Vosper would not be ordained were she applying today given her extreme beliefs.
"She is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit," the report by the Toronto Conference interview committee states.
"Ms. Vosper does not recognize the primacy of scripture, she will not conduct the sacraments, and she is no longer in essential agreement with the statement of doctrine of the United Church of Canada."
Not everyone on the interview committee, comprising 23 lay and ordained members of the church, wanted to see Vosper gone. In a dissenting view, four members concluded that Vosper was "suitable" as a minister. The church has evolved since its founding and must continue doing so to meet the spiritual needs of Canadians, they argued.
"Many of Ms. Vosper's theological positions, while not in the mainstream, are not unique amongst the ministers and lay persons of the United Church," the dissenters said. "The United Church has a history of welcoming theological diversity, and to find Ms. Vosper unsuitable could stifle exploration and stunt that diversity."
Vosper, 58, who has been fighting to keep her job as minister of her supportive West Hill congregation in east-end Toronto, seized on the minority view. What it shows, she said in an interview Thursday, is that a "significant number" of people in the church share her views.
(Excerpt) Read more at ctvnews.ca ...
But as the United Church continues shrinking in congregants at a rate comparable with other liberal Protestant denominations, the expense of keeping around clerics who won't even pretend to do their jobs is one it will be unable to bear.
A high priestess in a witches coven is more her speed.
United Church of Canada. I take it they worship Canada.
Really the unitarians would be up her alley as well.
“An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for HER beliefs,”
Number one problem is that she is a “she”.
1 Timothy 2: New International Version (NIV)
11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
An ATHEIST minister?????????????????????????????????
OXY-MORON
You just can’t make this stuff up.
” An unabashedly atheist minister “
This would be analogous to having an illegitimate president who didn’t believe in the constitution and was constantly degrading his own country.
Well said.
Reporting 19-4 as a split decision. Typical.
Several problems evident here.
Hmmm. I can think of one of those.
Why don’t these atheist parasites leave and start their own charites? No, they want the building and the earned good will of the church in order to do “progressive social justice” and are too lazy to stand up for what they (don’t) believe in and find their own funding.
And that about sums it up perfectly.
“”Many of Ms. Vosper’s theological positions, while not in the mainstream, are not unique amongst the ministers and lay persons of the United Church,” the dissenters said. “The United Church has a history of welcoming theological diversity””
Including atheism??
Their minds are so open, their brains have fallen out.
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