Thursday 30 September 2010

Gay Bishops and Women Priests?

Hiya,

This post might be a bit controversial!

There's been a few things in the news recently about religion and the various doctrines. You know the ones - should women be ordained? can homosexuals be priests? etc. etc.

Here's my opinion:
No, women should Not be ordained because God doesn't think they are equal to men.
And No, gays shouldn't be priests because they are obviously openly sinning against God and what He wants.

Really?

Of course not. Neither of those beliefs are mine, it's just ridiculous isn't it?
Why are the world's 'Great' religions so primitive in their thinking. Oh, a book from a few thousand years ago says so. C'mon guys, think! Unless you're an absolute purist you have to interpret what scripture says and decide if what it's getting at is good or not. If it's not good, probably you're interpreting it wrong.

Is there really a hateful, vengeful, jealous God up there? I don't believe there is. I don't believe per se.
But if I did believe I'd have to believe that it was a peaceful, loving, merciful, all forgiving kind of God.
It always amazes me that so many people 'choose' to believe in a God that behaves more like you'd expect the devil to:
Stone your children to death if they don't believe in me!
Flood the entire planet and all the innocent creatures therein because 'some' people weren't doing as they were told!
Slaughter an entire city (including the innocent babies) because the adults were being decadent!

Hmm, sounds kind of evil really. Talking of which, ever noticed that the bad one in Eden was called Eve? Eve/Evil - coincidence? Oh yeah, that's why women are inferior.

Is it me or is this level of thinking for the intellectually impaired?

The Pope visited recently - he's infallible you know? He doesn't like the idea of women having any say in how the church is run - it says so in the Bible. Basically women should be silent when men are gathered (can't remember which passage that's in), it was pointed out to me by a Jehovah's Witness. A purist that believed that 'every' word in the Bible was true - but understood that of course we can't kill our own children for not believing - they just turn their backs on them instead, send them to coventry - I know I know, Leicester would be bad enough, but Coventry!

So does that sound spiritual, supportive, inclusive, loving? Not in my book, yet so many religions behave this way. A lot of Muslims will turn their backs on any that leave the faith, Scientologists behave the same, as do Mormons and apparently some orthodox Jews. Why? When someone close to you wants to expand their horizon by looking in a different direction why not support them? Maybe they'd change their mind after looking and come back. Not so, once they see how petty your reaction is to them excersing their God given right to free will. It's not like they are gonna have a go at being a drug dealer or hitman, then you'd have a case for being a bit miffed.

It smacks of massive ego attack - "What do you mean what I believe might be wrong?" - phew, what an affront! It seems the more religious a person is the more fragile their belief is. Can you imagine if you had an unshakeable belief, the love of your own child for instance, could anyone say or do anything that might make you question that? Of course not. There'd be no need to get angry if someone said that your love was fake, or untrue, or weak, or a lie. You'd know it wasn't and you'd think they were just being a bit silly for saying it. But say that someone's religion is any of the above and all hell breaks loose! Forget about the 10 commandments, kill the non-believers!! Absolute 'non-sense' - literally!

Even the Archbishop of Canterbury in a recent interview stated:
"Um, the point of praying is to open yourself up to God so God can do what he wants with you."

God, if he/she is there surely doesn't 'want' anything FROM us. What could he possibly want?
That's like saying a lab technician 'wants' bacteria in a petri dish to do this or that, and he'll get angry if they don't. Surely, he just wants to observe?

He (Archbishop) went on to say that his theological beliefs (which contradict his religious ones) couldn't be applied in his present job as they were incompatible! Huh?

Conclusion - I understand we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater where religion is concerned as all around the world incredible people work tirelessly to improve other's lives. But I think it's time that the higher eschelons of religious organisations should be more like their grass roots counterparts - helping people, of all colours and faiths in common unity, rather than squabbling over theological differences.

Mother Theresa would have been the best person in charge - alas, she was just a woman!

Thoughts?

for now

Be Inspired

Stu

If you like this you'll probably like my other blog:
http://thechangeyourlifeblog.wordpress.com

3 comments:

  1. I could talk about this for a long time hehe. My fiance is an ex Catholic priest. We decided to leave the church together. As you can imagine there was a lot of hassle and persecution which is one of the reasons why we moved to the UK. One of those problems being that we can't marry until he is realeased by the Vatican. This may take about 10 years though. We have been together for nearly 6.We can obviously marry in a Town Hall but our marriage would not be recognised by either the church or his family.

    Also I will be ordained in the next few months so as you can see he has no problem with women in the clergy. However I will be ordained for my studies and not attached to a religion or church... although I could start one but this is not my calling.

    I do think it a situation that needs to be addressed. From a personal view I feel that it is a loss for the church as my fiance was a great teacher in the church but we have been cut off. Not only by the church but also by his family. I do not believe that this is a loving consequence of our decision and laws of religions can definitely cause more harm than good.

    I will leave it there but thank you for the post :)

    Many Blessings,

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  2. Well done to you Julieanne - and your fiance, it takes an enormous amount of courage to go against that kind of pressure. Good luck with your ordainship - if that's how you say it. Love to you both. Stu

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  3. Thanks Stu :)

    Much Love and Many Blessings xxx

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