Gretta Vosper is interesting not just because she manages to believe she can be an effective Christian church pastor while disbelieving in the founder of the Christian church but because she is blazing the trail which, I am reasonably certain, will be taken by many Anglican Church of Canada clergy eventually. We already have our very own atheist theology professor. Imagine the heady Hegelian euphoria of endless indabas between theist and atheist clergy trying to reach the nirvana of good disagreement. It’s enough to make Justin Welby swoon.
Vosper tells us:
In 2013, I embraced the term “atheist” which means, literally, no belief in a theistic, supernatural being.
Atheism does not mean merely an absence of belief in God’s existence, it means asserting truth of the statement “God does not exist”, along with all the disagreeable consequences that accompany that idea. Vosper sounds more like an agnostic than an atheist. But, these days, being an atheist is cool while agnosticism just sounds indecisive and wishy-washy. And Gretta Vosper is undoubtedly more interested in coolness than truth.
From here:
The sub-executive committee of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada is asking the church’s general council to conduct a formal hearing to determine whether or not Vosper should be defrocked.
Alan Hall, executive officer of Ministry and Employment for the United Church of Canada, said, in an email, that it could be a few weeks or months before a final decision is reached.
He said that there will be no provision to appeal the decision within the church courts.
The announcement made Thursday noted that Vosper will be allowed to continue in her role as a minister, with no restrictions, at West Hill United Church until a decision has been made at the hearing.
“The way forward is costly in terms of emotional and spiritual energy. The way forward is costly in terms of time and finances for both Ms. Vosper and the church,” said an online statement issued by the committee.
“At the same time, the sub-executive moved forward believing that a clear answer was required.”
The decision comes a week after Vosper spoke to defend herself against a report made by a review committee that found her “not suitable” to continue in her role because she doesn’t believe in God.
“From the outset of this process, we have urged the Toronto Conference to recognize that their decisions would impact not just one minister, but an entire congregation, and many more members of this church,” said Vosper in an online statement issued by her lawyers Thursday. “In spite of the many letters of support and concern about this process, the sub-Executive had continued down a path that can only result in division.”
1100 other contradiction addicted individuals have signed a petition to prevent the defrocking:
A petition in support of Vosper that rejects the report’s recommendations and a hearing had over 1100 signatures on Thursday.
As an update on this matter, the United Church has decided *not* to pursue a defrocking hearing against Gretta Vosper, who is a self-declared “atheist” “pastor”. Albert Mohler has commented on the fact that the United Church has shown that they believe in, really, anything, and at this point in their theological evolution, have no minimal bright line test (nor even a fuzzy line test) to distinguish between being “in the faith” and outside of it:
https://albertmohler.com/2019/02/08/briefing-2-8-19/
But note well that this decision has nothing to do with cowardice, or lack of principle, or theological confusion. Rather, as the United Church moderator explains, it is good to find a “resolution” to the “tension” between the United Church’s core values which are, first, “faith in God” and, second, being “inclusive” of everyone, “whatever you believe or don’t believe,” including leaders who don’t have any faith in God, such that belief in God and disbelief in God are *both* at the heart of what it means to be a member of the UC:
https://www.united-church.ca/news/moderators-message-rev-gretta-vosper
Now, we should freely admit that this tension is impossible to resolve for ordinary people–the above post uses the word “contradiction”–but we are exhorted to have faith that within the United Church, all things are possible. Just like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland, the UC moderator can imagine half a dozen impossible things by breakfast. For example, in the above-cited press release, the moderator imagines the UC expecting and holding its ministers to the goal of loving “God,” among other things, “with all [their] heart,” even if they don’t believe in Him in their heart. What admirably *impossible* zeal!
Again, this has nothing to do with cowardice, or lack of principle, or spiritual confusion. As the moderator explains, we should celebrate this “wideness of expression and articulation of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.” Already, the United Church’s “core values” are in a tension-filled “dance” with each other; already, members are charged with living in covenant to “Mother Earth” (yes, really; read the press release); but this is only the beginning: the moderator looks forward to be “pushed to new places by the Holy Spirit’s call.” It’s impossible to imagine what new innovations could exceed the old.
Tragically the United Church has long since adopted the worship of that detestable god – the god of political expediency – and has abandoned the truth of the Scriptures. This seems to be the path that many so-called Christian churches are taking and it is well past the time for leaders in said churches to be called to account. In the secular world we are mandated to follow the directions of our employment and the same should be required of all clergy within any Christian church. Failure to do so makes a mockery of our faith and basically destroys the faith of those in the pews.