Faith disappearing...

http://www.alternet.org/comments/belief/what-if-religious-fanaticism-killed-someone-you-love#disqus_thread

This happened. I commented, and got shot down with, yet again, concepts I understand and agree with, and was insulted and made to feel incredibly guilty for even speaking- but what I think or feel is irrelevant, because this woman died a horrible death and it's tragic. What people think about the church and its 'prelates of wood' (Savanarola), of wood though a lot of them are, is irrelevant because this woman died a horrible and preventable death; had she not been denied an abortion, she would be alive today.
So the least of my issue right now is that people are using this woman's tragic death as a weapon to throw eggs at the prelates. Not to make abortion legal. To throw eggs at prelates and type in forums on the web stuff like 'I hate child raping priests' and using various miseries/tragedies ('the miseries of the churches' will become a term, soon enough, even if I have to make it one) like this death or the rape of children to justify their own bitterness.

My real issue, though, is something much more of a 'first world problem'.

If you read my last post (or view General Synod documents, punch in 'General Synod documents' into Google) you will see that the Anglican General Synod denied women the privilege to become bishops by voting 'no' on a draft legislation to do so. Then this whole shebang came last night, and even though I'm not Catholic, I lost even more faith in my religion.

Now of course I'm not actually that 'churchy'. The reason I'm not 'churchy' is not to make society comfortable, or to make my religion palatable to the modern world. I believe that when Jokanaan (John the baptist) said '...and his own received him not' he meant it, and was prophesying, among other things, many saints and believers to come in history. Being like the Christ is dangerous in the world, because it raises eyebrows and changes lives- even though when some exhibit Christ like behaviours they are shunned by secular society or their churches. Even when we exhibit 1% of the sort of thing Christ did, we are shunned.

Many might read this and think 'he's not a real Anglican Christian, he's got doubts'. I once heard a Rabbi say 'Most people define faith as certainty. I would define it as the courage to live without certainty.' Faith is not real, in my opinion, unless it encounters doubt.

For all their pitfalls, I agree with Rowan Williams and Justin Welby on this issue. I gained some respect for Justin Welby today when I saw that he campaigned for the houses to vote 'yes'. Rowan Williams is right when he says the church has 'got a lot of explaining to do'.

As yet, however, I still think my church can do better. It created the King James Bible, York Minster, and all that beautiful music- it surely knows better. Come on, CoE. You can do it.

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Check- Regardless, God is beyond this. God is love and we have not treated each other like God's children. As MLK said 'One day, we will have to stand before the God of history, and we will talk in terms of things we've done... and it seems I can hear the God of history saying 'that was NOT ENOUGH!'... but I was hungry, and ye fed me not.'