Ben Wyatt

On the lighter side of the news, file under: 'Nothing will surprise me ever again' . . .

Casual Sunday perusal of Powerline, the best blog written by conservative lawyers not named Eugene Volokh, uncovered this gem of Universal Super-Tolerance, the story of an Episcopal priest who decided to become a Muslim. Of course, she's* still an Episcopal Priest . . . and a Muslim . . . but an Episcopal priest too . . . but Muslim . . .

[reboot]

Casual Sunday perusal of Powerline, the best blog written by conservative lawyers not named Eugene Volokh, uncovered this gem of Universal Super-Tolerance, the story of an Episcopal priest who decided to become a Muslim. Of course, she's* still an Episcopal Priest . . . and a Muslim . . . but an Episcopal priest too . . . but Muslim . . .

[reboot, safe mode]

Y'all read that Seattle Times story about the Muslim Episcopal priest? Quotes abound:

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she's ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she's also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

Her announcement has provoked surprise and bewilderment in many, raising an obvious question: How can someone be both a Christian and a Muslim?

. . .

"There are tenets of the faiths that are very, very different," said Kurt Fredrickson, director of the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "The most basic would be: What do you do with Jesus?"

Redding doesn't feel she has to resolve all the contradictions. People within one religion can't even agree on all the details, she said. "So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam?

"At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible. That's all I need."

. . .

Redding's views, even before she embraced Islam, were more interpretive than literal.

She believes the Trinity is an idea about God and cannot be taken literally.

She does not believe Jesus and God are the same, but rather that God is more than Jesus.

She believes Jesus is the son of God insofar as all humans are the children of God, and that Jesus is divine, just as all humans are divine — because God dwells in all humans.

What makes Jesus unique, she believes, is that out of all humans, he most embodied being filled with God and identifying completely with God's will.

She does believe that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, and acknowledges those beliefs conflict with the teachings of the Quran. "That's something I'll find a challenge the rest of my life," she said.

* Awesome thing about my Mom #29,764 is that if she were reading this post, she would probably have stopped at the words 'she' and 'priest' and not even bothered continuing to read. I don't even really remember this, but when we were living in Hawaii, our church was in the middle of calling a new pastor. (Welcome to mainstream Protestantism all you evangelical readers). My Mom apparently saved up all the maternal discipline my sisters and I got for a week and single-handedly derailed any chances of that church calling a female pastor for maybe the next 50 years. My Mom rules.