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A Buddhist Bishop?

A Buddhist Bishop?

Last updated on: February 13, 2009 at 7:59 am by Gene Veith

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A Buddhist Bishop? 2009-02-13T07:59:24-05:00 Gene Veith

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The Episcopal church is considering elevating to the office of bishop a priest who has also been ordained in the Buddhist religion. As cited in the Touchstone blog:

An Episcopal priest who has received a Buddhist lay ordination has been nominated for the position of bishop in the Diocese of Northern Michigan. The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who has served in the diocese since 2001, will be the only nominee for the vacant position.

Forrester currently serves as rector of St. Paul’s, Marquette, and is the diocese’s ministry development coordinator. The bishop’s election is scheduled for a special convention to be held February 21 in Escanaba, MI. If elected, Forrester would still have to obtain consents from a majority of dioceses in the Episcopal Church, in what is usually viewed as a rubber-stamp procedure.

Forrester is not the first Episcopal clergyman to hold dual faiths. In 2004, Pennsylvania priest Bill Melnyk was revealed to be a druid; while in 2007 Seattle priest Ann Holmes Redding declared that she was simultaneously an Episcopalian and a Muslim. Both Melnyk and Redding were eventually inhibited from priestly duties. Forrester’s background was recently brought to light by the Anglican web site Stand Firm in Faith.

Will the world Anglican communion be as upset about having a Buddhist bishop as it is about having a gay bishop? Isn’t a bishop holding “dual faiths” even more subversive to Christianity than one with a moral infraction?

As for having “dual faiths”. . .I have heard this recommended a solution for intolerance. Don’t just have one religion. Have two. Do you think being bi-religious may become a trend to be reckoned with? How would that work?

That the teachings are incompatible would not bother postmodernists. (This prospective bishop would have to believe the Buddhist notion that the objective universe is an evil illusion AND the Biblical teaching that it is a good creation.) If both religions are reduced to ritual observances, does that mean going to a worship service twice in a week? Tithing twice? I’d think that would be hard for busy postmodern consumers. In this case, I suspect the Bishop practices zen meditation. I’m not sure how it works with those who are both Muslims and Christians, which is what I’ve heard being recommended.

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