Scandal in the Roman Catholic Church: The Charade Goes On!

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 18 July 2013 4 Comments
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Question

Thank you for coming forward in your series on the birth of Jesus with the Christian story formation that has been withheld from lay people in our churches overt the past two centuries. I initially heard you speak when you were interviewed on national public radio this year. I was shocked, but delighted by your honesty and bravery. For, as much as I have tried for 40 years to become a good Christian, I have always felt guilt at the same time for all the non-Christians of the world who apparently were not going to make it into heaven and for having to consider setting my science education aside to accommodate the Garden of Eden story.

Before this I did read one helpful book and took a class by the same name, When Science Meets Religion by theologian and nuclear physicist, Ian Barbour. This was the first time I had heard that Genesis doesn’t have to be taken literally. I have also, subsequently, been attending valuable classes on Buddhist psychology and learning to meditate.

I devoured your book Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World and am now reading Eternal Life: A New Vision as well as listening to your lectures on YouTube. I must say that I do feel betrayed by the Church. I’ve put so much energy into trying to have faith. Clearly, I’d have been better off hearing the truth as a boy. But, with your words, a load has come off my shoulders at the same time. At this point, I am very grateful to you for your hard work and for the clarity I have gained from it. I am also feeling the urgency, however, to learn as much as I can from you before you put your pen down. Please don’t ever do that.

Answer

Dear Scott,

If your education as a modern Christian began with Ian Barbour, you could not have chosen a better teacher.

The problem with the church is that most of our clergy do not want to embrace new learning because they are not sure that their own faith will survive the process. Frequently, they blame their own reticence on what they presume are the fears of the lay people they serve. I see no reason why lay people cannot learn anything that I have learned. I think we clergy regularly insult the intelligence of the people we serve. I am also convinced that any God who can be killed by new knowledge or new insights ought to be killed, for clearly such a God is a human creation. Imagine the idiocy of anyone feeling that he or she must protect God from new human knowledge!

Truth does not die in the confrontation with new knowledge but it dies when we act as if truth can be captured inside the time warped and time bound concepts of any human form. The human perception of truth is never the same as truth and that perception is never static. There is no such thing as an inerrant Bible or an infallible pope! A living religion must always be interacting with unfolding truth.

Do not fear that there are not others who can, will and are capable of picking up my work and carrying it on. Their name is legion. As long as I am able, however, I do plan to continue this column. I have just agreed to continue through 2014 with the option of an annual renewal as each year comes to an end. This means that there will always be a two year notice to my publisher and my readers before I cease to write this column.

Thank you for your good words.

John Shelby Spong

 

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