Revisionists

I once again allowed myself to get into a fight on someone's blog. It began with my poorly put attempt to shed some light on life in the US, where of those who are most often publicly proclaiming their faith on Jesus, also say some outrageous things about rape, marriage equality, school prayer, and the murders in Newtown. The blog's owner was very critical of our Presiding Bishop for not mentioning Jesus often enough by name in her Advent and Christmas messages to the members of the Episcopal Church. (I thought that we knew who she meant by the Prince of Peace and whose birth we are celebrating!)

Inevitably the thread moved far away from the content of the PB's message to the "apostate" positions some Episcopalians have taken on abortion and marriage equality, as well, somewhat strangely, to an assertion about I "think of evangelicals." Of course, it is clear to anyone who reads The Thin Tradition that I disagree with many positions that evangelicals have taken in recent years. But I also disagree with some positions that liberals have taken and those disagreements do not have much to do with what I think about brothers and sisters who identify themselves as progressive or evangelical.

In thinking about the comments about marriage equality that one evangelical Anglican cleric posted on the blog, I wonder how evangelicals will respond to the growing acceptance in this country of committed same-sex unions. As more and more young people raised in evangelical congregations have LGBT friends, how will they deal with the possible conflict between what they have been taught and what they see when these friends fall in love? Will the quality of the love they see, even the holiness of that love, encourage them to rethink the position they were taught was the only truly Christian one? Will they become, as I have become, revisionists, having convictions that are different from those they once held? I hope so.