Tube City Almanac

November 12, 2007

Cluttered Thoughts From an Empty Mind

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These are just random observations, mind you, but I can also prove that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox does exist:

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Heaven Help Us: Elizabeth Township resident, writer and talk-show host Jerry Bowyer had a thought-provoking op-ed in Sunday's Post-Gazette in which he discussed his faith and his family's experience at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Downtown.

According to Bowyer, over the summer Pittsburgh Episcopal Bishop Robert Duncan asked readers at churches in the diocese to stop praying for Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the U.S. church.

This was in prelude to Duncan's recent move to split the local diocese away from the Episcopalian Church. Asks Bowyer:

If we break with the Episcopal Church in America over gay priests, how can we then align ourselves with African bishops who tolerate polygamist priests? Paul says that a church leader is to be "the husband of one wife." Do we think that the word "husband" is inerrant but the word "one" is not?


Bowyer's essay came a few days after I read another thoughtful essay by friend and former cow-orker Jonathan Potts, who teed up a plug ignorant letter that ran in the Tribune-Review the other day:

It's hard for me to believe that Jesus would be terribly pleased with any of the churches that have been formed in his name. This is a man, the gospels tells us, who flagrantly violated the laws of his own religion, because he believed those laws were perversions of God's will and had become instruments of oppression.

And so how do we choose to worship him? By creating byzantine institutions governed by arbitrary rules that alienate us from one another, and from the love of God.


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An Editorial Comment: I was fortunate to cover Archbishop Desmond Tutu's visit to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago.

Said Tutu:

There are some people who think God is a Christian. Can you tell me, what was God before He was a Christian? Was He Pagan? And what do we say about Abraham, about Moses, about Amos, about Jeremiah. Do we say, 'Sorry, Jeremiah, you are going to the other place.' It's crazy to think that!

God is not a Christian. What a relief! The God who we worship by different names, how wonderful is this God!


This portion of Tutu's sermon, naturally, got up the nose of Duncan (or as an Anglican friend of mine calls him, "Bishop Bushy-Brows").

Duncan said Tutu "misrepresented the beliefs of conservatives, particularly in the line about God being a Christian," according to Ann Rodgers in the Post-Gazette.

I mean no disrespect to Duncan. Tutu sure doesn't have all of the answers. Alert Reader Officer Jim, for instance, was peeved that Tutu went to the state prison in Greene County to visit convicted cop-killer and self-styled "political prisoner" Mumia Abu-Jamal.

But Tutu's conception of God corresponds more with what I remember from the New Testament than the increasingly narrow viewpoints expressed by some Christians (like the woman who wrote that letter to the editor) or Bishop Duncan for that matter.

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Information Booth: Man, Larry Walsh and Yvonne Zanos had better watch out. We're solving all kinds of consumer problems at the Tube City Almanac. Go look.

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Veterans' Day (Observed): A very special "Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix" at Pittsburgh Radio & TV Online marks the 20th anniversary of "Good Morning, Vietnam."

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Friends Like This Dep't: Rich Lord plugs the Tube City Almanac in the Post-Gazette's "Early Returns" blog. He calls your obedient correspondent "this guy."

"This guy"? Hmmph. Many people aren't aware of this, but I gave Rich Lord his start in journalism. He was wandering around Downtown Pittsburgh, trying to bum enough money to buy a decent vegetarian meal, and I gave him a job.

OK, would you believe I worked for Rich when I was an intern at City Paper before the Great Purge?

I complained, and Lord's trying to blame fellow P-G scribe Bill Toland. A typical writer, trying to pass the buck.

With apologies to PittGirl, may pigeons poop on the P-G's portico.

"This guy." Phooey!






Your Comments are Welcome!

Glad you caught the Jerry Bowyer editorial. Jerry is one of the brightest folks in our region and although he and I do not always agree, I respect his opinions and know that he is speaking from his brain and his heart on the issues.

Though I consider myself a man of faith, organized religion scares me a bit. When was the last time a war was fought over disorganized religion?

And I thought I held a “political” position…..

Jerry’s Church is a fine one and Father Jay a caring and compassionate leader.

My question to those who would divide the Anglican church over bedroom issues is as follows:

“And how is this teaching our children tolerance?”

I’m a Bible novice but I think I remember this being one of Christ’s teachings.

Peace.

-Paul
Paul Shelly (URL) - November 12, 2007



“There are some people who think God is a Christian. Can you tell me, what was God before He was a Christian? Was He Pagan?”

I know this might be presumptuous to tell an Anglican prelate Christian teachings, but Jesus the Christ fulfilled the Jewish scriptures. So the answer to the prelate’s question is that G-d was Jewish. With the other “Abrahamic faith” Islam, everything before, during, after, now and then, is Islam. The Tutu is an ass or a revert(to Islam).
Doug - November 12, 2007



“This is a man, the gospels tells us, who flagrantly violated the laws of his own religion, because he believed those laws were perversions of God’s will and had become instruments of oppression.”
Exactly what laws?
Doug - November 12, 2007



By creating byzantine institutions governed by arbitrary rules that alienate us from one another, and from the love of God.

A pedophile priest supporter?
Doug - November 12, 2007



A person who refers to Desmond Tutu as “an ass” is not someone who exactly invites intelligent debate. But from the top of my head I can think of a couple of instances in which the Gospels tell us that Jesus violated Temple laws. He healed people on the Sabbath, which was forbidden, and he refused to stone the adulteress woman. I suspect I could find other examples.

I have no idea where the pedophile priest comment comes from. My point is that there is a point at which many Christian denominations pervert Christ’s message by putting their mad-made rules over what He said was the greatest commandment: Love they neighbor as thyself. This appears to be something that Jerry Bowyer — clearly no liberal — understands, which is why he continues to pray for people with whom he disagrees.
Jonathan Potts (URL) - November 18, 2007



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