SYNCRETISM

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Steve Lawler, a local Episcopal priest here in the Diocese of Missouri, thought he’d come up with a novel way of observing Lent. Islam:

The Rev. Steve Lawler should have just given up chocolate or television for Lent.

Instead, Lawler, of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ferguson, decided to adopt the rituals of Islam for 40 days to gain a deeper understanding of the faith.

He wasn’t going to go all the way, mind you.

Lawler said he only planned to take his idea so far. For example, he did not intend to declare his belief in the oneness of God and to accept Muhammad as God’s prophet. It’s the first of the Five Pillars of Islam, which are obligatory for Muslims.

Yet.

Speaking to a reporter that afternoon, he had no problem reconciling his Episcopalian views with those of Islam and explained that he hoped to test a concept that has been attributed to Mahatma Gandhi and is discussed in John Dunne’s book, “The Way of All the Earth.” According to the book, it involves passing over “into another religion, which is followed by an equal and opposite process of coming back with new insight to one’s own culture or religion.”

Dude’s ex-Catholic but you probably already knew that.

[Lawler] also talked about how he was born and raised Roman Catholic but left it during his early 20s because he didn’t care for its conservative viewpoints.

“The Episcopal church is a fairly open church,” he said. “If I was the pastor at a very conservative church, I could come in one day and have the locks changed (for doing the Islamic rituals).”

Bishop George Wayne Smith’s reaction genuinely surprised me. He ordered Lawler to knock it off. If Lawler performs Islamic rituals and believes what he’s saying, he’s no longer a Christian and thus no longer fit for Christian ministry.

“He can’t be both a Christian and a Muslim,” said Bishop George Wayne Smith of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. “If he chooses to practice as Muslim, then he would, by default, give up his Christian identity and priesthood in the church.”

And if Lawler isn’t serious, he’s damned disrespectful.

But in Smith’s eyes, the exercise amounts to “playing” at someone else’s religion and could be viewed as disrespectful.

Plus, he said, “One of the ways (Lawler) remains responsible as a Christian leader is to exercise Christianity and to do it with clarity and not with ways that are confusing.”

“I wish he’d contacted me before making his decision about this,” Smith said. “I would have told him not to do it.”

“I believe what he’s trying to accomplish or says he’s trying to accomplish, which is to deepen his understanding of Islam, is admirable,” he continued. “But you dishonor another faith by pretending to take it on. You build bridges by building relationships with neighbors who are Muslim.”

If Lawler had persisted in performing Islamic rituals regardless of his motivation, would Smith have dropped the hammer on the guy? Apparently.

When asked whether he would take punitive actions against Lawler if he continued with the rituals, Smith responded that yes, he would. He would be forced to depose him.

So Lawler has since backed off. Instead, he’s going to do this.

He does, however, plan to go ahead with a series of informal public discussions at St. Stephen’s that will include a Muslim, an atheist, a spiritual-but-not-religious person and someone who “lives a full, moral life but has no spiritual or religious foundation at all.”

The free series begins March 22 and is called “Giving Up Church for Lent.”

Of course it is.

I never thought I would ever type these words for any reason whatsoever but George Wayne Smith is exactlyright. Thinking you can gain a “deeper understanding” of another faith by mindlessly performing its rituals is stupid and, as Smith correctly observes, more than a little insulting.

If I walk into a Roman Catholic parish and take Communion, I won’t gain a “deeper understanding” of the Roman Catholic Church. A great many Roman Catholics, though, would gain the “deeper understanding” that I’m a classless lout.

And I find it interesting that Smith seems to have been entirely willing to cap this guy merely for showing disrespect to another religion. This will probably be the only time I ever type these words as well but big ups to G. Wayne.

And mad props to Janjan for alerting me to this story.

UPDATE: Interesting. Some Episcolibs think Smith is overreacting.