A rchive Date
[ 07-02-2005 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[God bless us all - distinctive every one
By MARIANNE MEED WARD
Toronto Sun
May 22, 2000
There is value in institutional religion. There, I've said it.
I know that's not a popular view. Nowadays, the mere word "religion" is worse than those four-letter words your mom used to wash your mouth out with soap for saying (even if you were only repeating what Jimmy across the road had said).
But I thought I'd get my biases out of the way before turning to the matter at hand - the gathering last week in Toronto of high ranking Anglicans and Catholics from around the world to discuss ways to end animosity arising from centuries-old disputes between them.
Those disputes include matters of ordination (the Catholic Church refuses to recognize Anglican priests, especially female ones). Or celebration of communion (Catholics believe the bread and wine that symbolize Christ's body and blood become Christ's body and blood upon consumption; Anglicans don't). Or the authority of the Pope (Catholics acknowledge his ultimate authority; Anglicans don't, nor do they have a similar church head. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, can't dictate policy to the rest of the Anglican Church).
These distinctions might seem about as important as discussing how many priests can genuflect on the top of a TTC token, but they all ultimately boil down to one issue: how we interpret the Bible. Since the Bible is the foundation of Christianity - whatever branch you happen to be on - tampering with this verse or that is like removing the bottom half of a house of cards. And we all know where the other cards can end up.
But let's put distinctiveness another way. Do we want every coffee shop to be a Starbucks? What if you wouldn't know a grande skinny latte even if you could pronounce it with a straight face? What if all you want is a large double-double to go? Be not afraid: there is a Tim Hortons every 50 klicks on the highway (and every 15 minutes in town).
Do we want every beer we drink to be a Molson Canadian, even if we can't tell the difference between it and, say, a Labatt Blue, without that nice fellow Joe who talks about beavers and hockey on hand to assist? Of course not! Your Canada includes Sleeman's.
And do we really need two soft drink companies selling essentially the same cola by a different name? Sure: Pepsi is about Spice Girls, and Coke is about little girls and boys holding candles and singing about world peace.
Vive la difference.
Nature of diversity
Such is the nature of diversity - even when the distinctions don't seem all that distinct. But have you ever ordered a decaf and got a caf? Or ordered sugar and got sweetener? Then you can appreciate why it matters to the church whether priests are male or female, and so on. It makes a difference.
We don't live in a one-size-fits-all world, so why should religion be that way? The role of institutional religion is to lay claim to its particular size. Sure, we could all do without the arrogant and triumphalistic my-way-is-the-only-way attitudes. But when it comes right down to it, if you really believe in something, you can't help but think that belief is the best and only one. Otherwise, you would change your mind and adopt some other belief.
Besides, the alternative - not believing much of anything about anything - is hardly inspiring. Get an opinion!
Another role of institutional religion is to weed out heretics. A questionable "service" you might think, until you consider some heretics who have been pushed out: people like Jim Jones, who led close to 900 followers to their deaths in Guyana via poisoned Kool-Aid. He was once a Baptist. Or the five leaders of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, in Uganda, who died in March with close to 1,000 followers in what authorities say is a murder-suicide. Four of the five were once Roman Catholic priests or lay workers. The institutional churches recognized these men as dangerous. Unfortunately, many followers didn't until it was too late.
I don't care if Anglicans and Catholics never reunite as one church. But I applaud the attempt to find ways to work and worship together. Unity of spirit need not mean elimination of distinctiveness.
Marianne Meed Ward, a freelance writer with an interest in social and ethical issues, appears Mondays. Her e-mail is: pward@interlog.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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