This delusion is funny, at first glance.
Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.
On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.
She does both, she says, because she's Christian and Muslim.
And this being Seattle, we shouldn't be surprised that the reporter, Janet Tu, found "experts" to say this is possible.
Friends generally say they support her, while religious scholars are mixed: Some say that, depending on how one interprets the tenets of the two faiths, it is, indeed, possible to be both.
Similarly, you can believe that the earth is flat, and at the same time that it is round.
(For those who know zilch about theology, I will add this brief explanation. Some religions, especially pagan religions, do not exclude belief in other religions. But the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, do. You can believe in one of them, or none of them, but you can't believe in two or more of them at the same time.)
But after you think about the delusion for a while, you begin to worry about Redding. The article says that Redding has friends. If they are true friends, I hope they will do their best to dissuade her from acting on her new beliefs.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(There's not much mystery about her mix-up. If you read the article, you will see that she does not think that she believes in both religions, she feels that she believes in both. Our feelings are often filled with contradictions, but our thinking should not be.
Note to commenters: Since this is a purely religious story, I have disabled comments. But the story is too bizarre not to mention.)
Posted by Jim Miller at June 17, 2007 04:08 PM | Email This