A priest who claimed last month to be both Muslim and Christian has been suspended for a year, according to reports.
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(Photo: The Seattle Times / Steve Ringman, File)The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, right, gets a hug from Ayesha Anderson at the end of a service recently with members of the Al-Islam Center in Seattle. Redding has been an Episcopal priest for 20 years and a Muslim for 15 months.
The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, the Episcopalian who made headlines after she told the Seattle Times that she was ''100 percent'' Muslim and Christian, must now take a year from her position at Seattle's St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral after 23 years of priesthood.
Redding told the Times that she was “deeply saddened” by the decision, but would abide by the ruling of her bishop, the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf.
Many believe "the last thing the church needs to deal with at this time is this type of doctrinal dispute,” she said, possibly referring to the current clash within The Episcopal Church over homosexuality and the authority of Scripture.
“I wish it could've been at a more convenient time, but as far as I know I am responding to God's will and God's timing," she added.
In a front-page article last month in the Times, Redding said she had been a practicing Muslim for 15 months after being profoundly moved by an introduction to Islamic prayer.
She told the newspaper that since entering Islam, “I have been, by my own estimation, a better teacher, a better preacher and a better Christian."
Many, however, strongly disagreed with her claims, including the bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island who made the recent ruling.
Redding should "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," Wolf wrote in an e-mail to church leaders, according to the Associated Press. Because Redding was ordained by a former bishop of Rhode Island, she remains subject to discipline by that diocese.
As a number of highly-respected theologians have pointed out following last month’s coverage on Redding, the Christian belief in the divine being and savior Jesus Christ is incompatible with Islamic teaching of Jesus as a prophet.
Christianity’s foundation is built on the understanding of Jesus Christ as the son of God who is fully human and yet fully divine, explained the Rev. Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and one of America's pre-eminent Evangelical leaders.
The Christian faith also points to Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection as the only way for mankind’s salvation, he added. Islam, on the other hand, “explicitly denies” that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that He died on the cross and resurrected from the dead, acknowledging only Jesus as a great prophet, His virgin birth, and His future role in judgment.
“These are merely the most obvious foundational contradictions between Christianity and Islam,” Mohler wrote on his blog. “Furthermore, these most obvious contradictions are affirmed by all major Christian denominations and both historic branches of Islam.”
Dr. Emir Caner, dean of The College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, described Redding’s faith conviction as “an extraordinary illustration of what has become Postmodern Christianity in America.”
Postmodernists are characterized for criticizing the conventional and embracing contradictions. Continue >>
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wrhalver, did you mean if she claimed to be 100% Catholic and 100% Protestant?
It makes me wonder if she really is saved and knows Jesus as her personal Savior or has she been Oprahized who believes that Jesus is such a cool guy that all roads lead to him. This is happening to liberal churches who pick and choose what tickles their ears. The Bible is clear on Jesus being the only way to God.
I wonder if this would be an issue if she would have switched to Catholicism.
Ann Redding, noted in July 7, 2007 Christian Post, should not be an Episcopal Priest.
I believe the one yr. suspension, then reconsideration, is appropriate. An Anglican
related church leader should pray, read the Bible, and hate sin and the Devil's tricks
as we see in Genesis chapter three when Satan broadsided Adam and Eve in Iraq
(the garden of Eden at the juncture of the Tigris and Euphrates River). Praise the Lord
the Episcopal Church in America can do one thing right, anyway!!! Bob Durham, PA USA
July 7, 2007 6 pm New York City time, on a hot July 4th, 2007 weekend
I wonder if she realizes what is going to happen to her when she stands before GOD and she has to answer for her actions.
This kind of ambivalence and ignorance towards biblical Christianity is par for the course, it seems, for the mainline denominations in this country. It is also precisely the reason why they are in a free-fall decline. When you claim to be *both* Christian and Muslim, you are precisely neither.
This will become a major event in these end times - the attempt to make all faiths equal and palatable for all people. If you believe all things are true than really nothing is true. I pray that Ms. Redding will come to her senses, repent of her sins, and truly embrace Christ as her savior.