Parker T. Williamson
Executive Editor
If Rev. Buti Tlhagale has his way, worship services
in his South African church will include slaughtering a cow as
a sacrifice to his parishioners’ ancestors. His
rationale? Appeasing ancestors is a long-standing practice
among “indigenous people,” so why not make an
accommodation to their culture?
Tlhagle’s inclusiveness has precedent. The Conquistadors
who marched through South and Central America found that
dragging pagan idols into Christian sanctuaries proved an
effective form of evangelism. Following their idols, pagans
entered blended worship services and swelled the ranks of
Christendom.
Baptizing Diversity
But South Africa and Latin America are not the only places
where church leaders have pursued unity by idolizing
diversity. Some Presbyterians are attempting it today. Linking
itself to the Covenant Network – some of whose leaders
insist on “re-imagining god,” rejecting the
Atonement, and denying that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
ever happened – the Office of the General Assembly is
offering resources for denominational “Unity in the Midst
of Diversity” conferences. Many of Christendom’s
best-known heresies are included, all with equal imprimatur.
Among the resources showcased by the Office of the General
Assembly is a presentation by Clarice Martin, who told the
denomination’s Unity in Our Diversity conference in
Atlanta that the Apostle Paul lived in a world of wide
cultural differences, and that he believed it unwarranted for
Christians to “reject the cultural or social practices”
of others.
Dumping Scripture
Martin was asked how she accounted for Paul’s
condemnation of homosexual behavior, idolatry, and other
specified sins. Paul did not write six of the epistles that
bear his name, she said. That took care of most of Paul’s
troubling statements. The few remaining passages can best be
handled, she suggested, by noting that “Paul is a person
in process.”
Syncretism has ancient roots. It goes at least as far back as
Ahab and Jezebel’s attempts to blend the God of Israel
with the Baals of Caananite culture. Elijah successfully
contested that beast at Carmel, but it has proved itself to be
amazingly resilient. New forms appear in every age.
Baptizing the bizarre
Those who seek unity by celebrating diversity invite us to
baptize the bizarre. Who would have thought that only a few
years ago San Francisco Presbyterian Theological Seminary
would have welcomed a self-proclaimed witch named Starhawk to
speak in its chapel? Who would have dreamed that the
Presbytery of Long Island would invite a witch named Dorothea
Lunar Woman to lead one of its seminars? Who could have
imagined that Presbyterian women would sing chants before a
flaming cauldron in St. Paul, Minnesota?
After all, once diversity replaces Scripture as the “only
infallible rule of faith and practice,” there is no limit
to what can be conjured up by the human imagination.