Frank Schaefer, Phil Robertson and the Myth of Christian Unity
In case you were so caught up in the runup to the holidays, two seemingly unrelated things happened that challenge some of our cultural understandings of religion: Frank Schaefer, the United Methodist pastor who officiated his son’s gay wedding, was stripped of his clergy credentials for violating the teachings and discipline of his denomination and Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty star was also, in a manner of speaking, defrocked.
A&E put the outspoken patriarch of the Robertson family “on hiatus from filming indefinitely,” for anti-gay and racially-insensitive comments made in an interview published in GQ. (Although as Sarah Posner has noted here on RD, “his conservative religious views have been no secret.”)
Both events have been the subject of intense, at times vitriolic, discussion on social media, especially, of course, among those who identify in one way or another as Christian. Both events have made clear once again the differences between “socially liberal” and “socially conservative” Christians when it comes to issues related especially to sexuality, with both sides appealing to the Bible in support of their opposing views.
Some of my more pastorally minded friends have intervened, urging mutual understanding and stressing unity among Christians. The sentiment generally goes something like, “Sure, we may disagree when it comes to issues such as homosexuality, but let’s remember that at the end of the day we all serve the same God.”
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/guest_bloggers/7462/frank_schaefer__phil_robertson_and_the_myth_of_christian_unity/
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