Frank Schaefer, Phil Robertson and the Myth of Christian Unity

[SecularMotion]

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/

[hrmjustin]

1. We can always pray for Christian unity but it will not happen. We see things differently.

[cbayer]

2. The Christian church is clearly not one body, and the distinction

between socially liberal and socially conservative is a pretty good place to make a distinction.

That is not a "no true Scotsman" argument, but a pretty glaring difference in how religious people can see the world.

So when people use Roberson as an example of someone who represents all christians, they are wrong. And they are just as wrong when they use Schaefer in the same way (obviously, as he was thrown out of his own church).

[trotsky]

3. You can certainly make a distinction that they are different kinds of Christians.

You only run afoul of NTS when you start declaring one group ISN'T Christian.

[hrmjustin]

4. I detest when the media holds up conservatives as the true Christians.

[cbayer]

5. Agree. That's a meme that has hurt liberal/progressive people of faith.

But I think (hope) that the tide is turning.

[hrmjustin]

6. Yes some in the media get it now.