The atheist church minister

I thought I had already posted a blog entry some time ago on the atheist United Church minister, Gretta Vosper, who is making waves in Canada's religious establishment. It seems I was mistaken. Another article, in the latest edition of The Walrus magazine, has reminded me of my omission.
The United Church of Canada has been a refuge for progressive liberal Protestants for almost a century now, since its establishment in 1925 out of a union of Canadian Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists. It is unapologetically radical, has no official creed, and is more interested in political and social activism than in the spiritual lives of worshippers. It is also unapologetically Canadian, with a made-in-Canada vision of inclusivity, and is considered by many to be effectively Canada's national church. Over the years, it has been at the forefront of, and outspoken on, issues like gay rights, same sex marriage, indigenous residential schools, nuclear disarmament, anti-poverty initiatives, Palestinian self-determination, medically assisted suicide, etc, etc. It is one of the very few religious organizations that I have any respect for at all.
However, the Church, like most other Christian denominations in Canada and elsewhere, has been struggling. Just six years after its founding, in 1931, its membership was about 2 million out of a Canadian population of 10 million (20%); by 2013, its active membership was down to about 500,000 out of a population of 35 million (barely over 1%). Its budget and its staff have been slashed in recent years, and the profiles of both its ministers and its attendees get a little bit older every year. It no longer has the ear of influential politicians and the movers and shakers of the country, and the divisions between the traditionalists and the activists within the Church are becoming ever more apparent.
Into this scenario, enter Gretta Vosper. She was brought up in the United Church, graduated from Queen's University theology school, was first ordained as a minister in 1993, and became minister of the West Hill United Church in eastern Scarborough in 1997. In 2001, she first revealed to her congregation her long-held beliefs: that there was actually no such thing as a God that answered prayers, that the Bible is not the word of God; that Jesus was not the divine son of God; that we probably don't go to Heaven after death. In her view, all religions are mere human constructions, and the existence of God is essentially unprovable and, more importantly, unnecessary. In Ms. Vosper's church and its services (or "gatherings"), then, there are no prayers, no liturgical readings, not even any mention of God or Jesus or the Bible. In spite of all this, though, her congregation has doggedly stuck with her, and she even attracts attendees from far away.
Progressive and tolerant though the United Church may be, many within the Church find Ms. Vosper's views distinctly uncomfortable. It is, after all, at least nominally a Christian organization. In 2005, a committee to review her beliefs was proposed but ultimately came to nothing. In 2015, though, a more serious challenge was mounted, with a committee established to review the "effectiveness" of her ministry, which as far as I am aware is still ongoing. So far, her battle has already cost her $60,000 in legal fees.
Ms. Vosper is not alone in her views. 24% of United Church ministers responded (anonymously) to a 2011 United Church Observer survey on whether they believed in God with "Depends what you mean by 'God' ", and some think the real number may be closer to 50%. Two other United Church ministers have openly admitted in recent years that they had lost their faith in God, although both then resigned (or were asked to resign) from the ministry. Several belong to The Clergy Project, an "anonymous online community for former and active religious professionals who no longer hold to supernatural beliefs".
Ms. Vosper's case, though, is quite different qualitatively. She views her lack of belief in the supernatural as a positive thing, and sees it as her mission to help the United Church change and adapt to new circumstances, in order to allow it to continue its work into an uncertain future. She claims to be, in her words, "irritating the church into the 21st century".
She is clearly disappointed in the Church that she grew up in, the Church that, as she puts it, gave her the tools to explore and encouraged her to ask difficult questions and to challenge the status quo. She is also disappointed in, even understandably resentful of, her fellow ministers, many of whom she knows to be sympathetic to her views, for their lack of public support.
However the review into her ministry may turn out, Ms. Vospers is articulate, passionate and compelling. Watch an interview here.