On its experience, the idea of a regional church is affront to our legal republic—” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. ”
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But the Washington National Cathedral, an active part of the Episcopal Church, gives the appearance of a state-sponsored religion—a progressive, non-orthodox church. From the church’s site :
The plan for a divine home for all Americans in the nation’s investment is as old as the land itself. Pierre L’Enfant’s unique design for the new capital city included a “great church for national purposes, ” an idea that sat empty until a legislative charter authorized a temple dedicated to faith, education and generosity, in 1893. Development began in 1907, when President Theodore Roosevelt helped lay the foundation stone. Through world war, the Great Depression and enormous social change, development ended simply 83 years after it began, when President George H. W. Bush oversaw the dropping of the last stone atop the buildings, in 1990.
It’s an structural genius, but it has been theologically hollowed out and has no company claiming the symbol of a regional place of worship. It’s in no way member of the British people; only 1 % of Americans also identify as Episcopalian, compared to 15 % identifying as Christians and 22 % as Catholics.
In ( small-o ) orthodox circles, the Episcopal Church is apostate, straying from biblical teachings on female pastors, the LGBTQ array, and interfaith worship services.
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Donald Trump and JD Vance lent their reliability to the National Prayer Service with their appearance ( as their forebears have done since the 1930s ). That set them up for a social lesson by the progressive priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.
My esteemed partner Lincoln Brown wrote on Monday :
A certain amount of ecumenicism is to be expected and appreciated at for a company. Jesse J. Swann, Jr. , commander of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, gave the prayer. Rabbi Susan N. Shankman read from Deuteronomy 10:17-21, and corker Susan Bortnick offered the Israeli call to prayer. There were the appropriate high-ranking users of the Episcopal Church and frontrunners from other Christian faiths, which is good since the country is not a uniform object.
Interestingly, there was a browsing from the Koran by Dr. Muhammad Fraser-Rahim, the associate Imam at Masjid Muhammad ( The Nation’s Mosque ), and the Muslim call to prayer led by Cantor Shayhk Akbar Sharrief, chiefmu’adhin of the same mosque. One may understand the need for equality, but at the same time, Islam makes no bones about its reject and disdain for various religions, particularly Judaism and Christianity. But the procedures may be observed, I suppose.
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But the Apostle Paul warned in 1 Corinthians 6 not to be “unequally hitched” with sinners. ” For what relationship has justice with violence? Or what brotherhood has sunshine with darkness? What authority has Christ with Belial? Or what part does a christian discuss with an unbeliever? What contract has the sanctuary of God with gods? ”
Ignoring the warning in gospel, the National Cathedral hosts anything from Muslim prayer meetings to pagan” Cosmic Density” service.
No Christian should take part in such services. We serve a jealous God who wrote in stone on Mount Sinai that “You shall have no other gods before me” and” You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ” Muslims worship Allah, who is not the triune God of the Bible, and pagans worship nature and various gods and goddesses. There should be no Kumbayah-style mixed worship between Christians and Belial.
It’s time to change the name of the National Cathedral ( how about the” The Apostate Cathedral” ) and stop holding “national” religious services there. If a president would like to have a time of prayer upon his inauguration, let him attend his own church and allow his fellow congregants to appeal to God on his behalf—and make it clear that it’s in no way a unified “national” event.
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As Lincoln pointed out, we are not a homogenous nation regarding religion. We need to stop pretending that we are with these staged show-church services devoid of doctrinal distinction.
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