Once again, I find myself compelled to comment to this morning's media essay about celibacy in the church that seems controversial enough to suit the pages of this Blog.
Celibacy is, of course, an issue. Whether it is the most important issue, or not, is irrelevant. The Church should respond to the issues of the twenty-first century, and sexually-related issues are written about on the front page of all newspapers, both in terms of, for example, adult rape and paedophilia.
What is religion? Is the married Anglican priest that is only allowed to become a deacon in the Roman Catholic church any less religious than an unmarried priest? Would it lead to married bishops, and … sacré bleu, women too?
Certainly, celibacy needs not to be mandatory.
When asked, many people describe themselves as spiritual rather than religious, and I wonder if there may be a stigma by admitting to be religious, which begs the question, again, what is religion? After all, isn't everyone religious (spiritual) in one form or another. Being agnostic is acceptable, but no one has the intelligence to be an atheist.
Could we ask, what is God? Would the answer begin with, “She ….” (in Los Angeles) or “It ….” (in a science class)?
Is this too personal to reveal your soul (or qi)?
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