Incoherent, incomplete, and brief

I plunk a few diverse thoughts down on the table - then I make myself tea

These are part of a few notes I've been making for a longer article that I hope to be able to write soon. Apparently, I've been busy.

Basically, my Church (the Anglican Communion) has been pestered over the question of homosexuality and the Christian scriptures, to allow same-sex marriage or not, to ordain practicing homosexuals or not, to accept those who come to the communion and allow them to define (with God) how it is they will be transformed or to have a standard to which all must conform.

The whole debate is a bitch. Here are some of my notes.

Theology - The group vs. the individual - behavioural transformation vs. spiritual awareness

Liberal theology is the theology of individual faith

Conservative theology is the moral indoctrination and discipline of the group

Both use assumptions based on the Xtian scriptures but give different readings to the text and draw different conclusions

Liberal theology uses expositions of scripture to guide a person to a spiritual transformation from within.

Conservative theology uses expositions of scripture to describe a Christian community (the external manifestations of the doctrine).

Liberal theology works from the individual to the group and beyond

Conservative theology works from the group towards managing the individual.

A secular society is one in which political control does not rest with ecclesiastical groups.

A secular society tends to prefer a liberal theology over a conservative theology

For Conservative theologians, secularism is a politic that denies any reference to God or the importance of faith in directing community activities. Secularism is perceived to make the group dynamic impotent over the individual.

Secularism is a politic based on principles arrived at through agreement or consensus: it tries to keep a balance between the needs of the individual and those of society and its various subgroups. Secularism seems to be based on a tradition of equity, English common law, and mechanical sciences. Secularism denies God as important to the group but accepts God as important to an individual or subgroups.

Liberal theology is a fragmented theology (each individual chooses the meaning of her faith and how she manifests or lives it). Conservative theology is a catholic or universal theology (the group dictates the meaning of its religion, the way in which an individual must experience it, and how a person must live or manifest the faith).