Christian Insanity 1: An Episcopal Hindu-Christian Priest!

Dear Parish Faithful,

There is some real "insanity"out there in the "Christian" world - here is a good example of it. (I have an even "better" one that I will send along shortly).
_____


A priest with the Church of England who converted to
Hinduism has been allowed to continue to officiate as a
cleric. The Rev David Hart's diocese renewed his licence
this summer even though he had moved to India, changed
his name and daily blesses a congregation of Hindus with
fire previously offered up to Nagar, the snake god. He
also "recites Gayatri Mantram with the same devotion with
which he celebrates the Eucharist", according to India's
national newspaper. The newspaper this week pictures him
offering prayers to an idol of the elephant god Ganesh in
front of his house. However, he still believes he is fit
to celebrate as an Anglican priest and plans to do so
when he returns to Britain. Hart had published a book,
Trading Faith: Global Religion in an Age of Rapid Change,
in which he writes about his conversion to Hinduism. He
believes that his change to Hinduism would be "read in
the spirit of open exploration and dialogue, which is an
essential feature of our shared modern spirituality". He
also said that he would continue to celebrate as an
Anglican priest when he visited England, but he would
also visit a Hindu temple while there. "My philosophical
position is that all religions are cultural constructs,"
he said. In an earlier interview in India, the former
University of Cambridge chaplain said that he was
planning to immerse his idol of the four-armed Ganesh in
the ocean. "The modern world is no longer dominated by
any single form of belief. It is a world of religious
pluralism... God is the same."