The response is very interesting that the conversation is directed around basic faith and morals. I like his take on all of this. Here is my reflection on his letter. Basically you can be a faithful member of a church, any church, as long as you hold to the basic beliefs of the church and her stance on moral issues. For example abortion. I use this only because that is what the conversation is all about. You can disagree for example on the fasting rules of the church or on some practices of the church. But the dogma of the church, contained in the Creed, or the churches position on issues like abortion are absolute. That is not to say that they may or may nor change over time but for the moment they are absolute.
I have made this statement before. The church is not a cafeteria or a buffet line where we pick and choose what we want to believe in. We belong to a church because we believe in what they church teaches. I f you belong to a church for another reason or you do not believe in what the church teaches then you need to look for another church. It is that black and white. If you do not believe, there is the door!
I only wish that our Orthodox Bishops would speak as loud, or speak at all, like Bishop Tobin does.
