Urge the Sub-Executive of United Church, Toronto Conference to reject the recommendations of the Conference Interview Committee Re: Gretta Vosper

We need more Gretta Vospers! The host of non-believing clergy need to come out and say so. Many of us are leaving the church because the message doesn't speak to us any more.

A sad commentary from a Church normally noted for its enlightened position on faith, justice and compassion.

Here in Peterborough the United Churches are having to join congregations together in order to survive. I have long past severed my connection with the Peterborough Presbytry because of what I saw as Pretend Christians making questionable decisions for those searching. I have lost all respect for local Christians and no longer believe in a god or that Jesus was up there in some heaven. I do believe that Jesus espoused a huge change in human existence and improved the world through his teachings and I have the utmost respect for his work that has carried on. I have flowed the story of Gretta Vosper for some time and if she were to come to Peterborough I would be there to take in what she has to say. I admire the members of West Hill church for their support of true Christian values that I never did see in Peterborough. I left southwestern Ontario 30 years ago and had a strong connection to several United Churches there. Eastern conference ha left me as an atheist who has lost all respect for so called Christians. What a disappointment. Margaret McBride

I am in full support of each of the articles of the petition. It concerns me greatly that there has been this narrow process that undermines the inclusive umbrella of the United Church of Canada. Greta has stimulated important conversations and like many in our denomination the theistic portrayal of a personified interventionist god no longer resonates in meaniful spiritual practice. Perhaps too I am a Christian A- theist.

Come experience the love, support, and guidance that happens in Gretta Vospers church every Sunday and throughout the week. Then tell me this isn't the kind of values you want represented by the United Church.

I am deeply troubled by the power placed in the hands of one person to set the test of a minister's suitability to remain in the church. The established practice has been ignored in the treatment of Gretta Vosper. Ministers are chosen and dismissed by the congregation she or he serves. Rev. Vosper's congregation clearly supports her. The way this case has been handled has been authoritarian, ignoring the democratic traditions of the United Church of Canada. Given the traditions of the UCC, and is a dangerous precedent if allowed to stand.

Why did Metropolitan United start this? How long has Gretta Vosper been in ministry? Her healthy congregation seem to value her ministry.

People should never be disciplined for speaking their mind.

For all of the cogent reasons so eloquently stated here and with grave concern for the future of our church and my family's future within it if the recommendations of the Conference Interview Committee are accepted, I wholeheartedly endorse this petition.

I, too, am an atheist and a member of the United Church. I look forward the day when I can be part of a service that focuses on love, justice and compassion without implying the existance of an all powerful, intervening diety.

I concur with the sentiments expressed in this petition. May we be peacefully and lovingly caring of one another throughout this process.

Silencing voices that question the status quo is a time honoured tradition of so many religions. Besides being cruel and bullying, it seldom achieves what it was intended to achieve and does religion a great disservice. I had really thought that the United Church might prove to be the exception to the rule. I still hold out hope for a more compassionate response both for Gretta and all the folks at Westhill who have found a welcoming and wonderful home there.

The congregation I am currently serving is an Affirming Ministry..."we boldy declare that we fully welcome and include the full participation of all people in the life and work of the ministry as we journey together, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, age, marital status, mental or physical ability, beliefs, cultural backgrounds, or economic circumstance." We strive to practice radical hospitality...I want a United Church that practices what we value.

Too bad the Church can't see its way clear to accept the primacy of what Jesus teaches and stays behind orthodoxy as its raison d etre. Does it see that its vitality and relevance might continue by strapping itself to the mast as the church congregations dwindle away?

I is so sad to see this happening in the United Church.

Why must people who have different and challenging ideas be silenced ? My husband and I left the church years ago because there was no one like Gretta leading it.

thank you for doing this

Gretta has shown me it is possible to move beyond the limiting creeds and dogma of tradition. She has given followers a breath of fresh air, a new way to move forward in spirituality. The church needs to remember how compassion works.

I really think that if the United Church of Canada persists in revoking Gretta Vospers ordination, they are initiating the eventual end of the United church of Canada.

As I wrote in the Conclusion to the book "The Emerging Christian Way," ... "the truly radical place to be in the church is not at the edges, which tend towards exclusion, but at the heart, at the centre, at the place of inclusion in the midst of evolution. How different can we be and still recognize the face of the Christ in the one we meet?" Exclusion is easy and attractive, as any look south of the border will confirm. Inclusion is much more difficult, but ultimately the only thing that can "save" us. We can never allow "belief" to be the thing that defines us, if our intent and claim is to be faithful followers of Jesus. Jesus' life was defined by love and compassion, and so must ours be. What a tragically sad day when the recommendations of the Conference Interview Committee were made. "Actions speak louder than words" is a truth that is equally applicable to both Gretta Vosper and the church writ large, and it saddens me that, at this point, it looks like the church has miles to go to live up to the high standard she has set.