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

I am horrified by the decision taken by the Conference Interview Committee. She was called by the congregation who are happy with her ministry. Her position and writing have opened dialogue and helped me clarify my beliefs. How can these people silence a thoughtful, love-based, value-laden ministry that has given so many a wider look at a Christian faith.

I have just celebrated 50 years of ordained ministry in the United Church. I have had a wonderful ministry in a church whose openness I have cherished. I am most upset that this heresy trial had occurred. This is not the United Church I have known and experienced. This action of the Toronto Conference dishonours my spiritual growth and development and the history of our United church. This is an important time for dialogue not retribution and punishment.

It is time for the United Church, my church, to "catch up" with reality. I have been disappointed, for years, by the lack of open and honest dialogue and thinking with respect to spirituality.

How could they without having ever met with the members of the Westhill United Church congregation.

Inclusiveness, peace, supportive community is why I choose to belong to the UCC. This decision is not consistent with these values - Christian values.

In support of this petition, of Gretta and of West Hill UC

I really feel that UC of C does not have the "right" to remove Gretta from being a a "minister"!

WWJD? Be fair, inclusive and follow the example we are all suppose to follow...

Gretta played and plays an important role in my life. First: she saved my life about 12 years ago now. Second: she married my partner Jeremy Wang and I nine years ago.

Dialogue not disgrace. Gretta has done our denomination a great favour.

I need such theological discussions and we all need Gretta Vosper's thought-provoking leadership. I believe our United Church will lose many members if we lose Gretta as a minister !!!

Jesus taught us how to treat one another, not what to believe. Gretta Vosper's ministry may include non-traditional understandings, but is no less Christian than others.

I am a third-generation member of the United Church and the granddaughter of missionaries. I do not share Rev. Vosper's beliefs. However, I recognize the validity of the atheist challenge to theology, and I do not believe it makes Rev. Vosper unfit to meet the spiritual needs of her congregation. I urge the United Church hierarchy to enter into thoughtful dialog with those who hold heterodox views rather than expel them.

The world needs thinking like Gretta's.

The very great challenges we face in the world today - poverty, injustice, violence, environmental degradation and more generally the dark side of nature - require solutions that understand and celebrate humans and what we have in common. DIscussions of God and Jesus can benefit individuals privately but divide us in public discussion. As a result the modern church has lost much of its credibility as a helpful interlocutor in such issues. Gretta Vosper is a brilliant orator and deep thinker on spirituality in this modern era. If the United Church of Canada rejects her it will be rejecting the best. Having left the Christian church due to its offensive and cynical us/them rhetoric when I was young, I did not expect to see the inside of one again in my life. But now in my 50s I find genuine and penetrating wisdom coming from the United Church of Canada - in the form of Gretta Vosper. You do not have to agree with her. But her views - which most people would see as 'agnostic' since she does not assert the non-existence of God - are common not only among United Church clergy but among parishioners as well. These people are struggling, but they know that ethics must be accountable to human beings as we are now, not just to ancient books from a world of warring tribes. They need guidance, and the United Church can gain much from including the views of Gretta and others like her in its world view.

As a United Church employee this minister represents my theological views of inclusivity and diversity, and even if she did not, she has already done so much to promote valuable theological discourse in contemporary Canadian communities. Reject the recommendations of the Conference Interview Committee

I am a member of Fairlawn Avenue United Church. My United Church of Canada includes ideas of spirituality beyond the unknowable concept "god". My United Church of Canada includes Greta Vosper and those that care enough to challenge preconceived dogma and offer us ways to grow in spirituality as part of the Christian faith.

the time has come to be inclusive!

Canada

A United Church should be inclusive should it not? Why be exclusive and divisive?