Rev. Gretta Vosper, the Christian clergywoman who writes books about her fervent atheism, has generated so many headlines in Canada’s secular media that it’s causing upheaval among clergy in her large denomination.
“People are coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, you’re from the church that doesn’t believe in God,’” says Rev. Richard Bott of Dunbar Heights United Church in Vancouver.
The Canadian public’s impression that many of the United Church’s several thousand clergy are atheists is compounded every time Vosper repeats things like she said this year on CBC’s The National: “It would be at least upwards of 50 per cent of the clergy in the United Church who don’t believe in a theistic, supernatural God.”
Although it’s unclear what exactly Vosper meant by that, Bott decided to do something about the assumption the United Church, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, is infiltrated with atheist (or at least agnostic) clergy.
Bott prepared a sophisticated survey of United Church clergy, which reveals the range of understandings they hold about “God.”
The poll has the indirect bonus, I suggest, of capturing diverse beliefs held by other Canadian Christian clergy, such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Pentecostals and Catholics.
It may even encapsulate the theological range of many Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. Indeed, of any of the majority of Canadians who believe in God in some form.
Before analyzing the survey results, it’s worth mentioning that Bott recognizes the secular media gives Vosper so much (uncritical) attention because she’s a novelty. Indeed, I’d suggest Vosper has in recent years drawn more media coverage than every one of the United Church’s 525,000 active clergy and members combined.
United Church of Canada Rev. Gretta Vosper, an outspoken atheist for more than a decade, makes some bold claims to the media about the spiritual beliefs of her colleagues. Turns out her numbers don’t add up.
As the atheist minister of a small United Church congregation in Toronto, Vosper has turned herself into what journalists call a “man-bites-dog” story. It’s not news when a dog bites a man, but it is news when a man bites a dog — and when a Christian clergyperson broadcasts, for more than a decade, she’s a proud atheist.
Unlike Vosper, whose utterances leave many with the black-and-white impression there are only two metaphysical choices — belief in God or atheism — Bott’s survey found a range of understandings of divinity among the 1,353 United Church ministry personnel who took part.
What was the take-home finding?
“While how they believe and what they believe is wide and varied, almost 95 per cent of the United Church ministers who responded to the online survey were clear — they do believe in God,” Bott says.
In addition, his survey found that “a large number, almost 80 per cent, affirm belief in a ‘supernatural, theistic God.’”
What may prove most interesting over time is not that the results contradict Vosper, but that they reveal the “wide and varied” beliefs that Christian clergy hold about divinity.
In Canada — where the Angus Reid Institute found three out of four believe in God or a higher power, and more than one in 10 are atheists — it would be helpful if more people could define what they mean when they say they believe, or don’t believe, in divinity.
As Bott says, “How can you have a good, friendly discussion about God, or anything, if you don’t understand terms? We just get into a muddle.”
Indeed, a lot of unnecessary arguments arise because people don’t bother to first define their terms, whether the discussion is about God, love, freedom, racism or country.
Bott’s study, which he acknowledges is methodologically imperfect (like most surveys), teased out the most common views of God held by people regardless of faith, whether Christianity or Sikhism.
Admittedly, the survey captures only the views of United Church clergy, who tend to the liberal side of the theological spectrum. But I suspect they illustrate the main ways most people in Canada think about God:
Panentheism: This was the most common view among active United Church of Canada clergy.
Fifty-one per cent of active UC clergy agreed with the statement: “I believe in the existence of god/God, and that God/god is greater than the universe, includes and interpenetrates it.”
Bott believes this statement illustrates the core tenet of panentheism, an emerging form of theism that is often referred to as “natural theology.” Bott acknowledged he counts himself in this group, citing American Marjorie Suchocki among his favourite theologians.
Recognizing panentheism is a term that combines “pantheism” with “theism,” Bott said he understands it to mean “that God participates with all that exists. When changes happen in creation, changes happen in God. I see God in a dance with creation.”
Classic theism: Thirty-four per cent of active UC clergy hold this classic theistic belief in God.
They agreed with the statement: “I believe in one god/God as the creator and ruler of the universe, and further believe that God/god reveals godself/Godself through supernatural revelation.”
Classic theism is “what most people think of when they think of God,” said noted Bible scholar Marcus Borg. It is generally believed such a Supreme Being can supernaturally, unilaterally “intervene” in the world.
Deism: Deism was popular in 19th-century among European intellectuals. It basically teaches that God created the laws of the natural universe, like a clockmaker makes a clock, and then stood back and let it tick away.
Only 2.3 per cent of active United Church clergy supported the deistic statement: “I believe in the existence of God/god on the evidence of reason and nature only, and reject supernatural revelation.”
God only as a metaphor: Some people think God is at least partly a metaphor for love, truth or beauty.
But just 2.1 per cent of active United Church clergy agreed with the statement: “God is solely a metaphor for what is good in the human condition.”
The finding suggests that, while many think God is an ineffable entity only understood through metaphors, United Church clergy don’t therefore buy that God is not real.
Agnosticism: Only 1.2 per cent of active United Church clergy chose the agnostic option — that they “neither believe nor disbelieve in the existence of God/god, as it can be neither known nor proven.”
Atheism: Fewer than one in 100 active United Church clergy were atheists. Only 0.7 per cent agreed: “I do not believe in the existence of God/gods.”
Together these results provides evidence that Vosper is much more rare in the United Church of Canada than she suggests.
It’s why many say that, while there is nothing wrong with “not believing in God/gods,” it’s another thing to proclaim atheism while being paid as a Christian minister.
Nevertheless, Vosper has brought in lawyers to fight the confidential review of her ordination that’s underway in the Toronto region of the United Church. So far, her lawyers have failed to stop it.
The United Church is an extremely tolerant organization when it comes to clergy’s spiritual beliefs. So anything can happen yet.
But if Vosper ends up losing her public platform as a clergywoman in a Christian denomination, she will also lose much of her novelty value to journalists.
She will become just another one of the 4.5 million Canadians who are atheists.
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West Coast Centre for (R)evolutionary theology
