The Young Thinkers' Society

[Seanan Fong]

Jefferts Schori, the new female leader of the (American) Episcopal Church, has been receiving a lot of press coverage lately. However, despite her being one of the first female church leaders, she does not seem the exude spiritual knowledge at all. She calls her daily jog "active body prayer," and she seems really tacky when she says of the divine, "The words I use are 'that which is drawing life into existence,' and 'the energy behind creation.'"

Like the Force.

I think she's belittling her role as a spiritual leader, and, simply put, she seems really fake. I guess the Episcopal Church is not known for being very hardcore about religion, but it rather irks me to see that a supposed spiritual leader is, in fact, barely spiritual at all.

Come to think of it, I much prefer Benedict XVI--his intellectualism and all.

[Maanvi Singh]

So you feel that Schori, as the first female leader of a church, isn't embracing the responsibility her position implies?

Personally, I don't understand all the attention Schori is receiving. Yes, she is one of the few female leaders in religious oraganizations, but she is the leader of a church that isn't known to be overly conservative. Perhaps if she was a Catholic bishop or cardinal, she would deserve special attention. Also, I don't believe one has the right to critique the leaders of any religion that isn't one's own religion unless that leader is involved directly in politics or other secular aspects of society. While Schori might appear uninspiring and tacky, unless she ignights guerrilla warfare and violent revolution, only members of the Episcopal Church she leads can judge the effectiveness of her leaership.

All religion, (that is all religious orgaizations) have always been male-dominated. Moreover, since all religious organizations generally place tremendous emphasis on dogma and tradition, the field of religious leaders (of the current, mainstream religions) will continue to be male dominated. While I'm dissappinted that women can't enter Dharamshala (a famous Bhuddist monastary and school) and experience difficulty attaining high religious positions, I realize that organized religion is based on tradition and are therefore difficult to reform.

[Z. M. Davis]

Jesus, Seanan.

You're saying that the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, D.D., Ph.D., Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, is "barely spiritual at all" because--you think she sounds "tacky"?

What would the Most Rev. Jefferts Schori have to do to be fully "spiritual" in your view? Call her jog a "jog," just like, say, atheists, do? Convert to Catholicism?--or maybe Sufism? Tell Gene Robinson he's going to Hell?

Grow a penis?