Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal priest and one of the first African-American women ever ordained in the Episcopal Church, will be defrocked in six months unless she denies being a Muslim. Janet I. Tu of the Seattle Times reports:
In June 2007, Redding announced publicly that, for more than a year, she had also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Muslim prayers moved her profoundly. She said she didn’t feel a need to reconcile all the differences between the two faiths, believing that at the most basic level they are compatible.
…Practicing two faiths has enabled her to answer people’s questions from the perspective of someone inside each faith, she said. People who say they’re Christian and Buddhist or a mix of other faiths are relieved to be able to talk to her because “they feel illegitimate sometimes themselves, that what they believe is not proper.”
Read the full article, in which Redding discusses her religious journey, here.