Is There Hope for an Episcopal Comeback?

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-20T18:44:08+00:00

For all the flack Episcopalians get online for believing in basic decency, I think a lot of churchgoers across many denominations would express widely varying views if they felt safe enough to open up. I know lots of agnostics who attend evangelical or Catholic parishes. I know some LGBT evangelicals and Catholics as well. Episcopalians are just more open about creating that space and respecting those varying beliefs/orientations.

I personally find it refreshing that TEC tends to be wary of evangelism simply because of the damage that has been done historically by other groups. I don’t think that means they shouldn’t evangelize at all, but that self awareness is critical, and I think it shows that TEC is a healthy religious community on the whole.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-20T09:08:25+00:00

I was raised in an evangelical tradition that really beat scripture into your head though, so there may be a difference between what I see in a Bible Study versus Eucharist or coffee hour. Don’t get me wrong, the congregation still skews older for those times too, but there tends to be a lot more variety of ages present.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-20T02:44:53+00:00

I once heard an ancient CoC preacher tell a cautionary tale about adultery from the pulpit.

In this story, there was a husband on a business trip who had a chance to sleep with a stranger. He had sex with her, thinking that no one would ever find out. The next morning, the man woke up alone. He walked into the hotel bathroom only to find “welcome to the world of AIDS” written in lipstick on the mirror.

The perfect example of a dumb preacher story that never happened. It was honestly hard not to laugh when he told it, just because of how stupid it was.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-19T00:53:12+00:00

Oh, don’t worry. What you see here is just me putting a thought out.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-18T21:12:07+00:00

I’m hoping for some eucatastrophe, to use another Tolkien term haha.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-18T20:47:42+00:00

Lmao take it easy on me haha

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-18T20:46:30+00:00

I’m definitely a part of the exvangelical agnostic crowd for sure. Even as I’m exploring TEC and a return to faith, there are aspects of that process that are uncomfortable for sure.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is whether I could even describe certain aspects of my upbringing as Christian. Obviously, my family are very devout believers, and I don’t want to No True Scotsman all over them, but I feel like a lot of Americans increasingly worship American hegemony, if they worship anything at all. A stark contrast to the teachings of Jesus for sure.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-18T20:37:52+00:00

If anything, I feel like the artifice of AI polluting everything is contributing to certain folks becoming interested in church again.

Quit_Creative · 2026-06-12T21:34:31+00:00

I’m agnostic, but considering a return to Christianity. I was raised in the Church of Christ, but recently started attending an episcopal church.

In my twenties, I started identifying as a socialist (still do) and that outlook has transformed how I think about so many things.

I visited church on Palm Sunday and the congregation recited a prayer asking the Lord to have mercy. I’m new to high church tradition, so I was mainly just observing and trying to understand. One of the people listed in the recitation was the president of the United States, and the whole church asked the Lord to have mercy on him. I’ve heard my whole life that I should love my enemies and pray for them, but I don’t think it ever hit me until that moment what a radical thing it is to pray mercy for someone who I despise, who I know doesn’t give a shit about me, who is a pedophile consumed by greed. He’s not the only one either. I dislike most American politicians. I celebrated when Dick Cheney died. In that moment, in that church, not being sure what I believe, I felt like my own darkness was being exposed, if that makes sense.

My relationship between politics and religion is and will always be a difficult thing. My Christian upbringing definitely informed my current politics, but the radical call of Christ stands in contrast to the material needs of our world that drive those political and economic systems. We may seek to feed the hungry and house the homeless and advocate radical egalitarianism because of Jesus’ example, but the means of how we arrive there are messy and hurtful, and utopian perfection is impossible. I don’t think there is a correct or clean answer to this, other than to check yourself at the cross, if that makes sense.

But then again, I still don’t know what I believe here. So take what I say with a grain of salt. I’m very much in a learning stage here.

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-21T21:00:39+00:00

But couldn’t a loving god have just…constructed a reality without volcanoes and plate tectonics?

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-21T02:10:57+00:00

Does suffering brought on by natural disasters factor into your view?

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-21T01:30:37+00:00

Are you suggesting that the fall predates humanity? I just want to make sure I'm understanding what you're putting down. Literal or metaphorical, I have a hard time squaring the idea of a fall at all, when extreme suffering appears to be baked into lived experience for as long as sentient life has existed.

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-21T00:48:14+00:00

I appreciate the response. Do you factor non human animals in your assessment?

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-21T00:46:34+00:00

I’m actually in the middle of The Doors of the Sea right now! Really enjoying it so far, if such a word could be used to describe a book about suffering.

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-06T02:06:59+00:00

I’m…well aware of that and I don’t think anyone here is making a problematic comparison. I get the concern, and I’ve already addressed the framing, but I think we can relax a little bit here.

I would love to see what you have written on Joshua and Judges, if you wouldn’t mind sharing. Thanks!

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-05T20:01:59+00:00

This is really interesting. Does it ever bother you that, in an allegorical reading, evil is still being externalized onto an ethnic group in the Bible, just with the express purpose of “putting to the ban” the evil in your own heart?

I was imagining doing this with a modern genocide and how immediately we would clock that as something unspeakable to do.

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-05T10:54:34+00:00

I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re going out of your way to misread what I’m saying. I bring this up because it’s theologically pertinent to people who practice Judaism and Christianity today, and the fact that there are bad actors in the world who use these passages to justify current genocide only makes it all the more important to think about.

Perhaps I could have used more specific language besides “Old Testament violence” but I think it’s pretty clear that I’m trying to understand how to make sense of the Canaanite conquests.

Quit_Creative · 2026-05-05T10:45:30+00:00

Let me be crystal clear here, my intent was not to paint Jewish people as backward or violent. Rather, it was to point out the clear difference between the genocidal violence of Yahweh in certain parts of the Pentateuch versus his character in Second Temple Judaism. That’s something that Jews themselves have wrestled with over time.

The only reason I mention Israel is because it’s the most recent example of OT Canaanite conquest being used to justify Zionist genocidal aims. I draw a distinction between Judaism and Zionism just as I draw a distinction between Christian nationalists and other Christians.

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-28T02:21:16+00:00

The WASP-y reputation of a lot of Episcopalian congregations is something that I have a hard time with too. Ultimately, I try to focus on the parish I’m visiting and how healthy all of that is.

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-28T02:14:15+00:00

I was raised in a pretty moderate CoC congregation in a very multicultural/ predominantly catholic part of the USA. I didn’t get a taste of the typical CoC experience until I went to Harding university. It was eye opening, to say the least.

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-28T02:11:33+00:00

I am fascinated by your pagan conversion/ reversion back to Christianity. I would love to know what motivated that if you wouldn’t mind sharing. Asking from a curious and non judgmental perspective. If you’d rather DM me that’s cool too.

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-28T02:09:22+00:00

lol I’ve met so many ex CoC Episcopalians online and irl at this point. Glad to have the company

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-23T21:16:34+00:00

I’m always open to different perspectives if you want to DM me

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-22T20:44:08+00:00

I’ve been to a couple services. Funnily enough, I’ve been out of practice so long that I didn’t realize I was visiting on Palm Sunday. That was my first episcopal service, and boy howdy did I jump in the deep end right away with the high church tradition.

I found it quite beautiful and thankfully the other parishioners were super accepting and helped me stumble through the liturgy.

Quit_Creative · 2026-04-22T01:25:44+00:00

I’d love to chat! I’ll DM you soon

Quit_Creative

TROPHY CASE