An Inclusive Litany

4/20/98

In an event that was apparently funded by mainstream Christian denominations, over a thousand members of a religious faction known as the "re-imagining movement" met in April in St. Paul, Minnesota. Attendees at a similar 1993 conference offered a substitute milk and honey Eucharist while worshipping pagan goddesses such as Sophia.

Opening ceremonies took place in a darkened room with lampstands of flame, beating drums, and dancing women. Mary Farrell Bednarowski, one of the keynote speakers, announced one of the themes of the meeting: "To ask about someone's story is theology." Later she told the crowd, "I don't think anyone here thinks she is God or Goddess, not with a capital 'G' anyway." Rita Nakashima Brock, another speaker, congratulated Re-Imagineers on opposing rape, violence, Western imperialism, multi-national corporations, structural adjustment and welfare "deform." Another speaker, Carter Heyward, commented, "Listening week after week to the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer is likely to be more damaging to women and girls than a sexy come-on by a sleazy priest." The final ceremony of the weekend was the ritual biting of the apple to symbolize a woman's solidarity with Eve in her rebellion against male authority and phallocentric knowledge.