That priceless and laconic remark comes from Church of England Rev Pauline Scott, Vicar at St James’, Stretham, Cambridgeshire, in response to the news that Rev David Hart has converted to Hinduism while insisting he’s still a Christian.  Rev Hart’s permission to officiate as a priest in the Diocese of Ely was recently renewed for three years.  He neglected to inform his bishop that he had embraced Hinduism, although he did write about it in a book published three months before the licence renewal.  An Anglican priest since 1984, Rev Hart is presently ministering (?) in a Hindu temple in southern India, but anticipates fulfilling the duties of an Anglican priest when he returns home to Stretham.

Mr Hart admitted on Tuesday that he had not told the Bishop of his conversion, but said that he would be “amazed” if his Hinduism “was treated with any suspicion by episcopal authority. I have neither explicitly nor implicitly renounced my Christian faith or priesthood.” His renewal of permission to officiate had been “sponsored” by the Rural Dean of Colombo in Sri Lanka, he said.
 
He believed his move “will rather be read in the spirit of open exploration and dialogue which is an essential feature of our shared modern spirituality”.

He said on Monday that he felt he could still celebrate as an Anglican priest when he visited England, although he would continue to visit a Hindu temple.

I hope someone in the C of E comes to their senses and stops this nut case Rev Hart before he has a chance to celebrate anything as an Anglican priest.

Mr Hart, who has taken the Hindu name Ananda, blesses the daily congregation of about 60 with fire that has previously been offered to Nagar, the snake god. The ritual, he said, was normally performed only by Hindu priests.

Ganesha, Hindu deityA recent issue of The Hindu, India’s national newspaper, features a short profile of Rev Hart, compete with a picture and caption reading, “PIETY: David Hart, an Anglican priest, offers prayers to a Ganesha idol in front of his house at Karumam in the State capital”.

Meet David Hart, an Anglican priest, who recites Gayatri Mantram with the same devotion with which he celebrates the Eucharist or offers namaaz at Muslim prayer halls.

He is a "religious pluralist." His fascination for Lord Ganesha has prompted him to celebrate Vinayaka Chathurthi by consecrating an idol of Ganesha at a specially-erected podium in front of his rented house at Karumam on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. Rev. Hart is an associate professor in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Winchester in the U.K. He says his "pilgrimage to the ocean" on September 1 to immerse the idol will mark the culmination of a spiritual journey he had undertaken since his school years.

The image on the right of the Hindu deity Ganesha was downloaded from Wikipedia.

Someone who sees no contradiction between Christianity and Hinduism has no business teaching theology or religion.  Here’s one rather basic contradiction: Christianity is monotheistic, Hinduism is polytheistic.  HELLO!  His bland assertion, “I have neither explicitly nor implicitly renounced my Christian faith or priesthood”, is patently ridiculous.  Consecrating and offering prayers to an idol are clearly enacted renunciations of Christianity—and egregious violations of the first two commandments to boot.

Pauline Scott, the vicar quoted in the headline, isn’t afraid to call an apostate an apostate.

However, not everyone in the Church of England is impressed by Mr Hart’s passion for Hinduism. Pauline Scott, the team vicar of St James, in Stretham, said that she would oppose any attempts by Mr Hart to celebrate in the Ely Diocese.

“We do tend to use Christian priests, surprisingly enough,” she said.

Let’s hope the bishop of the diocese isn’t afraid to say the same, before this self-deluded twit is let loose in the pulpit of an Anglican church again.

This episode reminds me of what Mahatma Gandhi said when asked whether he was a Hindu:

"Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew."

When I heard Ben Kingsley say that in the 1982 film Gandhi, I had only been a Christian for a few months.  Nonetheless, my immediate reaction was, “Only a Hindu could say that”.  I'd say the same applies here.

h/t: Ruth Gledhill