The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding of Seattle, Wash., has been an Episcopal priest for 20 years. She said recently that for the last 15 months, she also is a Muslim.
Just as a person can be African-American and woman, she can be a Christian and a Muslim, and feels no need to try to reconcile the two.
The Seattle Times religion writer Janet I. Tu did a great job reporting on Reverend Redding's pronouncement. You can read the story here.
I'm sure Rev. Redding is sincere and I am not one to judge other's beliefs, but saying you are both Christian and Muslim is like saying you are Jewish and Christian, or pagan and Hindu, or a peace activist who supports war, or an illiterate writer.

Yes, Virginia, some things are mutually exclusive, incompatible, and irreconcilable.
The root of Chistianity is a belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet but not divine, and not the Messiah. They believe Prophet Mohammed was given the last revelation from Allah.
A person who professes faith in Jesus cannot also claim the Qur'an as his or her holy book. It's just not possible.
I think this woman's claim of duality represents a further wateriing down of the tenets of each faith. Rather than live by the laws and doctrines of the religion, she, like many others, is opting to pick and choose her beliefs "cafeteria style."
Rather than being both Christian and Muslim, it seems to me that she Reverend Redding is truly neither.
* * *
I wrote two breaking news stories today: One, Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo has agreed to meet with representatives of St. Rose Catholic Church in Perrysburg,who presented him with a petition with 1,500 names asking him to keep Father Thomas Leyland on as their pastor.
Father Leyland, you may recall, criticized the bishop in 2005 for not consulting him or St. Rose's lay leaders when the diocese decided to create a new parish next to his that cut into his church boundaries significantly.
He said the bishop soon decided to remove him as pastor of the 8,100-member parish. Rather than accept an assignment to Wauseon, a small community 40 miles west of Toledo, Father Leyland chose to retire. But then he appealed to the Vatican for help, seeking to overturn Bishop Blair's move and saying he was being punished for speaking up.
The parishioners have rallied to support their pastor but sadly, the bishop was too busy to meet with them this week and so scheduled a meeting for Monday, July 2.
Meanwhile, Father Leyland is scheduled to retire July 1 and the pastor is to start at St. Rose on July 2.
The timing is "unfortunate," one parishioner told me.
The other story I wrote today has to do with the fight over Channel 48 between the former owners and Cornerstone Church. Judge Mary Ann Whipple rejected the former owners' bankruptcy petition for the third time in a year. The former owners' new supporters say the judge is racist.
Meanwhile, the station remains in Cornerstone's control... stay tuned.
Sylvania, Ohio, June 26, 2007