A PRIMER ON CURRENT CHURCH CONFLICT – Part 1 (for Part 2, see next blog entry). The Episcopal Church of the United States of America, of which I’m a priest, is passionate about human rights and therefore has become expert at conflicts and differences especially of the cultural, ethnic and identity kind. This may sound strange to hear. Think about it though. In this century of conflict much of the conflict is at origin ideological in nature, and ideology is based on a commitment to absolute truth and ultimate reality. Where else then would you expect conflict to arise but in religion whose business, whose stock in trade is absolute truth and ultimate reality.
We were there in Selma, Alabama. One of our seminarians was martyred in the South, a killing shotgun blast to the chest as he sought to protect a young black woman from an angry white man. In the 1960’s our clergy marched against the Vietnam War and thereby alienated and divided many congregations. Much later, against the first war in Iraq, our Presiding Bishop picketed the White House where one of his parishioners, the first President Bush, had residence. Conflicts and differences, we know all about them.
We ordained women priests when it wasn’t canonically legal to do so in 1974. Our House of Bishops, all men at the time convened an emergency meeting and declared the ordinations invalid. Three months later, the illegal women priests celebrated their first public Eucharist at a church in New York City, and the rest is history. One of those first eleven women priests, from right here in Central New York, got into an argument with her bishop and sued him in court.
We know conflict and differences. And when push comes to shove, we don't respond to bullying, we won't back up, we stand up for what is right. Some churches run when the going gets tough. The Episcopal Church of the 21st century holds to the truth even when it's not popular, even when our read on the truth changes and causes us to change our position or the practice of tradition and biblical interpretation.
Sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe, indeed it’s been said, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice yourself for a greater good. If your cause is just you may end up having a far-reaching effect for the betterment of society. If your cause is not just, even if it enjoys wide support, it can have long-lasting detrimental effect. Think of past justifications for slavery and the oppression of women. You better get good therefore at knowing the motivation of your heart, what your reasons are for doing the things you do, and be sure that you’ve got more than only you and yours in mind. Only then, if we’re willing to step beyond our own selves and tribal loyalties, and see the greater ties that bind all together in our common humanity, will we ever get closer to the elusive ultimate good, what we in religion call the reign of God.
Most of the time though, it’s a matter of a little bit of advocacy here, a little bit of support there, a good deed done without credit, a word of encouragement spoken in private, a little stroll in the other person or group’s shoes. Over time, combined with hundreds and thousands of others, things eventually change for the better. Sometimes though, you’ve simply got to make it happen, now not later and damn the consequences. If the cause is just, there sometimes comes a time when one must press on even if it involves conflict. You might accomplish some lasting good, however lamentable the pain and suffering in the short run. Think for example of the American Civil War. What would America be like today if the Abolitionists and Unionists had compromised their commitment to equal justice and the greater good, and instead let evil continue to rule over our nation?
Today the Episcopal Church of the United States of America has a woman for presiding bishop, only 30 years after the great conflict over women's ordination. She’s got a doctorate in oceanography and is a licensed pilot. When Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected over four men a year and a half ago, on the floor of convention delegates appeared wearing buttons declaring, “It’s A Girl!” As our chief executive officer in the church Jefferts Schori gets to go around the world now and meet with other presiding bishops or primates, all men again by the way, many of whom don’t feel comfortable with a woman as their equal, much less a woman at the head of the richest, most powerful church in the Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion for the reader who don’t know these things, is a fellowship of 37 national churches or provinces as we call them who all have a common bond in history, having all come out of the Church of England. We call ourselves Anglicans, people of the English church heritage. Our history goes back to the first century of the Common Era. Things really took off for us after the Reformation with the global spread of the British Empire, when the Church of England became the Anglican Church in countries as close by as Canada and colonial America, and far away as Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa or Nigeria. In all today there are 87 million believers in the Anglican Communion. This is our background and working environment.
Right now the Episcopal Church is in a huge conflict with a small but vocal minority of fellow Anglicans, both here and around the world. This is where the story gets interesting, and relevant to our time. In recent years the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting every three years as a national representative legislature to do church business, has advocated for gay and lesbian rights. We even approved the election of an openly gay man as bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire.
Many celebrated this moment, like the ordination of women and the election of a woman presiding officer, another step forward in respecting the dignity and freedom of every human being regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or orientation, theology or ideology. Others screamed blasphemy and damnation, and all hell broke loose. The archbishop of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, with a membership of 17 million, has stated publicly that he believes gays and lesbians are animals, a poignant remark from an African and not a little ironic as one recalls several recent centuries of prejudice, discrimination and racism by whites in global relations especially in Africa. He leads a hostile opposition to our General Convention, which opposition includes the Archbishop of Canterbury who thinks he trumps the self-autonomy and self-governance of a province in the Anglican Communion. These primates may choose to dis-invite the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion, but if the terms of party attendance include having to let the hosts and their best friends run or oversee our Episcopal Church, the filial fun of belonging isn't worth the price.
Think of the Congress of the United States in Washington, D. C. after which our church governance was modeled in 1789, and imagine the English today trying to change our acts of Congress to suit their own interests and you’ll have an idea of what the Episcopal Church is facing around the globe today.
We’re not alone in this fight, though. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa for example, perhaps the greatest Anglican of our time and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize agrees with us in this current conflict. Of all people in the world today, he knows about conflicts and differences, and oppression, and the cost of social justice. Just this past week in another instance of solidarity 32 members of Congress petitioned Secretary of State Condolezza Rice to bring diplomatic pressure upon the Nigerian parliament which is considering making a whole new set of draconian laws against homosexual activity, making it criminal for gays or lesbians to even have a dinner together in public. We think such legislation would be a reprehensible human rights violation in the world community.
Here in the United States small pockets of dissenters have become violent in their opposition to our recent actions. Because they don’t like what a majority of fellow Episcopalians decided in a democratic vote duly enacted as part of our General Convention, they have declared themselves no longer responsible to our bishops or any Episcopal Church governance. They have tried to create a new Episcopal Church polity by aligning with African bishops in Nigeria and Rwanda of all places, and seeking to take Episcopal Church property away with them as they go. The matter is now in the secular courts. (Continued - Part 2, next blog entry)
