Melvin Lipman, President of the American Humanist Association, in central Ohio today

Yesterday I saw this article in the Faith and Values section of the Columbus Dispatch...

Humanist leader to speak here

"We feel now more than ever there’s a need to assert ourselves to stop this creeping theocracy from taking place, to let the public know that religion has no monopoly on morality," the president of the American Humanist Association said.

Lipman, the 69-year-old leader of the country’s largest humanist group, will be in Columbus this weekend for several events, sponsored by the Humanist Community of Central Ohio.

Humanists are atheists, he said, but they feel a responsibility to lead ethical lives for the good of society.

While polls show that millions of Americans don’t believe in God, Lipman said public officials ignore them because they are afraid to speak out.

"When you speak to anybody, it’s politically incorrect to be anti-gay, it’s politically incorrect to be a racist. . . . But it’s perfectly OK to say, ‘I hate atheists,’ " he said.

I was able to attend and record the event, and I have started a transcript of it here.

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The Right’s Values Agenda

A press release by Bob Shemansky. The date on it is July 19, but I haven't opened my e-mail for a few days. It's been a crazy week. -Renee

While we balance on the brink of yet another conflict in the Middle East, the Bush Administration would rather talk about gay marriage. As oil prices skyrocket ever higher, the Republican Party wants to talk about flag burning. Instead of dealing with the increasingly deadly war in Iraq, the Republican Congress wants to take on the burning issue of how we say the pledge of allegiance.

Today President Bush vetoed a bill that would expand stem cell research. This will happen, despite calls for passage from Senators Bill Frist (R-TN) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), two men who are hardly known for being “liberals” or, for that matter, even voices of moderation. One of the most honored and respected voices in the Republican Party, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who watched her husband fall victim to the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease, this week issued a statement saying, "Time is short, and life is precious, and I hope this promising research can now move forward." But these pleas for reason have fallen on deaf ears. The President, for the first time in his 5 ½ years in office, has used his veto power not to stop runaway budget deficits or halt multi-billion dollar pork-barrel projects, but to stop a bill that would expand life saving research.

Later this week and into the fall, House Republicans will again debate a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. They will do so despite the fact that it has already failed in the Senate. So what is their rationale? According to Representative Phil Gringrey (R- GA), this bill ---and I’m not making this up --- “is perhaps the best message we can give to the Middle East and all the trouble they’re having over there right now.”

Think about that for a moment. The “best message” we can give to the Middle East is that the American Congress wants to bash homosexuals yet again, insert itself into the private lives of this nation’s citizens, and negate the authority states have historically had to regulate the institution of marriage. Yep, that will certainly defuse the crisis in Lebanon and hasten the end of the Iraqi civil war so we can finally bring our brave troops home.

In truth we all know what these hot button issues bills are about. They are not about doing anything constructive on the great issues of the day. They are about politics, pure and simple. The Gay Marriage Ban and bills like it are being trotted out because 2006 is an election year, and since Republicans can’t talk about anything on which they have been successful; since they can’t talk about how they’ve united us, they will talk about things designed to divide us even further.

Personally, I believe the voters are smarter than that. I think they’ll see through these smokescreens. And come election day ---in the immortal words of The Who ---I think the voters will make it clear that they “won’t be fooled again.”

Bob Shamansky is a lifelong Central Ohio resident, lawyer, and local businessman. He served as a Special Agent in the United States Army’s Counter Intelligence Corp during the Korean War, and as a Member of Congress representing Ohio's 12th Congressional District from 1981-1983. He is facing Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Genoa Twp.) as the Democratic nominee in the 12th Congressional District.

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Religion and Science

I've been listening to another radio interview with Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop Elect of the Episcopal Church. This one was on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Given that religion and science are supposedly at odds with each other in America today, I am of course fascinated to hear the perspective of a bishop who worked as a scientist at a university.

Christy George: You came to religion as a scientist--you came to your calling in the church as a scientist. What do you think are the underlying issues feeding things like the fight over evolution?

Katharine Jefferts Schori: I think part of it is a shift in cultural, moral views. Do we live in an Enlightenment world view, or do we live out of a postmodern understanding. Are we willing to live with a variety of faces of truth, or do we insist that there is only one possible understanding of truth and that any human being can possess that understanding.

More from that interview here.



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Politics: the "art of living together in community"

At work yesterday I was talking about the whole Episcopal/Anglican kerfuffle, and a couple of my coworkers found it amusing that the Anglican church, which is known for having split from the Catholic church in the first place over "issues of human sexuality" is supposedly heading for schism over such issues now. I need to read more about the cultural issues behind all of this so that I understand it better. But I agree with Katharine Jefferts Schori that we need to get back to the business of mission too...

As I've mentioned below, she recently did an interview with Diane Rehm on NPR, and I've transcribed some of it. In the most recent segment I've posted, Diane Rehm asked Katharine Jefferts Schori if she feels able to speak out on political issues, or if she is restrained in some way.

Katharine Jefferts Schori: I've made major statements about the Federal Budget the last time around, and on immigration issues. The church has a voice to contribute to the conversation, and I think it's essential that we do so. Obviously, if we're a nonprofit organization, we can't promote one particular candidate or one particular political initiative. But we have a responsibility as Christians to express our moral understanding of the implications of actions of Congress, and our government, and I think we need to do more of that work probably than less.
...
I think the work around Millennium Development Goals has been a politically motivated initiative in the large sense of what that word "politics" means. I understand it as the art of living together in community. We are called to transform the world around us as Christians, into something that looks more like the reign of God. And the last time I checked, I don't think the hungry are all being fed, I don't think the ill people are all being provided with healthcare. We have work to do.
More here.

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Katharine Jefferts Schori on the Diane Rehm Show

Presiding Bishop Elect Katharine Jefferts Schori did an interview on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR last week. I've transcribed some of it here.

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Musings on the 4th of July

On my way home from the gym a few days ago, I noticed a new sign in front of a local church. You know--the kind of sign where someone can rearrange the letters for a new message each week. (Create your own here.) I'm invariably alone in the car on my way somewhere when I will see a new message that is just so dang outrageous that I have to talk back to it--out loud. Especially the ones that purport to be "quotes" from God, "You think it's hot here?" or "Don't make me come down there!"

*Down* here? You mean You're not *already* "down here"? What gives? I thought You were everywhere"!

But other signs just catch my attention, inspiring me to turn them over in my mind for a little while. And sometimes I turn them enough times that they end up meaning something entirely different from what the writer most likely intended.

Yesterday was one of those times. The sign I saw, just a few blocks from my house, said "America, you must be born again." Their 4th of July message, apparently. But here's where *my* mind went with that...

July 4 is traditionally thought of as our nation's birthday--the country having been "born" on that day back in 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The current administration likes to use the holiday to reinforce sentiments like "support and thank our troops--by blindly supporting our agenda." But when you stop and think about the what a radical document the Declaration of Independence really was--and still is--you can't help but realize that its message is diametrically opposed to the "Shut up and wave your little flag" brand of patriotism.

So, thinking of it that way, comparing the America of 2006 with the ideals upon which this nation was founded, I find myself embracing the message, "America, you must be born again". I know--that's *not* the message the church people had in mind when they put up the sign. But that's what I got out of it. I couldn't help but smile to myself at the irony of that.

America, you must be born again. But, could we please do it without the bloody revolution? I've got kids to think about, you know. How about we just spend some time remembering our roots?

We made a flyer with quotes from our founding fathers (and mothers). Here are a few of them...

George Washington
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

Thomas Jefferson
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.

James Madison
The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

Benjamin Franklin
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.




Click here to get your own printable flyer. If you don't have a color printer, it still works pretty well in black and white. Feel free to share it at any Independence Day festivities you attend today.

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Just HAD to do a couple of these...

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Religious Left Blog

Quick note that I've got some posts at my Religious Left Blog that are related to General Convention, such as the beginning of a transcript of Claiming the Blessing's new video Voices of Witness.

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The UN Millennium Campaign

One of the outcomes of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church this past week was that the convention affirmed the UN Millennium Development Goals. These goals have been championed by Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, the group that hosted the U2Charist I attended last week . You can read Bishop Curry's sermon at that event here. Presiding Bishop Elect Katharine Jefferts Schori was on record as supporting these goals in her candidate interview...

The Presiding Bishop has an ability to call this whole church to claim the wonderful richnesses of God's creations, the gifts of all human beings, whatever color they are, whatever language they speak, whatever country they live in, to build that reign of God. The next Presiding Bishop has an ability to hold out the vision of the Millennium Development Goals as a concrete image of what Isaiah's dream looks like. What it means to feed people--to feed the one third of the world's population who don't have enough to eat every day, to insure that girls and boys around the world have access to education, that mothers have adequate prenatal health care so that healthy children are born, that there's clean water, that there is adequate sanitation, that there are structures put in place to promote ongoing productive development around the globe.

To be that kind of energy and engine in making those Millennium Development Goals come to reality. I think that's the centerpiece of what the next Presiding Bishop has to call us to.

These are the Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.

I've added a Millenium Developement Campaign banner to the sidebar here. They come with different celebrities on them--the one I chose has Jane Goodall. Click here to get a banner for your own web site or blog.

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Open letter from Bishop Gene Robinson

This morning I discovered, thanks to a comment from the moderator at An Inch at a Time, that there is a new post from Bishop Gene Robinson...

First, let’s give ourselves some time to recover. In the first few moments of having the breath knocked out of us, we struggle just to breathe, unable to think about much of anything other than getting some oxygen back into our lungs. We have been dealt a blow that has knocked the wind out of us. Let’s be kind to ourselves, breathe a little, before we try to move on. Nothing has to be decided or done in the next few hours or days. Let’s catch our breath, remembering that breath is a powerful image of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. Let’s allow ourselves to be re-infused with that Holy Spirit which has never abandoned us, no matter what the Church does or doesn’t do.

Click here to read the whole letter.

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June 24

On my children's birthdays I am, of course, reminded of the circumstances surrounding each of their births. Thirteen years ago at this time, I was in the process of checking into the hospital to have my first child.

The sequence went like this. My due date was still 3 weeks away, but I was having major contractions that kept me awake almost all night. I finally fell asleep at about 6 in the morning. At 8 in the morning, the phone rang. It was my mother-in-law, letting us know that she was about to ship the car seat, which was the "new baby" gift she'd told us she would be sending. At 8:30 my water broke.

In the narrative of Son in Ohio's birth, we would often note with humor how considerate he was to wait until his ride was ready, and to be born during "banker's hours", allowing his Daddy-to-be a full night's sleep before the Big Day. Even though he was early, he was officially "full term", and his time of arrival turned out to be quite convenient.

Thinking back on that story recently, I wryly observed to myself that there hasn't been much reason to use the word "considerate" or "convenient" when talking about my firstborn. Of course that is true of most children, but even greater degree when the child has Asperger's Syndrome. The effect our son's uniqueness has had on our lives and my spiritual development is a multi-faceted topic that I won't explore with you just now. One day, there may be a book. ;)

For now, I'll just say that it is one of several life experiences with which Godde has seen fit to bless me that has leads me to feel moved to compassion toward those who are marginalized. People who are in any way "on the outside looking in". People who others feel free to judge without any real knowledge of what "makes them tick", or any real interest in hearing them tell their stories. The ones people are always talking about, but rarely talking with.

Anyway, last night I was remarking to my husband that when I started out blogging about the General Convention, my motivation was to present a broader, richer picture, without the overemphasis on "controversial issues" that the mainstream press is known for. Yet here I am, very much focused on that very same thing, what I've heard people refer to as "issues of human sexuality". And what I realized something--actually it's something I realized a long time ago, but just hadn't articulated yet. I don't consider the question of who may be consecrated as a bishop or who may have their union blessed and celebrated in their local community of resurrection (church) to be "issues of human sexuality". For me, it's more about marginalization versus inclusion. And marginalization just plain sucks.

And as such, the Body of Christ should not be in the business of marginalizing anyone. Even when "everyone else is doing it", we need to be the voice of radical welcome. Because that's what Jesus was.

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A woman's place

Thank you, jc, for creating this bumper sticker I suggested earlier today.



Click here for a photo gallery of Katharine Jefferts Schori at General Convention.

And click here for all the recent news stories from the Episcopal News Service.

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God's heart was the first to break

By the time I left for work this morning, most of the comments about the turn of events at the end of the General Convention had been "head" comments rather than "heart" comments. This morning I saw a comment in response to last night's post (at another blog) and it conveyed mixed feelings, but had a "maybe this is for the best" approach. Throughout the day today, I noticed that there was a fair amount of argument at Father Jake Stops the World and An Inch at a Time about whether or not the resolution calling upon...

Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.

...was a good thing or a bad thing, and if it was reason to feel demoralized.

Okay, that pushes one of my major buttons. Of course there can be rational, logical arguments made both in favor of and against the resolution. But it raises my hackles when anyone tries to tell anyone else how they "should" feel about something. 'Cause I've had people do that to me, and a really don't like it.

And I know it can be done with the best of intentions. A person might be distressed by seeing another person in pain, and hope to alleviate that by offering another way to look at the situation (It's a blessing in disguise!) or by engaging in some problem solving. I understand that. But sometimes I just need to be able to speak my pain, or my frustration, and have it acknowledged. Words of commisseration/support can be nice too, but I understand how hard it can be to think of something to say. I've been struggling with that since I heard the news about the resolution.

This is the excerpt I read in the Dispatch, to which I referred in my post last night.

For Mike Wernick, president of the Episcopal gay advocacy group Integrity-Central Ohio, yesterday’s developments offer hope.

"And not just for gays or lesbians," he said. "It’s anyone who’s marginalized.

"In my opinion, when Jesus came, Jesus came to expand God’s circle. He came to make it so that there would be no one left on the outside."

That article, if you recall, was entitled Limits on gay bishops rejected.

Imagine having those feelings of hope, and then having them crushed again so quickly. I know Mike. He goes to my church. He and his partner have been members of the church longer than I have, and they are certainly more active members than I am. In their relationship with the church, I think it's safe to say that they both "give" more than they "take". So, in the face of that, to have your church pass a resolution that seems to treat you as something less than a fully included member of the Body of Christ, well--ouch! You know?

And again, I really don't want to get into the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the resolution, or what kind of sense it made strategically, or the importance of maintaining ties with the Anglican Communion. The truth is that real people have been hurt by the decision. I believe that they must be permitted to speak their pain, and we need to hear them.

To my gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered brothers and sisters in Christ, I *still* don't know what to say, except to tell you that I am grieving with you.

And even though there was no physical death, this is still a time of mourning for many people. So I am moved to post this link to the sermon William Sloane Coffin preached after his son died in a car accident. In it, he noted that the one thing *not* to say to a person who is grieving is, "It was God's will."

My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of all our hearts to break.

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Jefferts Schori's homily at the convention's closing Eucharist

Excerpted below, click this link for the rest.

If you and I are going to grow in all things into Christ, if we're going to grow up into the full stature of Christ, if we are going to become the blessed ones God called us to be while we were still in our mothers' wombs, our growing will need to be rooted in a soil of internal peace. We'll have to claim the confidence of souls planted in the overwhelming love of God, a love so abundant, so profligate, given with such unwillingness to count the cost, that we, too, are caught up into a similar abandonment.

That full measure of love, pressed down and overflowing, drives out our idolatrous self-interest. Because that is what fear really is -- it is a reaction, an often unconscious response to something we think is so essential that it takes the place of God. "Oh, that's mine and you can't take it, because I can't live without it" -- whether it's my bank account or theological framework or my sense of being in control. If you threaten my self-definition, I respond with fear. Unless, like Jesus, we can set aside those lesser goods, unless we can make "peace through the blood of the cross."

That bloody cross brings new life into this world. Colossians calls Jesus the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from the dead. That sweaty, bloody, tear-stained labor of the cross bears new life. Our mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation -- and you and I are His children. If we're going to keep on growing into Christ-images for the world around us, we're going to have to give up fear.

What do the godly messengers say when they turn up in the Bible? "Fear not." "Don't be afraid." "God is with you." "You are God's beloved, and God is well-pleased with you."

When we know ourselves beloved of God, we can begin to respond in less fearful ways. When we know ourselves beloved, we can begin to recognize the beloved in a homeless man, or rhetorical opponent, or a child with AIDS. When we know ourselves beloved, we can even begin to see and reach beyond the defense of others.

Our invitation, both in the last work of this Convention, and as we go out into the world, is to lay down our fear and love the world. Lay down our sword and shield, and seek out the image of God's beloved in the people we find it hardest to love. Lay down our narrow self-interest, and heal the hurting and fill the hungry and set the prisoners free. Lay down our need for power and control, and bow to the image of God's beloved in the weakest, the poorest, and the most excluded.

We children can continue to squabble over the inheritance. Or we can claim our name and heritage as God's beloveds and share that name, beloved, with the whole world.

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Today's turn of events

Today's Columbus Dispatch had an article entitled Limits on gay bishops rejected, but by this afternoon I found out, er, not so much.

The 75th General Convention June 21 approved a resolution that calls on bishops and Standing Committees to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

Click here to read the Statement of Conscience from bishops who "prayerfully dissent".

A lot of people must be feeling socked in the gut right about now. An Inch at a Time is the blog of Susan Russell, the President of Integrity. For anyone not familiar with that organization, it is "A witness of God's inclusive love to the Episcopal Church and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community." Anyway, Susan's blog might be a good place to post words of support/commisseration, if you feel so inclined.

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Convention Update

From the daily e-mail from the Diocese of Southern Ohio...

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold called for a special joint session meeting on Wednesday of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. The topic for the joint session is to determine the Episcopal Church’s response to the Windsor Report.

The call for a joint session followed after the House of Deputies on Tuesday voted down a resolution that would have put a moratorium on the election of gay bishops and the development of rites for same-sex blessings. Also on Tuesday, the House of Bishops extended debate for nearly two hours beyond its planned adjournment time. They discussed how to be open and honest with the feelings of members of the House while at the same time wanting to be responsive to the requests from the Anglican Communion.

Several bishops said they felt it was important to bring to their dioceses a statement on General Convention’s response to the Windsor Report and on how to relate with the Anglican Communion. The Joint Session is scheduled to follow the 9:30 a.m. Eucharist.

Wednesday is the last day of General Convention and the last meeting of the two houses until 2009. Both houses still have several pieces of legislation to consider, in addition to the Windsor Report responses.

Bishop Price asks your prayers for discernment and wisdom for the bishops and the deputies as the largest bicameral body in the world struggles to speak with one voice.


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Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes 26th Presiding Bishop

From the Episcopal News Service:

Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes 26th Presiding Bishop

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams issued a statement June 19 on the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, as the next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Jefferts Schori was elected June 18 to succeed current Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.

Click here to read the rest, and for the picture of the *real* Rowan Williams. The picture you see above is the Rowan Bear, as featured in Gadgets for God on the Ship of Fools web site.

You know how you can get a song in your head, and there's nothing else for it but to play it a few times, and sing along? Well, I wasn't going to be able to get that Rowan Bear image out of my head--I kept thinking of it every time I saw a picture of the real Rowan Williams--until I finally posted the picture.

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Regrets and Bishops

Father Jake has a post up about the major resolutions people have been watching

This afternoon two Windsor resolutions were considered by the deputies; A160 (expression of regret) and A161 (election of bishops).

Click for the details.

UPDATE: Susan Russell's thoughts on the resolutions can be found here
Resolution Interruptus

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Gene Robinson's 6/16 Sermon, full text

To make it easier to print, I've combined the transcript of Gene Robinson's sermon at the Integrity Eucharist into one file here.

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From Susan Russell, President of Integrity

Ever since I heard the news that the Episcopal Church had elected its first female Presiding Bishop, I have been checking Susan Russell's blog, An Inch at a Time, to see if she had posted about it yet. This morning, checking blogs one last time before leaving for work, I found this:

What a wild, amazing, Spirit-filled, historic day behind us -- may God give us grace for the wild, amazing, Spirit-filled journey ahead of us!

I am still fairly stunned by the rapidly accelerating sequence of events that left us at the end of the day with the historic choice of the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion as the Rt. Reverend Katherine Jefferts Schori (Bishop of Nevada) was elected (on the fifth ballot) the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
...
And I can't think of a better Father's Day gift to the Anglican Communion than its first woman primate.

Read the rest here.

Also, I loved this comment by Lisa at Father Jake Stops the World, and just had to include it here.

[What's the HTML code for bowing lowly & reverently?] OH WOW, Joe! That must have been awesome! I can't recall which of the Ten Commandments I'm breaking, but I'm certainly envious of you, being there on the floor when this happened.

And now ... I'm just (not-so-patiently) waiting for Padre Jake to get some shut-eye and for him to give us his own first-person account of the events of this Most Amazing Day. ;) [Sounds of "Hail Thee Festival Day" rise in background.]

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