Dr. Ragsdale has served as vicar of St. David’s since 1996. Since 2005, she has also served as president and executive director of Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank dedicated to building a more just and inclusive democratic society by exposing movements, institutions, and ideologies on the political and Christian Right “that undermine human rights,” according to information published on the organization’s website. During her tenure at Political Research Associates, Dr. Ragsdale helped the organization successfully broaden its donor base as part of a transition from a founder-led institution.
She has also been a passionate advocate and author on abortion from a Christian perspective. She served for 17 years (eight as chairwoman) on the national board for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).
She’s also a self-avowed homosexual. Put that together with her vicious position on abortion, and a psychiatrist could have a field day.
Under her leadership, EDS will tank.
Sorry for a double post, but I forgot…
Her only degrees are an MDiv and a DMin. The DMin is not an academic doctorate, not a teaching degree. She does not even have the scholarly publications expected of a junior faculty member at a seminary.
From that angle, I would think that the Association of Theological Schools will take great interest in her appointment as Dean of a seminary.
am I the only one who sees Molech behind the scenes here?
No Jeff- I have long heard his whispers turn to a scream in the ears of the progressives intent on transforming the Church in this land.
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH has strangely become a place where those championing secular non-Christian values find preferment but those defending the faith of the ages get forced to the margins.
Code of practice anyone?
The abortion industry is evil. There are vidios where a girl (states her age as 14 or 15 ) then states that age age of her lover is 20 or 21. No problem with an abortion, just come up with the cash. No notification of parents or law enforcement, just the cash girlie. If this isn’t adding a feloney I don’t have any idea what is!
Compare the placement of such a person as the head of an Episcopal seminary to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, as [url=http://concordia.typepad.com/vocation/2009/04/the-great-masquerade-of-evil.html]quoted[/url] here by the German newsman Uwe Siemen-Netto:[blockquote]The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to disguise as light, charity, historical necessity or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethics, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil.[/blockquote]
[blockquote]…a progressive think tank dedicated to building a more just and inclusive democratic society by exposing movements, institutions, and ideologies on the political and Christian Right “that undermine human rights,†according to information published on the organization’s website. [/blockquote]
I had no idea that the [url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21008.html]Congressional Black Caucus[/url] was filled with mossbacks. But then again, our current and former PBs went to Cuba, looked around and couldn’t find a single human rights issue anywhere outside of Guantanamo.
Well, she sounds delightfully non-partisan. 😉
A sermon preached by Dr. Ragsdale. Satanic is not putting it too strongly.
Well, Operation Save America came, they saw, they harassed, and they annoyed; but they did not close the clinic. The clinic stayed open, no patients were turned away, and the doors never closed. We remain victorious. And that victory is a good thing – but, make no mistake, even though OSA has gone home; our work is not done.
If we were to leave this park and discover that clinic violence had become a thing of the past, never to plague us again, that would be a very good thing, indeed; but, still, our work would not be done.
If we were to find that, while we were here, Congress had acted to insure that abortion would always be legal, that would be a very good thing; but our work would not be done.
If we were suddenly to find a host of trained providers, insuring access in every city, town, village, and military base throughout the world, that would be a very good thing; but our work would not be done.
When every woman has everything she needs to make an informed, thoughtful choice, and to act upon it, we will be very close; but, still, our work will not be done.
As long as women, acting as responsible moral agents, taking responsibility for their own lives and for those who depend on them, have to contend with guilt and shame, have judgment and contempt heaped upon them, rather than the support and respect they deserve, our work is not done.
How will we know when our work is done? I suspect we’ll know it when we see it. But let me give you some sure indicators that it isn’t done yet:
When doctors and pharmacists try to opt out of providing medical care, claiming it’s an act of conscience, our work is not done.
Let me say a bit more about that, because the religious community has long been an advocate of taking principled stands of conscience – even when such stands require civil disobedience. We’ve supported conscientious objectors, the Underground Railroad, freedom riders, sanctuary seekers, and anti-apartheid protestors. We support people who put their freedom and safety at risk for principles they believe in.
But let’s be clear, there’s a world of difference between those who engage in such civil disobedience, and pay the price, and doctors and pharmacists who insist that the rest of the world reorder itself to protect their consciences – that others pay the price for their principles.
This isn’t particularly complicated. If your conscience forbids you to carry arms, don’t join the military or become a police officer. If you have qualms about animal experimentation, think hard before choosing to go into medical research. And, if you’re not prepared to provide the full range of reproductive health care (or prescriptions) to any woman who needs it then don’t go into obstetrics and gynecology, or internal or emergency medicine, or pharmacology. Choose another field! We’ll respect your consciences when you begin to take responsibility for them.
Here’s another sign. Did you notice the arguments that were being shouted at us in front of the clinic? They’ve been trying for years, and seem to be pushing especially hard now, to position themselves as feminists – supporters of women. You heard them – yelling that they understand that it’s all men’s fault. That men must do better at supporting women and children so that women, presumably, won’t feel the need to abort. They yelled that they understood that the women going into the clinic had been hurt by men and were reacting to that pain and betrayal. They pledged to help men be more responsible so that women wouldn’t want abortions.
Let me tell you something. Any argument that puts men alone at the center – for good or for bad — any discussion of women’s reproductive health that ends up being all about men, is not feminism. Nor, for that matter, is it Christian, or reflective of any God I recognize. And as long as anyone can even imagine such an argument, our work is not done.
And while we’re at it, as long as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States can argue, as Justice Kennedy recently did, that women are not capable of making our own informed moral decisions, that we need men to help us so that we won’t make mistakes that we later regret; as long as a Supreme Court Justice can deny the moral agency of women simply because we are women – and can do it without being laughed off the public stage forever – our work is not done. What has happened to us that he could even think he could get away with publishing such an opinion? Our work most certainly is not done.
Finally, the last sign I want to identify relates to my fellow clergy. Too often even those who support us can be heard talking about abortion as a tragedy. Let’s be very clear about this:
When a woman finds herself pregnant due to violence and chooses an abortion, it is the violence that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.
When a woman finds that the fetus she is carrying has anomalies incompatible with life, that it will not live and that she requires an abortion – often a late-term abortion – to protect her life, her health, or her fertility, it is the shattering of her hopes and dreams for that pregnancy that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.
When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.
And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight — only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.
These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.
I want to thank all of you who protect this blessing – who do this work every day: the health care providers, doctors, nurses, technicians, receptionists, who put your lives on the line to care for others (you are heroes — in my eyes, you are saints); the escorts and the activists; the lobbyists and the clinic defenders; all of you. You’re engaged in holy work.
Thank you for allowing me to join you in that work for a few days here in Alabama. God bless you all.
Obviously this choice demonstrates ETS’s commitment to pluralism and welcoming different voices to the academic table… etc. etc.
#9 That is one of the sickest things I have ever read. I typically say that nothing TEC does surprises me anymore, but this one does.
#2 Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin also hired a DMin as seminary dean last year. But he seems pretty good from what I can tell, (as does Southwest). That’s the thing with D.Mins… two kind people get them: those serious about the theology and practice of ministry (e.g. Southwest’s new dean), and egotists with agendas who just want the title of doctor (e.g. EDS). It’s a highly misused and overused degree, in my opinion, and 90% of the time should not be afforded doctoral status. I wouldn’t be surprised if ATS cracks down on it in the future.
Another of Christ’s prophecies realized:
[blockquote]Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Luke 23:28-29[/blockquote]
Whomever Ms. Ragsdale is channeling, we can be pretty sure it isn’t through the Holy Spirit.
No. 9-Where did you get that sermon? Do you have a reference?
#9 That was the most frightening read in a long time
Those words are so blasphemous, so wicked, so twisted.
That ‘sermon’ is nothing less than a nail hammered into the flesh of Christ- the one who caused people to ‘leap in the womb’ – such was his understanding of their worth, calling and right to live.
This situation is intolerable. The idea that EDS could possibly train anyone for ordination is absurd.
#12 – one of the (many) reasons to support Stand Firm – they have Ms. Ragsdale’s 2007 speech here – http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/21537/
Once this was posted, Ms. Ragsdale pulled the speech from her own website and offered her reasons for doing so (see here – http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/21556/ ) but you can still read the speech on Stand Firm!
This, of course, is the “take-away” thought from Ms. Ragsdale’s reflections:
I see the sermon is still listed on the NARAL website, so I will take it as a legitimate citation. I was hoping it was just yellow journalistic bloggery, but I see its the real deal. Not that I am surprised much by what little I saw at EDS a few years ago when I happened to be in town and visited randomly.
This is one of the saddest and most disturbing news items, among many, I’ve read regarding the Episcopal Church. It shows the earnest, passionate and proud movement toward and clinging to completely unbiblical teachings and doctrines. This forbodes a continued sharp trajectory away from orthodox teachings, as she is the Dean of the seminary and will help form like-minded clergy.
There just aren’t words for this. These comments should make even the most thoroughgoing liberal Protestant squirm in their seat:
“And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion — there is not a tragedy in sight — only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.”
This is pure madness. Her elevation to the deanship of EDS should rival the Robinson concecration in its consequence for the state of TEC and the Communion.
#3, jeff marx. Molech? Yes, the part about burning children does fit. Other possibilities include Asmodeus and Adramelech.
What about Lilith, demon of the night, who would have 100 children die every day?
In any case, bad juju.
Rags also has the sermon up on her own site:
http://katherineragsdale.blogspot.com/2009/04/about-time.html
‘And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.’
This is truly terrifying, horrific. Very sobering for those of us who frequently think ‘conservatives’ must be over-egging the situation in the US. For context, though, could someone explain to this Brit quite what role the EDS plays in the life of TEC? Is it a very prestigious institutuion, very central to the life of the Church? Or somewhat out of even the TEC mainstream?