For five years, conservative Episcopalians eager to escape their liberal American church have been building ties with African Anglicans half a world away.
But they have few connections with black Americans in their own back yard, say black Episcopal bishops gathered here for a once-a-decade meeting of Anglican prelates.
“It’s something that I like to point out,” said the Bishop Eugene Sutton,the first black Episcopal bishop in Maryland, “the historical anomaly of dioceses that have nothing to do with the black community going all the way to Africa to make these relationships.”
Moreover, Sutton and other black bishops here say that the use of Scripture to reject homosexuality in the Anglican Communion evokes previous eras’ Biblically based arguments in support of slavery and racism.
African prelates, however, reject that argument, and American conservatives say it is shared theology — not race — that motivates their alliances.
“This is just another revisionist attempt to use anything to undermine the orthodox position of the church and spread the agenda of inclusiveness,” said the Right Rev. Peter Beckwith, the conservative bishop of Springfield, Ill.
Read it all–one I did not get around to posting until now, as it is ever thus. Interestingly, I did just notice now that this article is in today’s Washington Post–KSH.
RE: “”It’s something that I like to point out,” said the Bishop Eugene Sutton,the first black Episcopal bishop in Maryland, “the historical anomaly of dioceses that have nothing to do with the black community going all the way to Africa to make these relationships.”
Yeh . . . it’s gotta be frustrating to Sutton that traditional Christians are more interested in the gospel that people believe than in the color of their skin.
I see Harris hasn’t changed a bit since she retired….and now has someone else like her. Everyone who disagrees with them are racists, no matter what. How totally infuriating!!! Chicken dinner anyone? I must be a double racist as my diocese is turning to ++Venables for relief.
Oops–my bad….that’s Gayle Harris, not Barbara….same difference it appears.
“…African prelates, however, reject that argument, and American conservatives say it is shared theology — not race — that motivates their alliances…”
My prayer is that Bp. Sutton will come to see that this is not about skin color, but about the Word of God…
TEC as a whole has a pathetic record of attracting African-Americans. However, I suspect that the whackier and more liberal the theology of TEC has become, the whiter it has become. I can’t prove this with data, but I’m sure someone out there can put it to the test. What I can say is that when I left my all-white TEC parish, where the current PB was confirmed, and moved to an orthodox Continuing jurisdiction, the congregation became A LOT more diverse racially, which was another big plus for me.
[i]Harris said the bonds between Africans and U.S. conservatives are a “political expediency” and that “connections made for the time being will not last across the huge gulf of understanding” between the groups.[/i]
I suspect that it varies from congregation to congregation. Many of the CANA parishes had preexisting relationships with African dioceses that were both broad and deep. Others had to develop them, and, in the process, experienced significant shifts in worldview. If the new bonds don’t provoke a change of outlook in both directions, them the whole process has probably been a failure. Miranda Hassett has described how many of the members of the AMIA congregation that she studied underwent a shift in outlook that could be described as moving from a state of political expediency to one of mutual understanding.
[url=http://catholicandreformed.blogspot.com]Catholic and Reformed[/url]
I wonder if Gene Sutton isn’t looking at this through a race-based lens, which, if so, is certainly unhelpful.
Conservatives extend and maintain ties to African and other external bishops, not because they are black, but because they have similar mission outlooks and goals. Sutton’s view fails to explain American ties to the Southern Cone.
In decades gone by, it was said that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Now, it seems that the last refuge for the scoundrel is to cry racism.
American blacks have real contempt for African blacks…when we went to CANA all our black members left because they didn’t want to have anything to do with Archbishop Akinola…because he was black…and the amount of racist comments we hear from those who have left our CANA parish to stay in TEC is blood curdling…and this article essentially makes that point between the lines.
Just like any liberal, when the “logical” arguments are proven to be false, pull out the race card! How intellectually vacuous! Really deep theology, huh? I am STEAMING at this article. What purple shirted flatulence – to borrow a headline from somewhere else (SF)!
If you are determined to link this current global controversy with the civil war era, It seem to me that the best analogy would be that people who form bonds with African Bishops, because of their belief in Scripture, have much in common with Abolitionists, who based their belief and actions on Scripture.
#9, Don may be right. But that avoids the issue raised: what is the relationship of the conservative reasserting churches to blacks in the US? It seems to be one of comfort: easier to relate to blacks thousands of miles away than those close by. Used to be that there were lots of Black Episcopal Churches in South Carolina. What happened to them? Did they all become unitarians?
Although, I admit, we are all sinners in this regard. It’s a more complicated issue than Sutton suggests, but there has been an intentional connection between race, religion and politics since LBJ lost the south.
Eugene is simply solidifying his position as an insider. These remarks are on page two of the book of “How do I address a truth about relationships with a distraction?” You cannot hope for inclusion in TEC unless you promote the agenda. Eugene is succeeding. It’s a shame he’s bought into it. He was better than that at one time.
RE: “Used to be that there were lots of Black Episcopal Churches in South Carolina. What happened to them? Did they all become unitarians?”
No — the national church became unitarian however, and the African-Americans here hate that. Doesn’t do much for their parishes either.
I think it might be worth pointing out that while charges of racism in the current context may ring a trifle hollow, it would be a mistake not to acknowledge the less attractive aspects of race relations that have shown up over time.
Sometimes, as was the case in Pittsburgh in the 1960s with (Father Joe) Wittkofski, sentiments that were denounced as racist often had more to do with the feeling that poverty in white blue-collar communities was taking a back seat to the inner city ghetto. Yet there were even less healthy sentiments elsewhere, as Douglas Bess demonstrated in his study of the Continuing Churches. I still remember the shock I felt on reading an article written by Dorothy Faber in the early 1980s about South African apartheid which seemed to me as skewed (in its way) as the manner in which those on the left excused African revolutionary excesses.
People remember the past differently and sometimes neither side has a monopoly on the truth.
[i] Comment deleted. [/i] -ed.
[i]There is the same sense of entitlement, a near-complete inability to delay gratification, and a marked tendency to blame others for their problems.[/i]
Bart,
Given some of the articles that Kendall’s posted recently I would say that this is a First World problem that transcends race or class.
And isn’t it our job to go into wastelands and redeem them?
They did not go to Africa for blacks they went for Christians who defend the orthodox beliefs. Perhaps the black TEc bishops should look at the cult they are in before they complain.
[i]this is a First World problem that transcends race or class. [/i]
Agree completely. Somehow the single fruit of the spirit most people seem to ignore is … self control. To the point that TEC has torn the Anglican Communion to shreds in their defence of people refusing to control their sexual inclinations.
It [i]is[/i] our job to attempt redemption, but when that particular village rejects God’s message, you shake the dust off your sandals and walk away. No?
# 16
These words are deeply offensive.
[i] Comment deleted by elf. [/i]
Bart Hall,
Your trash talk is deeply offensive to the Christians who post on this site. Please try to exercize some self control when tempted to talk trash or speak irrationally.
You know, I’ll stand by those now-deleted comments for the simple reason that as long as people continue to hide behind alleged racism as an excuse for avoiding hard discussions about successful, and un-successful values … we’re not going to get very far.
Bill Cosby has said very much the same thing. A question well-asked is half answered, but some folks really don’t want to aks that question.
# 16, #22: some folks really don’t want to aks (emphasis added) that question.
Let’s try another offensive remark, or was it simply a typo?
[i]It is our job to attempt redemption, but when that particular village rejects God’s message, you shake the dust off your sandals and walk away. No?[/i]
As I understand the passage in question, “rejection” entails a conscious act of free will. You can plausibly argue that many leaders of TEC have acted in such a fashion and that GAFCON is consequently a response to our Lord’s injunction.
Most of the self-absorbed secular cultures you mention aren’t anywhere close to this conscious act of rejection. They have more in common with some of the characters in [i]The Great Divorce[/i] and you may recall what an onerous job the redeemed had trying to get the rest to begin to “perceive” the heavenly state. So for heresy that principle may eventually be applied, for the culturally deprived it never can be (at least not by us).
So how does this token hack explain DioSJ going to the Southern Cone, soon to be followed by several others?
So, the traditionalists don’t care if their bishop is black or white. And the revisionists say this is a Very Bad Thing. What?
I’m not sure Don’s experience (#9) is reflective. Black churches and pastors seem to be pretty Biblically conservative and resent the frequent comparison of the civl rights struggle with gays.