Episcopal Leaders Go Nuts

Yesterday President Trump walked to St. John's Episcopal Church from the White House, held up the Bible, uttered a few words about America being a great country and keeping it safe, and Episcopal leaders went nuts.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry: [bold added]

This evening, the President of the United States stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, lifted up a bible, and had pictures of himself taken. In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes. This was done in a time of deep hurt and pain in our country, and his action did nothing to help us or to heal us.

The bible teaches us that “God is love.” Jesus of Nazareth taught, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The prophet Micah taught that the Lord requires us to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”

The bible the President held up and the church that he stood in front of represent the values of love, of justice, of compassion, and of a way to heal our hurts.

We need our President, and all who hold office, to be moral leaders who help us to be a people and nation living these values. For the sake of George Floyd, for all who have wrongly suffered, and for the sake of us all, we need leaders to help us to be “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington, DC:

"Consider the context," Budde said. "After making a highly charged, emotional speech to the nation where he threatened military force, his officials cleared peaceful protests with tear gas and horses and walked on to the courtyard of St. John's Church and held up a Bible as if it were a prop or an extension of his military and authoritarian position, and stood in front of our building as if it were a backdrop for his agenda. That was the offense that I was speaking to."

Why did the President pick St. John's for his "photo op"? Because it "sustained minor damage during riots" (quote from the Episcopal News Service).

When racists burn churches, especially those with black worshippers, every law-abiding citizen rightly denounces the attacks.

When churches are collateral damage to protests that progressives approve of, the Episcopal Church condemns the President for symbolically defending the right to worship.

Bishop Marc Andrus

There are numerous examples of Episcopal leaders wrapping themselves in raiments of righteousness, then getting political.

In 2006 Bishop of California Marc Andrus protested the Iraq war by lying on the sidewalk in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco.

The bishop had every right to protest as a private citizen but those of us who disagreed with his position did not appreciate the church being associated with his stunt.

Bishop Curry in ND

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and other Episcopal bishops and priests protested against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The issues of climate change, native American rights beyond the lands they control, energy independence, and the necessity of not freezing during winter are not easily balanced, but to the wealthy mostly-white Episcopal liberals of the Bay Area the answers are obvious.

At Episcopal conventions it seems that every year there are anti-Israel, anti-gun, anti-immigration enforcement, and anti-fossil-fuel resolutions on the ballot.

But that's okay, because we Episcopalians are all motivated by the love of Christ, while President Trump is not.