Esau McCaulley Assumes Police Murdered George Floyd

Dr. Esau McCaulley excerpts his book Reading While Black and writes on a Biblical view of policing in the latest Christianity Today.  He makes some good points, but near the beginning he discredits himself with an inflammatory assumption [Emphasis mine].

The dark silt of that history has been brought to the surface by recent events, most notably the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. The many protesters who have marched in our nation’s streets bear witness to the fact that Floyd is not the first. Black Americans have been “under the knee” for not days or weeks but centuries, and this cumulative oppression is once again front and center in our national consciousness.

Thus McCaulley, for publication no less, assumes police murdered George Floyd.  He in effect writes that police intentionally killed Floyd; for murder implies intent.  Further, it is not clear just what killed Floyd.  One possibility is that an overdose of fentanyl killed him; the medical examiner’s report states that his blood had a level of that drug that can be lethal.

What makes McCaulley’s assumption worse is that the police involved are to stand trial, for 2^nd degree murder in Derek Chauvin’s case.  McCaulley does not seem to appreciate America much at times, but one good thing about this country is that our courts assume a man is innocent until proven guilty.  And responsible writers and publications usually take measures to respect that.  Newspapers make a point to print “alleged” murderer, or whatever the accusation is, when someone has not yet been convicted.  Both McCaulley and Christianity Today are reckless and irresponsible when they assume the guilt of murder, either legal or ethical guilt, particularly in such an unclear case.  And, yes, it is unclear.  (That police horribly mishandled a difficult situation is clear.  That it was murder is not.)

Further, in the midst of riots, arson, looting, and attacks on the streets, McCaulley’s assumption does not help matters. 

The above is bad enough.  What makes matters even worse is that McCaulley is a cleric in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and should therefore be all the more passionate and careful about truth.  Further he is responsible for recruiting other clergy as head of ACNA’s Next Generation Leadership Initiative.  And now he has been placed on ACNA’s Working Group on Race, Racism, and Racial Reconciliation.

It is difficult to see how McCaulley will be helpful in bringing about racial reconciliation when he so assumes a white policeman is guilty.  And Archbishop Foley Beach has requested restraint from ACNA clergy and that they defer to the Working Group for a season:

Specifically, regarding racial issues, we now have a Provincial Working Group on Race, Racism, and Racial Reconciliation which has begun meeting and who will present their results to the bishops in several months. Until then, it is time to listen and not to pontificate our specific political positions. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves.

McCaulley’s article may not be a technical violation of this request, particularly since he submitted it before the Archbishop’s letter.  But an apology and much more restraint forthwith is appropriate given his importance in ACNA and on the Working Group.

And if I were Christianity Today, I would edit the offending paragraph and fast for reasons both ethical and legal.  To assume in print a man’s guilt of murder in such an unclear case and before he goes to trial is not a trivial matter.

ACNA Working Group on Race Announced

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has announced the composition of its Working Group on Race, Racism, and Racial Reconciliation:

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The group is charged with joining in godly conversation and then leading the Church in similar dialogue. As the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, Dean of Provincial Affairs who was tasked with convening the group, said, “The polarization in our culture and political life, coupled with the sensitivity of matters of race, make this a very painful topic for many. Sadly, many do not feel it is wise for them to express their views except to someone they are confident agrees with them. As a result, it is clear that one of the primary tasks of this group is indeed to talk, and then, out of that experience, to speak to the Church at large in the hope of fostering greater openness and deeper healing throughout the Province.”

Co-chairs of the group, the Rt. Rev. Alphonza Gadsden and the Rt. Rev. Keith Andrews, added, “This working group is a commitment to courage; to listen, to learn, to speak, and to act in such a way that the voice of Jesus may be heard above all other voices. Perhaps what flows from our time together, at least in part, is a better view of all the nations (ethnicities) giving praise and glory to God because we truly see others through the heart of Jesus.”

Members of the Working Group are as follows:

The Rt. Rev. Keith Andrews, Co-Chair, Diocese of Western Anglicans
The Rt. Rev. Al Gadsden, Co-Chair, REC Diocese of the Southeast

The Rt. Rev. Bill Atwood, International Diocese
Sarah Culpepper, Diocese of Fort Worth
The Rev. Kimberly Deckel, Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others
The Rev. Gabe Garcia, Diocese of Western Anglicans
The Rev. Tommy Hinson, Diocese of Christ Our Hope
The Rev. Kempton Jackson, Diocese of Rocky Mountains
The Rev. Esau McCaulley, Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others
The Rev. Gerald McDermott, Anglican Diocese of the South
The Rev. Lawrence McElrath, Special Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy
Gabby Manriquez, Diocese of Western Anglicans
The Rev. Allan Tan, Anglican Network in Canada
Albert Thompson, Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic
The Rt. Rev. William White, REC Diocese of the Southeast

Ex officio as Dean of Provincial Affairs:
The Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic

The group will work together through November and assess their progress at that time in order to determine next steps.

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I do not know enough about the participants to have much of an informed public opinion about the composition.  But I am glad to see there are a number of particularly vocal names that are not in the Working Group.

In my initial comments on the formation of this group, I said it may be helpful to defer public discussion in ACNA to a less angry, less polarized time.  That seems to be Archbishop Foley Beach’s desire as well.  Among his recommendations in his letter to the clergy yesterday was this:

Specifically, regarding racial issues, we now have a Provincial Working Group on Race, Racism, and Racial Reconciliation which has begun meeting and who will present their results to the bishops in several months. Until then, it is time to listen and not to pontificate our specific political positions. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves.

Now how much ACNA clergy or even Working Group members comply with that request in both letter and spirit is an open question.

I’ve opined that creating this group is something of a gamble.  But proceeding on an ad hoc basis was not working, to put it mildly.  The Working Group has a weighty and volatile task.  I will be among those praying for them.

Biden Doubles Down on His Charlottesville Lie

Largely overlooked in his Democrat nomination acceptance speech last night was Joe Biden repeating his big lie about Charlottesville:

“Just a week ago, yesterday, was the third anniversary of the events in Charlottesville,” Biden continued. “Close your eyes, remember what you saw on television. Remember seeing those neo-nazis and klansmen and white supremacists coming in a field with lighted torches, veins bulging, spewing the same anti-Semitic bile heard across Europe in the ’30’s.”

Biden went on: “Remember the violent clash that ensued between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it? And remember what the president said when asked, he said—quote—there were very fine people on both sides,” Biden lied.   “That was a wake-up call for our country.”

I took pains to expose this lie last year.  I repeat some of what I posted then:

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Joe Biden in beginning his campaign for President saw fit to smear President Donald Trump’s statement in the aftermath of Charlottesville. He is not the first to deceive about Charlottesville and Trump’s statement for political purposes, and he won’t be the last.  So it’s time to revisit Charlottesville.

First, Trump did not call white nationalists and the like “fine people.”  He did not, as Biden said, assign “a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.”  Here is what Trump said, in context:

You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. ... I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. ... So you know what, it's fine. You're changing history. You're changing culture. And you had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the White nationalists, because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and White nationalists. Okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group.

And Trump’s statement was and is accurate.  You had peaceful people who, like me frankly, are concerned about taking down history for current political motivations.  And on the other side you had peaceful people who, also like me, oppose extremist racist ideologies.

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But that doesn’t stop Joe Biden from telling his big lie. . . again.

What kind of man tells and retells such a vicious big lie at key moments in his campaign?

And why does no one in the “mainstream” “news” media ask him about this?

Antisemite Linda Sarsour a Speaker at Democrat National Convention UPDATED

Someone forgot to tell the Democrat Party that the antisemitism of the U.K. Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn was something to be avoided, not imitated. 

For look who is a speaker at the Democrat National Convention – Linda Sarsour, someone so antisemitic that the Women’s March booted her from leadership.

I’ve got no words, except to say that if the purpose of the DNC was to repel decent people, they are doing a good job of that.

UPDATE:
The Biden campaign NOW realizes how toxic Sarsour is and is trying to disassociate him from her.  Then why was she a convention speaker?

They are trying to have it both ways with a wink and a nod to the antisemites.

One Must Not Mock the Woke Totalitarians

During the happy days of Uncle Joe Stalin, one had to be careful just how to be happy.  Telling the wrong sort of joke, a joke that suggested Stalin and his genocidal Glorious Soviet Union was less than glorious, could get one sent to the Gulag.

Thank goodness we do not have people in charge today with such a totalitarian mindset, and don’t you forget it!  When the Babylon Bee and Titania McGrath* got suspended from Twitter, that was NOT because the woke cabal in charge there did not appreciate their satire of woke madness.  It was an “error,” got it?

YOU!  You laughing out there – stop it right now!

And all the other unwoke bigots that had their satire accounts suspended.  Just a coincidence!

Yet more comedic accounts being targeted by Twitter... 🧐

Only tyrants execute the court jesters. pic.twitter.com/vgzgXJ3yPQ

— Andrew Doyle (@andrewdoyle_com) August 18, 2020

In all seriousness, satire and comedy are among the victims when those with a totalitarian mindset, such as the Woke, gain power as they already have in social media and most of popular culture.  As Mel Brooks, among others, has noted, comedy is dead, and the woke crowd killed it. 

Unless the Woke are stopped, the remaining hold-outs such as Titania McGrath will have to go underground or go away.

One must not mock the totalitarians.  No joke.

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*Andrew Doyle, the unwoke horrible bigoted man (probably White, too) behind Titania McGrath is so brilliant, I once thought a McGrath tweet was for real.

Biden: “It’s Not About Your Rights”

Joe Biden has an odd way of campaigning.  No I’m not talking about his staying in the basement for weeks on end.  I refer to him calling for an absurd and irrational face mask requirement to wear masks outside, period – and then rubbing his proposed face mask tyranny in our faces by saying, “It’s not about your rights.”

Hell if it isn’t.

Does he and Kamala really think Americans will respond well to his rubbing his absurd face mask tyranny in our faces like that?  To his trying to take away more of our freedom with so little justification and then lecturing us, “It’s not about your rights”?  I pray not!  

FWIW, I usually wear a face mask in indoor public places of late.  But wearing a face mask outside when no one else is within yards probably harms health more than it helps.  But public health is not really the point.  Our good is not the objective of Leftist tyrants as much as they say it is.  Their objective is compliance, whether that means a mask on our face or a jackboot on our necks.

Not just Biden’s face mask tyranny but this whole election is about our rights, our freedoms.  Democrats have made very clear that in their world, criminals, illegals, vagrants, and rioters have more rights than decent Americans who simply want to live their lives in peace, earn a living, go to a bar, the beach, or church (or all three in my case) and just be left alone by the Bidens, the Karens, the Kamalas and their ilk.

This election and this year for that matter is about our rights.

Greg Goebel is “Celebrating” That Babykiller Kamala is Biden’s VP Pick

Even before Kamala Harris was elected U. S. Senator from California, I noted her babykilling ways.  Probably worst of all was her voting against the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act as Senator, which would have required medical treatment of babies that survive late-term abortions.  She’s committed a lot of evil as a public official, but it’s hard to top that.

But before then as Attorney General she did try to punish David Daleiden for exposing Planned Parenthood, a major political donor to her, of course.  She even had his home raided for committing journalism.  I didn’t call her a feminazi for nothing.

But never mind the babykilling, the brazen attacks on the 1^st Amendment and much much more.  ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach’s Canon Greg Goebel is “celebrating the nomination of the first Black and South Asian woman as Vice President.” Because gender and ethnicity are so much more important than the lives of the unborn or of freedom of speech, don’t you know.

Yes, he actually uses “God’s image” to justify that.  He really goes there.  Using the image of God to celebrate the elevation of a babykiller.  

That is obscenity bordering on blasphemy. 

Again this is Foley Beach’s Canon in the Diocese of the South.

“Social Justice” Indoctrination of Youth in ACNA

Last time, I noted that Jemar Tisby wants churches to turn 1 Corinthians 2:2 on its head and “consistently address racial justice for months and years at a time.”  I then hinted that this policy may have infiltrated ACNA.

Aaron Buttery and the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO) has let the cat out of the bag.  It has infiltrated.

Issues of race, injustice and social unrest are not meant to be a one-time topical study or series. These crucial conversations are intended to take place over the course of our ministry so young people know that racism and injustice have no place in the kingdom or in the lives of those who follow Jesus.

Yes, all through a student’s stay in church, keep bombarding him/her about “racism and injustice” (which may be different than real racism and real injustice).  Besides what can possibly be more important for the church to be teaching youth?

·       In what ways are you catechizing your students about racism or injustice—not generically, but directly?

·       How often, through teaching or the prayers, are you shaping students to see racism and injustice through the lens of the Kingdom? For instance, in the prayers of the people?

Should the church really be catechizing about “racism and injustice?”  Is that what orthodox catechesis is about? Yes! And often!  Priorities!

·       Have you spoken with your Rector about equipping parents to discuss systemic racism at home?

Yes, pester the Rector to pester the parents about “systemic racism” so youth can be bombarded at home, too!  And if any youth and families get fed up with all that Woke Church stuff and flee the church, well, they were probably hellbound racists anyway.

In all seriousness, anyone with any contact with youth knows many youth are rebelling against wokeness.  If you do what Tisby and Buttery wants, the church is asking to lose these youth, not to mention families.  And any youth with any common sense know there are at the very least higher priorities for the church.  I can not blame them if they do flee such indoctrination on “racism and injustice.” 

·       How does your ministry communicate the difference and intersection between social justice and Kingdom justice?

Let me make it simple.  There is darn little intersection between “social justice” and Kingdom justice unless by “intersection” you mean a car crash.  

Besides that, Christ will bring in his Kingdom.  We will not bring in the Kingdom by our sociopolitical agendas whether they be woke or Trumpist or whatever.  The church should invite people to join the Kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel . . . the Gospel in the Bible, not some “social justice” gospel.  To think otherwise is pretentious as the Stand Firm podcast recently examined well.

Now before one thinks Buttery’s post is just one of those many goofball C4SO things, he has a position at the provincial level of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as the Director of Student Ministry in Esau McCaulley’s Next Generation Leadership initiative.

I will leave it to ACNA readers how much they should put up with this.  I can think of some youth who would not put up with this at all.

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save racial justice.”

Oh. That’s not what St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2? 

Nobody tell Jemar Tisby:

Given the depth of theological mis-education when it comes to race in white churches, a brief sermon series on race before you get back to your "regularly scheduled programming" isn't going to cut it. We need to consistently address racial justice for months and years at a time.

Leaving aside whether his woke version of “racial justice” is right or wrong, is this the right use of a church’s teaching time?  Abortion and attacks on freedom of speech and on freedom of religion are much bigger problems in America today than racism and any remaining affect on justice.  But it would be a serious mistake to preach on these problems week after week, month after month.  The church has (Anglican Understatement Alert) higher priorities.

But what Tisby advises is the nature of Critical Theory.  It tries to consume all it touches, including the Gospel as James White notes:

I will just leave this here in the "Woke Church is Broke" file. The gospel and CRT cannot inhabit the same space for the same purposes. One drives out the other. https://t.co/CSvvmAO2mZ

— James White (@DrOakley1689) August 5, 2020

But if you push back against Tisby’s overweaning proposal or even dare to mock his Holy Wokeness….

Wokeness 2:2 "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except race and the problem with white people."https://t.co/YeeqhtnH1U

— Woke Bible (@BibleWoke) August 4, 2020

…you are in league with White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism.  Just letting you know.  Tisby:

I've seen some rancorous trolling in my day, but the responses to my last tweet are a doozy. Always be ready for backlash. White supremacy and Christian Nationalism don't go down without a fight. Never have, never will. But we are stronger.

Now you might be thinking, “There’s goes Wannabe picking on Jemar Tisby again.  My church doesn’t have such distorted priorities anyway.”

Are you sure?  You might want to think again, especially if you are in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  Stay tuned.

Christianity Today Spreads the Poison of “White Fragility”

At the beginning I will concede one good thing about Ed Stetzer’s introduction to CT’s series on White Fragility: it is a good summary of that book by Robin DiAngelo.

And the book is the usual Cultural Marxist poison, such as: Blacks can’t be racist because they lack power, so reverse racism doesn’t exist; America is founded upon evil; white privilege; “I judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin” is racist.  And, of course, like a good Marxist, DiAngelo blames white people if they don’t respond positively to this rubbish.  Such have “white fragility.”

The proper role of a Christian publication if it decides to address such a book is to thoroughly debunk such poison, not promote it.  But not Stetzer and Christianity Today:

Let me encourage you to get the book, [Yes, help DiAngelo make money off her poison! –Ed.] read it, and then we will think it through together in this series.

Now that we are all familiar with the basic premises of DiAngelo’s argument, I am pleased to introduce the other authors who will join us in discussing White Fragility over the next several weeks. As previously mentioned, the second round of authors will be responding to the book and the initial five articles. I am pleased that George Yancey, a contributor for part one, will be contributing to the second round of articles as well.

And as I look over the nine contributors, I notice a number of woke ones.  I notice only one likely to push back against DiAngelo – Neil Shenvi.  (Granted, I am not familiar with every contributor.)

This promotion and what will surely be a stacked discussion of this poisonous book is appalling.  But such is what happens eventually when you have an Evangelical Church of What’s Happening Now eager to be blown about by every wind of doctrine. (Ephesians 4:14)