Charlottesville Revisited

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. (Please see my note below for more.)

At the same time, there were also violent extremists on both sides.  But all we hear about are the Neo-Nazis and the like and the man who ran down protesters and killed a woman. And we should be reminded of them.  But we rarely are reminded of the role violent Leftist groups, particularly Antifa, played that day.  But a great deal of violence came from Antifa and therefore some of the violence from the other side was in self-defense.  (Obviously, the car attack was not and should be condemned without equivocation.)

Don’t take my word for it.  Here are testimonies of eyewitnesses from various sides of Charlottesville, such as this:

University of Virginia student Isabella Ciambotti: "I was on Market Street around 11:30 a.m. when a counter-protester ripped a newspaper stand off the sidewalk and threw it at alt-right protesters. I saw another man from the white supremacist crowd being chased and beaten. People were hitting him with their signs. A much older man, also with the alt-right group, got pushed to the ground in the commotion. Someone raised a stick over his head and beat the man with it, and that's when I screamed and ran over with several other strangers to help him to his feet."

Such is par for the course for Antifa, along with using excrement as a weapon.  But we don’t hear much about that (By the way, although I remember numerous reports of Antifa violence in Charlottesville, search engines are not much help digging up those reports.  Funny that . . . in an Orwellian way.) – a double standard which enables more hate and violence as I noted shortly after Charlottesville.  Distorting history has consequences.

Sadly, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has enabled and even participated in distorting the history of Charlottesville. I do not think that was the intent, but it was the effect.  The Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN) issued a Charlottesville Statement.  There was nothing really wrong in it and much to be commended.  What it omitted is the problem.  While repeatedly denouncing racism and “white supremacy,” it did not even mention Antifa or other violent Leftists or their role in Charlottesville.   And ACNA and Archbishop Foley Beach endorsed and promoted this statement.

Such partial truths are inadequate and can be used to deceive.  We in ACNA must do better.  All Christians involved in the political sphere must strive for better.

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NOTE: Now one may ask how the heck can “fine people” find themselves on the same side as Neo-Nazis (and Antifa for that matter).  I will tell you how from personal experience.

Back during my college days, I joined a rally against the Greensboro shooting verdict in 1980 (or 1981, my memory of the time is fuzzy.). I saw the not guilty verdict as unjust.  But during the rally, I saw that it was really more a platform to smear Reagan and promote loony Left ideas than to protest the verdict. Eventually I had enough and walked away.

Also in my college days, I participated in Marches for Life. I noticed some, well, interesting people there.  For one thing, I was intrigued by the leaflets in the Ticked Mary genre I was handed.  But the scattered odd balls were more amusing than obnoxious.  And the main cause remained the main cause.  So I marched on.

One can certainly question the judgement of those who were not White Nationalists or the like but were there in Charlottesville to protest taking down historic statues.  But sometimes when you get involved in honorable causes, you find yourself alongside dishonorable people.

Pope Francis Withheld Benedict’s Observations from Sexual Abuse Summit

Yes, I got slack in keeping up with Papist news.  But when I finally read about this yesterday, I was floored.

I’ve mentioned Pope Emeritus Benedict’s essay on the causes of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.  It turns out he wrote it with the intention that it be distributed to the participants of the sexual abuse summit.  But instead Francis sat on it and did not distribute it!

Now some think it inappropriate for Benedict to say much of anything anymore as that undercuts the current Bishop of Rome.  (I disagree.)  Perhaps, Francis, too, just wants Benedict to be quiet now. And/or perhaps Francis did not appreciate Benedict rightly implicating liberalism and a weakening of ethics as among the causes of abuses.

Whatever Francis’ reasons, Benedict and his essay merited a hearing. What a petty pope Francis is to attempt to muffle Benedict.

Presiding Bishop Sutton Issues Letter in Response to Hicks Resignation

As noted yesterday, REC Bishop David Hicks plans to resign as the Bishop of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to become Rector of St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Butler in the ACNA Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Today, Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton issued a letter addressing this change.  As you may have surmised from my bare bones post yesterday, Hicks’ resignation may prompt some to raise questions concerning Hicks’ and the REC’s commitment on the issue of Holy Orders.  Sutton addresses that head on:

For any concerned on the matter of Holy Orders, however, it may help to know that although the Diocese of Pittsburgh (ACNA) allows for the ordination of women to the diaconate and presbyterate, there are also parishes in the diocese that do not share this belief and practice. St. Peter’s Anglican Church (Butler) is one of those congregations. The Reformed Episcopal Church in all of its dioceses, however, is resolute and clear on its understanding of the Holy Scriptures and the practice of the historic Church as articulated in our Constitution and Canons: only males serve in the three offices of this church (Deacon, Priest and Bishop). Please know that our bishops and clergy continue to pledge our fidelity to and remain unwavering in our convictions to uphold these ancient standards!

And with Hicks remaining an REC bishop until July 31st, that apparently includes him, a conclusion confirmed by private communications.

One may still ask if being opposed to WO in a diocese and under a bishop that supports WO is a tenable position.  Good cases can be made for yea or nay on that question. But I see no reason to think the Diocese of Pittsburgh will be ungracious in that regard.  And even in the unlikely event it becomes so, ACNA parishes are not captives as in The Episcopal Church.

More could be said, but I will leave the subject for now.

Sutton’s letter addresses much more concerning this change. I recommend reading it all.

Bishop David Hicks to Resign, Leave REC to Lead ACNA Diocese of Pittsburgh Parish

In an Easter Monday letter to the Diocese of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (DNMA) of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), Bishop David Hicks announced that he will resign as Bishop of said diocese on July 31st to become Rector of St. Peter’s Anglican Church of Butler, PA the next day.  That parish is in the ACNA Diocese of Pittsburgh. 

Hicks had served as Chair of the Task Force on Holy Orders, which examined the issue of the ordination of women in ACNA.  At that time, he was (and is) an REC bishop.  The REC does not ordain women to Holy Orders.  The Diocese of Pittsburgh does ordain women.

The letter further states that REC Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton “will be leading the Diocese [DNMA] in the search for a new bishop….”

Do read the letter for yourself.

J. D. Greear Digs Deeper on Charging $5 for Good Friday “Worship”

President of the Southern Baptist Convention and Pastor of Summit Church J. D. Greear has tried to explain his church charging $5 for “Good Friday Worship” with the church choir.  And “tried” is the operative word.  He tweeted:

For sure limited space. & bc this is a choir concert not a worship service, choir has traditionally sold tickets. But every year they pick a mission project to give 100% of proceeds to—usually one of our community ministry partners. This year it is to send singers to SBC.

But church publicity clearly called it “Good Friday Worship.”  And is sending your choir to the Southern Baptist Convention a “mission project”?

Would it have killed Greear to say instead, “We had logistical issues to consider with this worship concert and did not handle them in the best way.  As Pastor, I take responsibility and apologize”?  Confession is a good thing, you know.

It is certainly much better than such a lame explanation.

Going to J. D. Greear’s Good Friday Service Cost $5

Passing the plate during a service is one thing, but charging admission just to attend worship?

That is exactly what J. D. Greear’s Summit Church did for Good Friday . . . for Good Friday.  They charged five dollars for admission to their “Good Friday Worship with the All-Campus Choir.”  It says right on their site: “Tickets are $5 each.”

Charging admission to attend worship.  I am at a loss for words.  It’s not exactly simony, I guess. . . .  It’s worse.

This is who the Southern Baptist Convention has as their President.  Lord have mercy upon them.

A Timely Good Friday Exhortation from Keble

Once again, a Holy Week has found me reading John Keble’s Good Friday sermon, “The World’s Conduct to the Man of Sorrows.”  This time a passage stood out to me as an almost prophetic admonition for us today (Emphasis his.):

One very common and very dangerous trial is when notions and practices forbidden by God’s law and His Church are become customary under whatever pretense. . . . These things are now become so common that I suppose it must require Christian courage, something like taking up the Cross, in any one who resolutely sets himself against them on true Church principles.  Surely, then, this is a time in which we ought to be much on our guard as to how much we join in the disrespect and scorn with which the world is sure to treat every opinion or person which it calls bigoted.  If there be such a thing as Christian truth and a Christian Church, surely they are to be upheld, and we must cling to them in spite of any loss or credit, ease or purpose. 

This is more applicable now than when it was preached.  Today, standing firm on orthodoxy and against falsehood will get one called a bigot and for many it does risk loss in many forms.  But we faithful are to do so anyway.  

And, yes, that includes opposing the various falsehoods, pollutions of the gospel, and false gospels pushed on the church and in the church by “social justice” cabals.  That is part of carrying our cross.  At least that is part of carrying my cross.

And there are many Christians and faux Christians who are joining the world “in the disrespect and scorn” against those courageous faithful who are standing on orthodoxy and against “social justice” errors and falsehoods.  These scorners should stop and repent for their own good and for the good of the church and of the Gospel.

Yes, Keble’s admonition is certainly applicable to us in the Anglican Church in North America.

My God grant us all grace and strength to take up our cross and follow Jesus.