BASS ACKWARDS
Washington, DC’s new Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde outlines her priorities:
Budde is among a growing group of Christian leaders who call themselves progressive and think their approach is a better match for an increasingly diverse America. They define progressive Christianity as accepting a range of theological ideas. They work to fix local problems such as poverty and affordable housing, and they look skeptically at powerful institutions, such as Wall Street and major political parties. Among the best-known leaders are Brian McLaren, founder of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Md., and Tennessee author Phyllis Tickle.
“I want to build up the liberal church again so we can be a legitimate conversation partner in the public arena, because right now it’s dominated by . . . what many would call the Christian right,” Budde said this week at the diocese’s offices. “It’s legitimate for them to be there, but they’re drowning us out. They’re better at organizing churches than we are, and I’m going to change that!”
On the one hand, I say go for it. If the Episcopalians want to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, more power to them. If their spiritual vision is attractive, they’ll lack neither members nor money.
But if Ms. Budde really wants “to build up the liberal church again,” she might want to reflect on why it fell in the first place. People haven’t fled the Episcopal Organization by the millions because TEO was drowned out by the “religious right” or because conservatives are better at organizing churches than the Episcopalians are.
Ever since Gene Robinson got his pointy hat, the American news media has gone out of its way to communicate the Episcopal vision to the country. And the country has rejected it. Why does Ms. Budde suppose that is?
In this age of the Internet, isn’t competing in the public arena the easiest thing in the world? Could it be that people don’t need to attend churches in order to tackle problems like poverty, hunger, and housing? Is it possible that people attend churches for entirely different reasons than Ms. Budde seems to think that they do?
If you’re spiritually hungry, you attend an Episcopal service and you leave even hungrier than you were when you came in, will you go back? Is it not possible that Mariann Budde will get nowhere until she confronts the fact that people know perfectly well what the Episcopal vision is and have rejected it?
Budde is among a growing group of Christian leaders who call themselves progressive and think their approach is a better match for an increasingly diverse America. They define progressive Christianity as accepting a range of theological ideas. They work to fix local problems such as poverty and affordable housing, and they look skeptically at powerful institutions, such as Wall Street and major political parties. Among the best-known leaders are Brian McLaren, founder of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Md., and Tennessee author Phyllis Tickle.
“I want to build up the liberal church again so we can be a legitimate conversation partner in the public arena, because right now it’s dominated by . . . what many would call the Christian right,” Budde said this week at the diocese’s offices. “It’s legitimate for them to be there, but they’re drowning us out. They’re better at organizing churches than we are, and I’m going to change that!”
On the one hand, I say go for it. If the Episcopalians want to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, more power to them. If their spiritual vision is attractive, they’ll lack neither members nor money.
But if Ms. Budde really wants “to build up the liberal church again,” she might want to reflect on why it fell in the first place. People haven’t fled the Episcopal Organization by the millions because TEO was drowned out by the “religious right” or because conservatives are better at organizing churches than the Episcopalians are.
Ever since Gene Robinson got his pointy hat, the American news media has gone out of its way to communicate the Episcopal vision to the country. And the country has rejected it. Why does Ms. Budde suppose that is?
In this age of the Internet, isn’t competing in the public arena the easiest thing in the world? Could it be that people don’t need to attend churches in order to tackle problems like poverty, hunger, and housing? Is it possible that people attend churches for entirely different reasons than Ms. Budde seems to think that they do?
If you’re spiritually hungry, you attend an Episcopal service and you leave even hungrier than you were when you came in, will you go back? Is it not possible that Mariann Budde will get nowhere until she confronts the fact that people know perfectly well what the Episcopal vision is and have rejected it?
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