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Juicy Ecumenism – The Institute on Religion & Democracy's Blog

Juicy Ecumenism – The Institute on Religion & Democracy's Blog

Tag Archives: @GagliaAC

United Methodist Lobby Office Takes Three Steps Forward, Several Steps Back on Gosnell

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by John Lomperis in News

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

@GagliaAC, abortion, GBCS, Institute on Religion and Democracy, Jim Winkler, John Lomperis, Kermit Gosnell, Life

Photo credit: Plainfield Today, http://ptoday.blogspot.com/

(Photo credit: Plainfield Today)

By John Lomperis (@JohnLomperis)

The D.C. lobby office of the United Methodist Church, the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), has finally broken its silence about the “health care” offered by abortion and infanticide provider Kermit Gosnell.

The GBCS likes to boast that it “has not been silent” on pressing issues of social concern.  But when it comes to arguably the most pressing social-justice issue of our day, which according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute globally claims the lives of tens of millions of precious babies created in God’s image every year, the GBCS has been absolutely silent.  Or rather, when it has spoken out, it has only been in a very one-sided, abortion-defending way, treating the children killed by the violence of abortion as unworthy of receiving Christian compassion or even acknowledgement of their existence.

But realizing that the liberal GBCS staff do not represent the views of more than a small minority of the unsuspecting United Methodists whose denominational apportionments (skimmed from church offering plates) largely fund the GBCS, several of us at the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) decided to press the question of whether or not even Gosnell’s crimes were too much for the GBCS.

On May 7, we launched a mini-campaign on Twitter, using the hashtag #SilentGBCS and calling on the GBCS to “defend vulnerable human life in light of the Gosnell murders.”

One week later, they broke their characteristic silence, releasing a brief statement entitled: “Gosnell’s actions are reprehensible.”

As a longtime watchdog of the GBCS (which is given free reign by the denomination to operate with very minimal accountability), this statement offers the most pro-life language I have ever seen from the church agency. The statement celebrates Gosnell’s conviction for “the grisly murder of newborn babies” and the lethal drug overdose of an immigrant woman, decries “what he did” in strong language, calls on United Methodists to “take seriously our shared responsibility for the sanctity of all human life – at all stages of life,” and directly states, “The biblical teachings of the 10 Commandments is quite clear: ‘Do not murder.’ (Deuteronomy 5:17).” It does not endorse the bizarre recent claims of other abortion defenders that pro-lifers are, by some convoluted logic, to blame for Gosnell’s “house of horrors.”

Furthermore, while it may simply be a product of hasty composition, in this statement the GBCS takes a refreshing break from its usual political sloganeering to very clearly describe America’s debate over the sanctity of unborn human life as being between “those who oppose abortion and those who support it,” avoiding such lefty, intellectually dishonest euphemisms as “supporters of choice” or “reproductive justice defenders.”

Finally, the statement even describes “tougher regulations and inspections enforced in Pennsylvania” as a matter of justice being served.

And yet.

And yet, after the first two sentences noting the specific already-born victims for whose death Gosnell was convicted, the GBCS resorts to rather ambiguous language about “what he did,” leaving it up to readers to guess whether or not the GBCS’s newly professed concern “for the sanctity of all human life – at all stages of life” extends to the preborn children killed by Gosnell.  The GBCS avoids mentioning the 24 unborn children Gosnell was convicted of killing in illegal late-term abortions.

With sad moral cluelessness, the GBCS says “Although justice has been served … this case has become the latest battlefield in the abortion debate, but it is unclear why.” As if the sorts of things done by abortionists as part of their clinic practices are irrelevant to abortion debates. As if Gosnell’s “house of horrors” was a once-ever anomaly that people should just passively trust will never occur again, even with no legal safeguards. As if it is somehow “socially conscious” to ignore a similar case developing in Texas or the reality of the many other documented cases in other states of unsafe and unsanitary conditions in abortion clinics. As if the devaluing of the lives of newly born but unplanned children is completely unrelated to devaluing the lives of soon-to-be-born but also unplanned children.

And in apparent allusion to the #SilentGBCS campaign, the GBCS sanctimoniously declares that “Christians should not use this case as an opportunity to point fingers or cast stones at one another.” But metaphors aside, the denominational lobby appears determined to remain stubbornly unreflective about its own long defense of actual violence in terms of abortion.

Furthermore, for decades, the GBCS has been an enthusiastic member organization of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), which stridently decries any and all legal restrictions or even moral disapproval of abortion. In recent years, the GBCS staff has zealously defended our denomination’s increasingly contested affiliation with RCRC, which pro-life United Methodists hope to end soon.

But even as more members of the United Methodist Church wake up to the scandal of the UMC-RCRC connection, the GBCS insists on portraying the Coalition as incapable of wrongdoing.

In fact, a former GBCS staffer privately told me of being fired, probably because of this individual’s willingness to challenge RCRC on its lack of nuance. This apparent purging occurred on the watch of current GBCS General Secretary Jim Winkler.

So it is not completely true to say that the GBCS has refrained from joining other “supporters of abortion” (in the GBCS’s welcome new language) in bizarrely blaming Gosnell on pro-lifers.

Earlier this month, RCRC indeed blamed Gosnell’s “house of horrors” on pro-lifers and actually protested against basic clinic health and safety regulations that could prevent future such “reprehensible,” ongoing evils.

And while even Kermit Gosnell’s own defense attorney has been persuaded to support further regulations on abortion and even outright bans after the unborn baby is 16 or 17 weeks old, RCRC (which thanks to the GBCS claims to represent United Methodists) is now lobbying Congress against a proposed limit on abortions of pain-capable babies.

—

For years, the GBCS has strongly pushed for public policies based on the principle that companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate to operate in just, ethical, and consumer-protecting ways.  But does it trust often lucrative abortion clinics to self-regulate?  If not, then amidst all of GBCS’s political lobbying, will it ever find time to proactively lobby for clinic regulations such as those recently passed in Virginia? Even if RCRC disagrees?

From a Christian moral perspective, what is the difference between Gosnell’s snipping the spinal cord of a baby within minutes or hours after his birth and Gosnell performing the same “procedure” on a baby at the exact same stage of development but still in utero?

What are the logical, ethical, and principled relationships between a culture of disregard for the life and dignity of unborn, and even partially-born, “unwanted” children — a culture which the GBCS has reflexively championed for years — and similar treatment of newly born, physically identical “unwanted” babies?  How does one draw the line in a morally consistent and logically coherent way?

What does the GBCS think of how some of its abortion-defending allies have become increasingly open in defending infanticide?

When GBCS, through RCRC, celebrated a day in early March to offer prayers of thanks for a Mississippi abortionist “and all the other brace abortion providers around the world,” did such unqualified celebration include people like Kermit Gosnell ?

Since the GBCS has taken the unusual step of disallowing viewer comments below its statement, it seems that these are the sorts of questions that they are eager to avoid.

For an example of what a consistently compassionate, morally unmuddled denominational statement on the Gosnell murders looks like, see here.

This blog post originally appeared on the Life Site News website as an article. 

Our Existential Need for Jesus

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by irdinterns in News

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

@GagliaAC, Aaron Gaglia, Christianity, Institute on Religion and Democracy, IRD Blog

“The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Return” by James Tissot (Photo credit: Art and the Bible)

By Aaron Gaglia (@GagliaAC)

The world of theological controversy can be a very draining world. Much of theological discourse simply is not edifying and is simply a combination of name calling, accusations, and talking past each other. As one who clings to orthodoxy, it is also very draining to see more and more people drifting away from orthodox Christian teaching and practice. Traditional Biblical teaching is no longer seen as something to cling to but rather something to progress past. It is easy to get discouraged and wonder if anyone is clinging to truth alongside you.  To this end, I am going to take a break in this post from writing about controversy and rather encourage you with truths from Scripture that hold true and bring us joy no matter the state of the world or church.

Our need for Jesus is an existential need. Yes, we absolutely need Jesus to rescue us from our sins and to forgive us so that we may be reconciled with God. We need His divine rescue so that we may escape the wrath to come. Yet we also need him in a deeply subjective sense. Life is unbearable without a personal and deep relationship with Jesus Christ. If we merely accept the realities of what he has done for us on the Cross but are not relying on Him for our daily needs then something is deeply wrong. If we are not experiencing the joy that comes from knowing Jesus and savoring his beauty then something is missing. He did not save us to merely go on with our lives without Him, but he saved us to live in intimate communion with Him.

Jesus tells us that “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:54-56, ESV). This feeding on Christ, this abiding in him, is not a one-time thing but a continual act of being revived and satisfied on the “bread of life.”

We need to rediscover the viscerally existential grace of God, the grace that is walking with us every step of our journey until we see Christ and become like Him. This is all put into perspective when we remember how Jesus defines eternal life, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Eternal life is about an intimate love relationship with God.  It is about living life together with Jesus.

We feel the existential grace of God when we recognize that we cannot please Him apart from Him, when we realize that God does not merely want our obedience, but he wants our heart. He wants to comfort us. He wants to empower us. He wants to strengthen us. He wants to correct us when we are wrong. He wants to wipe away our tears when we are grieving. And He not only helps us as a distance third party but as an ever-present participant in our life. We need Jesus desperately, yet it is so easy to live functionally as if He is not here to help us on our journey called life.

Prayer is a very practical way to live out these truths. As we cast our cares on Jesus, ask him for wisdom and strength, and adore him for always being there for us, we take a step towards Jesus and put ourselves in a position to receive his grace. Recently, I have been struck by the truth of Lamentations 3:22,23: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22,23). Jesus gives us the grace we need to face each day. In episode 64 of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast, John Piper gives advice to unemployed college graduates. In telling college graduates to take it one day at a time and not worry about tomorrow, he gives this insightful commentary on the above verses:  “So each day has trouble of its own, Jesus said. And Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:22, every morning has mercy of its own. And I think Jesus has tailor-made the mercies for the miseries.” We must daily make the decision to receive God’s mercy so that we can flourish each and every day in the midst of adversity.

I hope that you are encouraged by reading this to cling to Jesus amidst the nitty gritty details of everyday life. May you experience the eternal life of Jesus Christ.

David Gushee Urges America to Recover its Torture Ethic

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by irdinterns in News

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

@GagliaAC, Aaron Gaglia, All Saints Pasadena, David Gushee, Institute on Religion and Democracy, IRD Blog, The Constitution Project, The Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment, torture

Photo Credit: Pasadena Now

By Aaron Gaglia (@GagliaAC)

“Being able to hold onto one’s principles in times of crisis is a key mark of moral maturity both for persons and for institutions” said Christian ethicist David Gushee. “It’s precisely when we are in emergency situations that we most need our ethics and our laws.” Speaking to All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena last Sunday morning, Gushee spoke of the importance of navigating the issue of torture from a moral perspective rather than a merely utilitarian perspective.

Gushee served on the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment. This nongovernmental bipartisan task force, last week released their report on Detainee Treatment from the Clinton administration until the Obama administration. Over the course of two and a half years, this task force investigated issues related to America’s detainee policy from Afghanistan to Guantánamo Bay to CIA black sites to rendition.

The Christian ethicist highlighted two main findings of the report. First, “The most important finding of this panel is that it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture.”. The task force grounded their definition of torture based on various historical and legal contexts including practices the U.S. has condemned other countries for using. According to this report, the U.S. had the broadest practice of torture in the wake of 9/11 when President Bush issued a mandate “to do whatever was necessary to prevent another such attack.”

This report argues that, despite defining certain techniques as not torture, these actions are indeed torture. For example, in August of 2002 the Office of Legal Counsel released the Bybee Techniques Memo, which concluded that 10 “enhanced techniques” were not torture. Among others it concluded that “the water board,” “sleep deprivation” and “stress positions” are not torture.

Secondly, this report found that “the nation’s highest officials bear some responsibility for the spread of torture.” This report found that high officials in the Bush Administration, CIA, Department of Defense, and others authorized certain acts of torture. One of the examples Gushee cited was Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s approval of such techniques of interrogation as nudity, threatening detainees with dogs, and sensory deprivation at Guantánamo Bay.

Gushee said the Task force did not directly recommend prosecution of these officials but that those who approved and engaged in torture are guilty of breaking both U.S. and international laws. Though he was pessimistic that any high level officials would be prosecuted, he advised that “[w]hatever decision is made about people from the past has to be in service of protecting the rule of law, human rights, and the best traditions of our nation.”

It is worth noting that the report found there is no evidence the U.S. is currently torturing anyone. The report found that these instances of torture are concentrated, though not exclusive, to our post 9/11 world.

As an ethicist, Gushee urged America to recover its morality, to stop thinking about torture in utilitarian terms and think about it ethically. Below is an extended quote that shows why this is such an urgent and important topic for Gushee:

“It would be like asking whether torture works in disciplining a child. Does torture work? Well, maybe, maybe better than you know just a nice talking to. But no, we don’t torture children and we don’t torture anybody. Torture is a rare example of a practice that in international law is absolutely banned. No exceptions. So the fact that we have been seduced into having a conversation about whether it might be okay sometimes represents a terrible moral deterioration in our country. Terrible. And we used to lead the way in arguing for an absolute legal ban on torture. So the fact that we have polls, ‘Should we or should we not torture? Does it work?’ is not only disastrous for our own soul as a country but has also sapped our leadership role around the world and helped to make it more legitimate for dictators and tyrants the world over to torture people in their custody. America the exceptional nation is not being very exceptional here.”

In my own view, it is indisputable that the U.S. engaged in acts of torture in the wake of 9/11, yet this issue is a bit more complex than it may appear. As a Christian with a belief that all human beings have inherent dignity and worth as image-bearers of God, we must oppose torture. Yet for many the disagreement is not over whether torture is right or wrong, but over what is considered torture and what is not. Though it is true the U.S. redefined certain acts that I would consider torture as not torture, we have to realize that there is a difference between torturous techniques and coercive techniques.

I completely agree with Gushee that our ethics must not be swayed and loosened in times of crisis. A time of crisis shows what one truly believes. Yet I would make a distinction between torture and coercion that Gushee may disagree with. I believe there are certain non life-threatening and non dehumanizing techniques of coercion which can be used to promote justice and human rights for all. These techniques must be carefully regulated because of man’s propensity towards abuse, yet when used correctly they are not tools of injustice, as torture is, but rather tools of justice.

Integrity Official Argues Opposition to Homosexuality Rooted in Opposition to Change

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by irdinterns in News

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

@GagliaAC, Aaron Gaglia, Episcopal, Episcopal Church, evangelical, homosexuality, HRC, Institute on Religion and Democracy, IRD Blog, RCRC, Rev. Caroline Hall, Rev. Harry Knox, Richard Weinberg, Washington National Cathedral

Rev. Caro Hall on right with Integrity USA founder Louie Crew (Photo Credit – Sharon Sheridan

By Aaron Gaglia (@GagliaAC)

“Homosexuality has become the symbol of the changes which are happening in our society” claimed Integrity USA President Caroline Hall last night at an event discussing her book, A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church. Hall argued that the controversy about homosexuality within the Episcopal Church and beyond is not mainly about theological arguments but more fundamentally about deep changes in our society and what relationship the church should have to these changes. The event was sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).

Richard Weinberg, director of Communications at Washington National Cathedral gave introductory remarks about the Cathedral’s commitment to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons. RCRC President Harry Knox introduced the speaker. Knox is well-known in the LGBT community, having worked previously for both Integrity USA, the unofficial LGBT caucus in the Episcopal Church, and the Human Rights Campaign, a national homosexual advocacy organization in addition to serving on the President’s Faith-Based Council. Knox is also an ordained minister in the Metropolitan Community Church, a majority-homosexual denomination. Though abortion is the predominant focus of RCRC, the coalition also has an interest in related issues of sexuality.

In addition to being president of Integrity, Hall is priest-in-charge at St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Los Osos, California. She begin by showing  why the issue of homosexuality is so important to her, chronicling her journey as a lesbian through trying to make herself straight in an Evangelical church to still having lingering doubts after she was ordained as an Episcopal Priest on whether her opposition in the church was right.

Hall intended to write a theological work exploring the arguments used in the Episcopal Church against being both gay and Christian, yet she realized “we really have not been having a theological argument.”

The California clergywoman explained that the Episcopal Church is changing and “it’s changed in the same way that are society is changing and that’s really what this is about.” As the Episcopal Church is a derivative of a state church, the Church of England, it thus has “very porous boundaries” in regards to society. “I think that that history, that DNA, if you would like, makes the Episcopal Church far more influenced by what’s happening in the wider society” than other denominations.

Hall saw the biggest changes in society relating to equality. “Since the civil rights movement there has been a great shift toward equality as a value.” This expressed itself in both women’s rights and in gay rights. She argues that this shift toward public affirmation of homosexuality does not threaten heterosexual marriage as conservatives argue but instead threatens the patriarchal system where “white male power was privileged.” Hall argued that homosexuality has been brought to the forefront in the last three decades because of what it threatens, namely “the patriarchal system,” “purity codes,” and “the political use of those things.”

The Episcopal priest partially attributed controversies in the Episcopal Church about sexuality to the resurgence of evangelicals in the church in the 1970s through the charismatic renewal movement. Hall noted that many evangelicals departed the Episcopal Church in the 1870s when the Reformed Episcopal Church split off. The author asserted that evangelical Episcopalians returned to prominence during a rise in evangelical Christianity in the 1970s. Hall reported that those same evangelicals then largely left in the late 2000s to form the Anglican Church in North America.

Hall explained how evangelicals became focused on homosexuality as a sin in this way: “The political right were able to harness these people who were very excited about God and were very excited about the Bible. And they were able to harness them politically by setting up homosexuality as this bogeyman which the Bible was against and therefore they as evangelicals should be against.”

In Hall’s estimation, homosexuality was not condemned by the church because it is considered a sin by the Bible and the church throughout the ages, but rather because of politics and fear.

The Episcopal priest concluded by briefly talking about the East African country of Uganda and the Christian influence there in regards to sexuality. Hall charged that evangelical Anglicans are reinforcing an idea among Ugandans that gay sexuality is a Western decadent phenomenon and is not African.

In closing, Hall mentioned that her research revealed that the church is having a debate about “what it means to be Anglican and who gets to define it” and those same questions as relating to Christians in general.  In her estimation, this debate is much bigger than theology.

Hall’s talk is a good reminder that the issue of homosexuality inside the church is not an isolated issue but is integrally related to questions of authority and how the church should relate to the world.

Sex Trafficking is Sexual Assault

18 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by irdinterns in News

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

#Enditmovement, #SAAM, @GagliaAC, A21 Campaign, Aaron Gaglia, Christine Caine, Institute on Religion and Democracy, IRD Blog, Nick Caine, sex trafficking, Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Photo Credit: NSVRC

By Aaron Gaglia (@GagliaAC)

Recently, the European Union released its first “Trafficking in human beings” report. This report, providing data concerning human trafficking in the EU from 2008-2010, revealed that sexual exploitation is the most prevalent and growing type of trafficking in the EU. Women make up 96% of all people trafficked for sexual exploitation and 68% of all people trafficked (girls make up 12% of all people trafficked). Due to the systemic and corporate aspect of the crime, the gravity is often felt impersonally without grasping what exactly this great evil is. Today, I hope to help bridge that gap by looking at sex trafficking through the lens of sexual assault, revealing that sex trafficking is a systemic and extreme expression of the personal sexual assault of a human being.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in the United States. According to SAAM’s webpage, the goal of this month is “to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence.” It is a month to open our eyes to the disgusting vileness of sexual violence with the goal of healing and prevention. This year’s campaign is focused specifically on promoting healthy child sexuality and its role in preventing child sexual abuse. So, what then is considered child sexual abuse.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), child sexual abuse can range from voyeurism and exhibitionism to touching and penetration and includes child sexual exploitation (i.e. sex trafficking). Though child sexual abuse may include violence, since a child is a minor, by definition all sexual activity between a child and adult is sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse, more commonly involves psychological manipulation such as threatening to hurt the child’s family, etc. Girls are still three times more likely to be sexually abused than boys (the ratio is even higher with sex trafficking, specifically). Sexual abuse is a huge problem with 16.3% of adolescents having been sexually abused in the last year and more than a quarter of people having been sexually abused during their lifetime.

Though trafficking affects both children and adults, the average age of a into prostitution is 12 years old and is continually growing younger. Oftentimes families are desperate for money and either knowingly or unknowingly sell their children into this industry of child sexual abuse. Moreover, under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, any prostituted minor is by definition a victim of sex trafficking. The anti-trafficking organization A21 Campaign describes the typical life of a sex trafficking victim in this way:

“After a trafficking journey that typically involves deception, rape, beatings, and constant threats, victims are often forced to live in confining and unsanitary conditions. Once formally put to work, human trafficking victims can be forced to service from 40 to 110 customers in one day. Malnutrition, sleep deprivation, as well as emotional and physical abuse become part of the day-to-day routine.”

We must truly come to terms with the fact that the machine of sex trafficking is made up of individuals who are continually sexually abused and violated. It is an industry of the violent sexual assault and abuse of women and children. It is an industry devoted to stripping women of their dignity, rights, and privacy—an industry that turns women made in the image of God into mere products to be consumed and abused. And as shown above, sex trafficking victims are victims of multiple types of abuse from many different people. They are abused by both those trafficking them and those buying them. They are not assaulted once or occasionally, but continually. They are stripped of their dignity and forced to be abused as their job.

The EU study shows that this great evil, as of yet, is not being defeated; it is growing. The systematic, organized, and violent abuse of girls is becoming more and more prevalent. These children need an advocate, someone who will rescue them, restore them, and punish the perpetrators so that they will no longer sexually abuse children.

By God’s grace, awareness about this evil is growing and more and more people are fighting to end this evil. Though the EU study is great cause to mourn, the good news is that there are organizations that are fighting it in Europe. One such organization is the A21 Campaign. This organization, founded in 2008 by Christine and Nick Caine of Hillsong fame, seeks to holistically fight trafficking by focusing on prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships.

This criminal industry will continue to grow unless more and more people stand up for what is right and work to end this evil. We must dignify and respect women by not turning a blind eye to this evil but by advocating for the enslaved. What better way to remember Sexual Assault Awareness Month, then by taking a step to end this evil.

For more info about how you can get involved in fighting sex trafficking, here are a few links:

A21 Campaign

#EndItMovement

International Justice Mission

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