SHOWDOWN AT LAMBETH

The civil war in the Anglican Communion, that the Archbishop of Canterbury had tried to avoid, appears to be on the cusp today. The issue is the interface between the Communion and homosexuality. This is not new. It has been the big issue for more than two decades but it has never been so contentious as it is now. The Fifteenth Lambeth Conference may be coming apart at the seams. 

Apparently two sides have squared off. Anti-homosexual-rights bishops are being led by the conservative (or reactionary) Global South sub-division. Someone(s), perhaps bishops of this segment, put into the original "Calls" document, a statement that the 1998 Resolution 1.10, that condemned homosexuality and same-sex marriage, was "the mind of the Anglican Communion," as if it were the rule for all of the provinces of the Anglican Communion. 

The other side arose in protest. The pro-homosexual-rights contingent apparently is being led by the 100-bishop-strong American delegation which itself is led by the formidable Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry. This side managed to get the "Calls" revised to take out "the mind" provision and emphasize that different provinces have different views of the issue, a sort of agree-to-disagree attitude. Thus, the "Calls" flipped from pro-Global South to pro-TEC on the issue of homosexuality.  

This has prompted a huge backlash from the anti-homosexual-rights coalition. They have demanded and gotten a meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury for tomorrow. My guess is they will read him the Riot Act. It is us or them. They are also promising to force a vote on reaffirming the 1998 anti-homosexual resolution. This may well tear up the meeting. 

Read the excellent article from ENS about this HERE .

Actually, anti-homosexual Anglican bishops have been trying to divide the Anglican Communion along lines of social policy for more than two decades. This all started when the Episcopal Church, in America, went through a process from 1989 to 1996 in which it settled on equality for an inclusion of non-celibate homosexuals in the life of the church. Reactionary American Episcopalians reached out to Third World bishops who lived in cultures that historically condemned and criminalized homosexuality. This coalition of disgruntled Americans and anti-homosexual Third World (mostly African) bishops forced a majority vote on Res. 1.10 in 1998. The war intensified after the American church affirmed its first partnered gay bishop, chose the first woman primate of the Anglican Communion, the anti side drew up its Jerusalem Declaration in 2008, and created a new church (ACNA) as the replacement for the Episcopal Church in 2009. In 2016, the anti side pushed through a "punishment" of TEC but it was virtually ignored. When Covid came along, everything was thrown into limbo. No more. The Anglican civil war over homosexuality is back with a vengeance.

It is not just the Americans who are now the targets of the anti set. They have also condemned pro-gay policies of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Brazil, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales, and the church in New Zealand and Polynesia.

As I see it, the overriding issue is whether the Anglican Communion will have a set of policies and procedures forced on all forty-two provinces or whether the forty-two will govern themselves separately. In the first place, Anglicanism is by history and nature a non-dogmatic and tolerant religion. It had to be in order to unify the diverse religious views in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England. What the antis are trying to do now is change the character of Anglicanism into a dogmatic and authoritarian world church. If they cannot do that, they appear to be ready to go their own separate way as a new Anglicanism more suitable to the cultures where homosexuality remains taboo and misogyny prevails. 

In the second place, the AC is only a friendship club bonded by a common historic identity. It is not a law making body. It has no right whatsoever to interfere in the internal working of any province. The Archbishop of Canterbury is first among equals but he has no authority at all to meddle in any province outside of his own.

So, the question at hand is---whither Anglicanism? Continue on as it has been or break apart with the majority forming a new kind Anglicanism. The wedge issue is homosexuality to be sure but there is something at hand here much bigger than that. The future of Anglicanism, and of the Anglican Communion is at stake and the hour of decision is nearer than ever.

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On a cheerier note, look at the class pictures. Here are the 650+ bishops in attendance at the Lambeth Conference now. Click on image for enlargement. The Archbishop of Canterbury is front center, with crucifer behind him. 

I think I have spotted Bishop Ruth. Look for the bishop on the front row wearing the checkerboard stole slightly right of center, go up to fourth row from top and look for the blonde curly hair.

The female bishops at Lambeth. Here Bishop Ruth is easy to spot. Look near left end, third row down, for the blonde hair and big smile.

 

 

ST. DAVID'S, OF CHERAW, TO RETURN TO EPISCOPAL CHURCH

The present occupants of St. David's Church, in Cheraw SC, have announced that their last service there will be on this coming Sunday, July 31, 2022. Starting on August 7, 2022, the clergyman of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, the Rev. Jason Varnadore, will lead his followers to hold services at Wesley United Methodist Church, 309 Greene Street, Cheraw. Find an announcement about this HERE . 

Presumably, the Episcopal worshiping group of Cheraw will move into St. David's property upon the departure of the non-Episcopal occupants. I will relay details on this as I receive them. [AFTER NOTE. I have received official word that Episcopal services in St. David's will begin on August 7, 2022.]

Find the Facebook page of the Cheraw Episcopal worshiping group HERE . This group goes back years. Arguably, its mainstay has been Janet Clark, whom everyone admires. She was recently given the House of Deputies Medal in the General Convention, well deserved. After nearly a decade in the wilderness, Clark, and her band of faithful churchpeople can now return home. They kept the faith; they fought the good fight and now its time to go home and rebuild.

So far, three of the seven parishes that the SC supreme court ordered to be returned to the Episcopal Church have announced plans to restore the properties to the Episcopal diocese:  St. John's, of Johns Island; Christ Church, of Mt. Pleasant; and St. David's, of Cheraw. One has actually made the transfer, St. John's. This leaves four which, to my knowledge, have not publicly announced plans for transition:  

---St. Bartholomew's, Hartsville

---St. Matthew's, Ft. Motte

---Holy Trinity, Charleston

---St. James, James Island, Charleston

Meanwhile, we are still awaiting the presumably final decision of the SC Supreme Court on the seven other parishes still under consideration. The court has already ruled TWICE that these seven belong to the Episcopal Church, but then, given the inscrutable fluctuations of this court, this does not necessarily mean anything. 

 

YET AGAIN, IT'S HUMAN RIGHTS, STUPID

Poor Archbishop of Canterbury. He was desperate to avoid the issue of human rights, particularly those for homosexuals. He wanted so much to shift the focus to themes of unity in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Not to be. The present Lambeth Conference, opening today, is, once again, overshadowed by the issue of homosexuality. It has been this way for twenty-four years, since anti-human rights prelates pushed through the anti-homosexual RESOLUTION 1.10 in 1998 condemning homosexuality and same-sex marriage. 

Unfortunately, the archbishop himself contributed to the present state of affairs when he pointedly refused to invite the legal spouses of (four) homosexual bishops from America. That guaranteed the issue of homosexuality would be front and center as it is. (All four spouses are actually in attendance but not officially.)

Then, apparently at the last minute in the run-up to the Conference, anti-homosexual reactionary bishops tried to press through a "reaffirmation" of 1998's Resolution 1.10 as the rule in the Anglican Communion. American bishops fired back and the organizers of the Conference revised the "Calls" to recognize differences of opinion on homosexuality. This has only raised the visibility of the issue in the Conference. The revised Calls stresses the validity of different views on homosexuality (this is a defeat for the anti-homosexual-rights reactionaries). Find this HERE , p. 15, 2.3. 

Those who are trying to impose conformity of an anti-human rights agenda in the Anglican Communion will not succeed because the Communion is actually a loose collection of forty-two independent provinces. Each province rules itself. One province cannot impose its will on others. The Archbishop of Canterbury is not a pope, but only a figurehead with no power over the provinces outside of his own.

The Lambeth Conference officially opens today, 28 July. Some 650 bishops from around the world are in attendance. The three most reactionary primates on the issue of rights for homosexuals are boycotting the Conference. The non-Anglican Anglican Church in North America, of which the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is a part, will not be a part of the Lambeth Conference because they are not in the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury invited the ACNA to send observers but Foley Beach, head of ACNA, shot back that none would attend since the meeting included partnered homosexual bishops.

This brings us back to the schism in South Carolina. If anyone ever had any doubt about the direct cause of the split, one should have it no longer. It is now, as it has always been, about human rights, stupid. And so, as parishes in South Carolina return to the Episcopal Church, the people in the congregations should not be fooled about the differences between the Episcopal and the "Anglican" dioceses. The Episcopal Church is in favor of human rights for all people, that is, the equality and inclusion of homosexuals, women, and everyone else once marginalized or excluded in the past. The "Anglican" diocese was created to keep homosexuals, and women, from having equality and inclusion. It is there to continue the white male power structures of the past.

And so, everything old is new again. The Anglican Communion in the world, and in South Carolina, is now wrestling with what to do about equal rights for all people. This is a decades-old struggle that just does not want to go away. At any rate, the Diocese of South Carolina has taken its stand boldly and clearly. It champions equal rights and inclusion of all of God's children. This is the right side of history. 

See THIS ARTICLE for a summary of the American bishops' actions.

Here is an ARTICLE on the organizers' backtracking.

Another ARTICLE about American bishops and gay rights.

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, of the Diocese of South Carolina, is attending the Conference. Find an article about her HERE .

 

NOTES,  24 JULY 2022

It is Sunday, July 24, 2022, and time to catch up on some topics we have been following of late.

After two and a half years, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. In fact, it is on an uptick in terms of new cases. However, hospitalizations and deaths continue to be relatively low. We still need to be vigilant because the new strains are more infectious than the earlier ones. 

On the political front, I watched all the sessions of the House of Representatives select committee on the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol. I found them painful and sad but ultimately reassuring. The hearings have proven our worst fears about the former president. He did his best to overthrow the Constitution of the United States and replace it with a dictatorship and came very close to succeeding. The worst thing he did was to try to overthrow the government, but what was nearly as shocking was his disregard for the life of his own vice president. When he knew Pence's life was in danger ("hang Mike Pence"), he egged on the violent mob after Pence had refused to delay or deny the proceedings. What kind of a president would condone the murder of his own vice president? One who should never have been president and should never again be allowed anywhere near the White House. In fact, the committee has given us a mountain of evidence of Trump's criminal acts as president. They have proven beyond a doubt that Trump should be charged with conspiracy to disrupt an official proceeding, a felony punishable by many years in prison. There is also a vast amount of circumstantial evidence of his guilt in seditious conspiracy but the committee failed to deliver a "smoking gun" on that one. For the sake of the future security and stability of our constitutional democratic republic, Donald Trump must be held accountable for his crimes of omission and commission as president. This was what was reassuring about the hearings. The committee brilliantly clarified the wrongdoings and presented the nation with the evidence to cleanse itself of this dark stain on our history. Now, it up to the Department of Justice to act. I expect they will.

On the topic of the schism, St. John's Episcopal Church, of Johns Island, held its second Sunday of services. The Rev. Callie Walpole continues to lead the restoration of that ancient parish to its ancestral denomination. Today's service saw a large congregation, not quite as big as last week's but still sizable, putting aside critics' charge that few people would show up on the second Sunday.

Here is the passing of the peace, from the Facebook video.

There was a long line of communicants going to the altar rail.

The secessionists from St. John's continued to meet at Haut Gap Middle School. The visual and audio quality of their Facebook livestream made it difficult to tell much of what was going on there but obviously with a large crowd.

At Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant, the rector reminded everyone that 28 August would be their last day in the buildings. Church of the Cross, of Bluffton, is treating the congregation to a big bar-b-que lunch that day in honor of their farewell. As we know, the Episcopal bishop has named the Rev. Furman Buchanan to lead the restoration of Christ Church to its ancestral church soon after the secessionists vacate the property. Let us hope that process follows the good model set at St. John's.

Finally, if anyone is wondering what is going on in my garden these days, here are two pictures. I must say, it has been too hot, and rainy, to do much gardening work lately although there is a great deal to do because of the long days and copious rain. Weeds are growing like Topsy.

Banana trees fruit on the second year's growth. This large tree, 15-20 feet now, did not die down to the ground last winter. It is now putting out this stalk of tiny bananas. It makes a conversation piece if nothing else.

Adjacent to the bananas, in a tropical area, is this beautiful, coral colored ginger. This specimen came from Hawaii via my county agent. Ginger is a perennial that comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors and make attractive late summer flowers. Every southern garden should have them.

We are now in high summer, but in a couple of weeks life will start to move toward autumn. Schools resume across the south, typically in early August these days. That means football is not far away. By August, daily sunlight will grow shorter and the air will gradually cool. Life goes on and, with God's grace, we go with it. Peace.  

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UPDATE. 6:30 p.m. Interest in the Episcopal restoration of St. John's remains high. As of this moment, there have been 212 views on Facebook of the Episcopal service today while there have been 147 views of the "Anglican" one at Haut Gap M.S.

 

 

THE SECOND HOMECOMING:

CHRIST CHURCH, MOUNT PLEASANT

The Episcopal Diocese of SC announced today that the Rev. Furman L. Buchanan has been named to lead the restoration of Christ Church parish, Mt. Pleasant. Find the press release HERE .

This is a great boon to the diocese, and Christ Church, because the Rev. Mr. Buchanan is not just an average clergyman at a nondescript parish. He is outstanding in many ways, as the press release describes. He was also the only clergyperson from the Diocese of Upper South Carolina to be a nominee for bishop of that diocese last year. Find info on this HERE . The lowcountry is fortunate indeed that the Rev. Buchanan has agreed to leave behind an established rectorship of a large and vibrant church to take on the highly challenging task of rebuilding a parish torn by a decade of schism. He should have everyone's respect, admiration, and gratitude.

All signs indicate that Christ Church will be the second parish to return to its ancestral home, after St. John's, of Johns Island which enjoyed a festival of restoration last Sunday. The return of Episcopal church services in St. John's was met with a great amount of interest and support. As of today, Facebook is listing 1,500 views of the 10:30 service in St. John's and 492 views of the separatist service at Haut Gap Middle School.

The present occupants of the Christ Church buildings have said August 28, 2022 will be their last service on the property. They are calling it "A Service of Thanksgiving, Lament, and New Life." They have announced that after that they will be meeting at Jennie Moore Elementary School, on Hamlin Road, in Mt. Pleasant. The present leaders are working hard to keep the congregation together in the move. They recently conducted a multi-week program on their view of the differences between the (orthodox) Anglicans and the (unorthodox) Episcopalians. This anti-Episcopal propaganda program was developed by secessionist diocesan leaders in the wake of the 2017 SC Supreme Court decision.

So, it should go without saying that the Rev. Buchanan will have his hands full dealing with the return and rebuilding of the parish of Christ Church. Now, this leaves five more parishes under orders to return to the Episcopal Church and seven more awaiting final decisions of the state supreme court.

The restoration process has had a good start at St. John's. With God's grace, this will carry over to the numerous other parishes in line to return home. Maybe, just maybe, the battered, bruised, and bleeding old diocese of South Carolina can begin to heal and to evolve into a resurrection of new life. Let us thank God that the Rev. Buchanan has answered the call to be a big part of this.  

ST. JOHN'S COMES HOME

On today, Sunday, 17 July 2022, the schism ended for Saint John's Parish, Johns Island, Charleston. The Episcopal Church flag stood in the sanctuary for the first time in nearly ten years. In that decade, the church was occupied by clergy who were not in the Episcopal Church.

(I was glad to see the three stair-step boys. It brought back a flood of happy memories. I was the third in a set of stair-step boys. We were two years apart. I must say the boys above were better behaved that we were. Our father was a policeman. Policemen's kids are like preacher's kids, they push the boundaries. Anyway, we three boys grew up in church and all of us have remained church-goers all our lives.)

A video of today's 10:30 a.m. service is available on Facebook HERE .

There were full pews and a full spirit at St. John's on this joyous day of restoration of the ancestral church. The Rev. Callie Walpole presided over a celebration of the Holy Eucharist and preached. The last hymn was especially poignant, "The Church's One Foundation,"  by schisms rent asunder. At least this little part of a much bigger schism was been put to rest. 

Over at Haut Gap Middle School, on Johns Island, the clergy who used to occupy St. John's met with their followers for a service. Apparently it was held in the auditorium of the school. From the camera angle, one could not tell the size of the crowd although it seemed large from the sound. 

Unfortunately, this group still calls itself "Saint John's Parish." The senior warden introduced the new rector as the 41st rector of St. John's Parish. Actually, St. John's Parish is over at St. John's Church, not at Haut Gap. The group at Haut Gap will have to find a new name. Their rector is in fact the second of this group that is part of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina which itself was founded in 2012. The contingent that left St. John's Church is not St. John's Parish.

A video of the Haut Gap service is available on Facebook HERE .

It is impossible to tell from the videos how many people attended each service although both seem crowded. If views of the livestream on Facebook are any indication of popularity, St. John's Church wins hands down. The Church drew some 200 viewers while Haut Gap had 113.

St. John's is the first parish, that adhered to the schism, to be returned to the Episcopal Church. It is a model for all subsequent parish restorations. Judging from today, it is a model that all may follow proudly. 

While Episcopalians hail the great day of rebirth at St. John's, they should also say a little prayer of thanks for the reasonable, non-confrontational, and non-obstructive way in which the previous occupants turned over St. John's property. It certainly was not easy for them to end their occupation. This too is a model for all the other parishes to follow. Some day this schism will be over and peace will return. At that time, both sides must be able to look back and say they acted as the Christians they claimed to be. In the bigger picture, people on both sides are all followers of the same Lord, all in the same boat. They ought to treat each other as fellow travelers, not as enemies.

At any rate, today belongs to the Episcopalians of St. John's Parish. It was a long and rocky road home but it did come to an end. You deserve everyone's best wishes. 

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UPDATE. 6:00 p.m. The Facebook video of the service in St. John's has been seen 722 times. The video of the service at Haut Gap has been seen 279 times.  

 

THE FIRST HOMECOMING:

ST. JOHN'S, JOHNS ISLAND

St. John's Parish Church, on Johns Island, Charleston, has not seen an Episcopal Church service in nearly a decade. That comes to an end on Sunday, 17 July 2022, when St. John's will come home to the Episcopal Church, its ancestral denomination since 1785. An Episcopal clergy person will conduct Episcopal prayer book services at St. John's this Sunday, the first since the schism of October 15, 2012. This is a milestone event in the long and tragic history of the schism in South Carolina.

The new vicar in charge of St. John's is the Rev. Calhoun Walpole, recently the archdeacon of the Diocese of South Carolina, and presently a canon of Grace Church Cathedral, in Charleston. She is a daughter of St. John's Church. This will be a homecoming for her too.

The Rev. Walpole will celebrate Holy Eucharist, Rite I, and preach at 8:00 a.m. She will also celebrate Holy Eucharist, Rite II, and preach at 10:30 a.m. Another clergy person will conduct a service at Grace Chapel, St. John's chapel of ease, at Rockville, at 9:00 a.m.

The 10:30 service will be Livestreamed on Facebook. Find the link HERE .

Find the website of St. John's HERE .

Find the Facebook page of St. John's HERE .

Find a Youtube video of St. John's at  youtube/watch?v=DIS1Sy9ZjsU.

The services on this Sunday will be festivals of joy and thanksgiving. I will be there in spirit since I cannot be there in person. I will certainly be watching the livestream.

It remains to be seen how many of the people-in-the-pews from last Sunday will be in St. John's this Sunday. It is a given that most of them will follow the Anglican clergy to meet in Haut Gap Middle School, on Johns Island. Many people want to remain bonded in church with their families, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. The Anglican clergy have done about all they could in the past few weeks to keep the congregation together and away from the Episcopal Church. I expect most of the old congregation will go to Haut Gap but how long they remain there is an open question. 

For years before the schism, and ever since, the Anglican leaders have insisted to their people that the Episcopal Church had fallen away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This was meant to justify the schism. This was nonsense, of course, as the people who now attend St. John's will find out. The ancestral religion has not changed. The real difference between the Anglican and Episcopal denominations in SC has to do more with the acceptance and inclusion of all people without discrimination. In the Episcopal Church, women and gays are welcomed as free and equal, not so on the other side.

The contingent that will meet at Haut Gap is still calling itself "Saint John's Parish Church" and is using the old logo. I am not a lawyer, but I would bet this is not legal. The SC Supreme Court has ordered that St. John's parish church be returned to the Episcopal Church. Surely the church name and logo belong to the historic parish, not the new contingent that left St. John's. In my understanding, everything that was part of the church before 12:00 p.m., on Monday, October 15, 2012, belongs to St. John's, and the church belongs to the Episcopal diocese.

St. John's return to the Episcopal Church will be the first restoration since the schism nearly ten years ago. There are six more parishes on the docket to be returned. Beyond this, there are seven more still to be determined by the SC Supreme Court. When the justices will rule on these seven is anyone's guess.

Thus, the restoration of St. John's to its historic denomination is the first of many to come, and some sooner rather than later. With God's grace, this is the beginning of what is still to be a long and arduous end of the settlement between the two parts that came out of the schism of 2012.

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UPDATE ON TRANSITIONS. July 16, 2022.

Christ Church, of Mt. Pleasant, will hold its last Anglican service on 28 August: "A Service of Thanksgiving, Lament, and New Life." The Anglican clergy will vacate the property after that and begin holding services at Jennie Moore Elementary School, 2725 Hamlin Road, Mt. Pleasant, about a mile away. Presumably, Episcopal prayer book services will resume at Christ Church on the first Sunday of September. 

REMEMBERING THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION

Tomorrow is July 14, 2022, Bastille Day. It is a day I commemorate every year. The people's capture of the Bastille, an old royal prison in Paris, marked the real beginning of the French Revolution. In its course, the people declared the first democratic republic in modern times. All adult men were given the right to vote and hold office. 

It is especially poignant that we remember the struggle for democracy at this particular time. The Jan. 6 committee has revealed to us just how close we came to losing ours on that fateful day when a would-be dictator incited an armed mob to attack the constitutional government. The struggle for human rights is a hard and long one, but the right thing to do. Democracy was hard won too and is proving to be hard kept. But keep it we must, or else the sacrifices of generations for the free and equal rights of all people would be in vain.

In my old age now, I can look back with satisfaction on having spent a good deal of my life studying, teaching, and writing about the great French Revolution. I still find it as fascinating and important as I did when I first read about it in the Sixth Grade at Hallmark School, in Pensacola. After that, I was a sponge for all of history. Indeed, when I graduated from high school, I was awarded the History Medal for the highest grades in History in a class of nearly five hundred students. I went on to Florida State U. where I was fortunate enough to specialize in the period of the French Revolution and Napoleon. I still find it all as captivating and inspiring today as ever.

So, let us celebrate the democratic revolution of modern history led by the French, the Americans and the Britons and now followed by many countries of the world. It is the standard of excellence of the contemporary nation-state although still opposed by too many anti-democratic regimes around the globe.

Here are my postings about Bastille Day of the last couple of years. These summarize the best of what I have to say about it all.

BASTILLE DAY, 2021

Today is July 14, 2021, Bastille Day. As we remember the uprising of the common people to take control of their own lives, it is time to stop for a moment and consider where we are today in the long and hard struggle for human rights. We have made enormous progress in moving to equality for and inclusion of all people in our collective lives. I have lived long enough to see positive change around me that I could not have imagined as a child growing up in the Jim Crow south. We still have racism, but I can assure it is a far cry from what I saw as a child in the 1940's and 50's. 

However, the war for human rights goes on. Now the battle lines are clear and numerous:  women still fighting for the right to control their own bodies, homosexuals still facing legal discrimination, the transgendered longing for equal treatment in sports and schools, black and brown people facing attacks on their rights to vote and participate equally in the political process, and the fight to keep white supremacists from overthrowing our democratic republican system. The fight for liberty and equality that the French Revolution promoted so dramatically is still very much a part of our lives. This is what we should consider today.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted by the National Assembly in August of 1789, shortly after the capture of the Bastille. It laid out the principles of the revolution and a creed for human rights for all time.

As for remembering the French Revolution, I am re-posting my entry on Bastille Day last year. I could not say it any better today than I did then.

Posting of July 13, 2020:

  

REMEMBERING

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Tomorrow is July 14, 2020, Bastille Day, the 231st anniversary of the French Revolution. It is the French national holiday, but outside of that country what does it matter? Why should we remember the French Revolution, and what does it say to us now?

The French Revolution was the overriding world event of its day, and arguably for the next century and a half in western civilization. It impacted civilization profoundly and still does.

The revolution itself was an enormous event, going on for a decade (1789-1799). It brought dramatic and drastic changes to life in France and beyond. Space here does not permit a long listing of reforms enacted in the revolution. One to point out is that, in 1794, France was the first nation to abolish slavery and all of its ugly aspects in all of its territories. The effect of this was incalculable on every other western nation all of which eventually followed suit. This alone is enough to make us remember the French Revolution but there was more, much, much more in that transformative decade.

The revolution was basically the uprising of the common man and woman under the belief they could govern themselves guided by the principles of liberty and equality. To be sure, the French were inspired by the American Revolution, but that revolution was essentially a declaration of independence from the mother country. It did not significantly alter the social, cultural, or economic structures of the colonies/states. The French undertook to transform society radically, even if they had to do it with a great deal of violence and bloodshed. As an example of the differences, the American Revolution bolstered slavery, the French Revolution abolished slavery.

Looking back over the sweep of history, the French Revolution was perhaps most important for its symbolic meaning to people then and afterwards. During the revolution and ever since, how one saw the revolution depended on where one stood. To conservatives, as the established, privileged, and propertied classes everywhere, the French Revolution was hell. They saw it as unmitigated violence and destruction. On the other hand, common men and women, particularly of the middle and working classes, saw it, and still see it, as heaven. They viewed it as constructive reform for the masses. There was no middle ground on something as sweeping as the French Revolution.

The French Revolution was the predominate force hanging over the western world in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. As such it remained as controversial as ever. The middle and lower classes tended to glorify the revolution as the rise of the common man and woman. This was expressed in popular music and image. The first national anthem, La Marseillaise, became the rallying song of the uprising of the common people against oppression. Perhaps the most memorable rendition we have now on record is that of the great opera diva Jessye Norman at the bicentennial celebration in Paris in 1989. Draped in giant flag, she floated about as a goddess of liberty giving the song dramatic life and power. Find it on Youtube.

My personal favorite rendition of the anthem is from the movie Casablanca. Rick motions the band to play it to overwhelm the obnoxious drinking song of the Nazis (The Watch at the Rhine). This symbolized the victory of love over hate, the theme of the movie.


Perhaps the most important visible symbol of the revolution was Marianne who, with shades of Joan of Arc, represented the common person (Marianne was a very common name in 18th Century France). She was often shown wearing a red Phrygian cap, also called the liberty cap. In the Roman world, this cap was given to freed slaves as a badge of their new freedom. The French Revolutionaries adopted the cap as a symbol of their freedom from the Old Regime. Here is a typical image of  (virtuous) Marianne, cap on, leading the (diverse) common people (humanity) against tyranny: 

In the Nineteenth Century the cap of liberty came to symbolize democratic revolution. It can be found in many images in many countries. It almost made its way to the top of the U.S. Capitol. In the 1850's, the old capitol was redesigned to greatly expand it. This would include an enormous dome topped by a large sculpture. The original design of a figure to top the dome was a Marianne-esque maiden wearing a cap of liberty. Slave holders in Congress found this symbolism too threatening. Jefferson Davis, who was in charge of the rebuilding, nixed the idea; and we wound up with a generic maiden wearing an Indian headdress. Southern slaveholders were terrified of French revolution inspired violent uprisings. Find pictures and an article about this here . Even so, the cap of liberty appears many times in the sculptures and frescoes of the Capitol (in the dome ceiling, "Liberty," wearing a red cap, sits on the right hand of Washington who is rising to glory in the heavens).

Thus, the French Revolution taught people then, and for ages to come, we do not have to accept things just because they are there. All people are equally important, all entitled to the same dignity and respect. Guided by liberty, equality, and justice, the common person can make a better world for him or herself and his or her community. 

The French Revolutionaries overthrew the Old Regime which was a controlling union of a small minority:  monarchy-church-aristocracy. This union oppressed and exploited the vast majority of the people:  middle class, working class, and peasantry, in order to finance the privileged lives of the few in the power structure. When the revolutionaries seized power, they chopped off the heads not only of the monarch and thousands of aristocrats, but also thousands of clergy. They outlawed the old Catholic church in the nation. One could argue the revolution was as much against old church as the old state. This was because state and church had merged and people saw the two of them as the same. In time, people in European countries, particularly the lower classes, had less and less attachment to religion so that today the continent is largely secularized and institutional religion has declined into relative insignificance. Absolute monarchy, parasitic aristocracy, and established church have all gone by the wayside.

The people who made the American revolution realized the danger of the union of state and church, and so the first part of the First Amendment of the Constitution, instituted in 1789, required the separation of church and state. This was a radical, and wise, departure from the past. It has worked to the benefit of both church and state. 

This is why we should be concerned about the growing connections between church and state in this country. For a long time, churches have had tax-exemption status, something that is questionable under the First Amendment. Even more concerning is the funneling of tax-payer money into parochial schools, arguably a violation of the First Amendment. Now, we have billions of public money going directly to churches. This is alarming. 

Under the recent pandemic bail out acts of the federal government, the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. received $1.4 billion, that's billion, from the American tax-payer. Find an article about this here .  The Episcopal Church was right there too with its hand out. Five Episcopal dioceses applied for, and got, $1-1.5 million each in tax-payer funds. Many Episcopal dioceses and parishes received smaller payouts. I know that the Diocese of South Carolina was in on this but I do not know the amount yet. I am awaiting a report from the Small Business Administration on which churches in SC received covid money.

It is awfully tempting for churches to cozy up to secular governments and take money from them. However, I argue this is a very dangerous road to follow and the French Revolution is the best evidence of why we should not be going down it. The church of the Old Regime thought it was set forever, that nothing would ever endanger its privileged position of power. It was wrong, spectacularly. The union of church and state in the Old Regime all but destroyed the church in the Revolution and the time that followed. That is why churches today should resist the temptations of government money and keep themselves strictly separate from the secular state. If they give in to the state, they will become dependent on the state, and suffer the consequences of the loss of freedom and moral authority. The church was around a long time before the state appeared. It should remain around a long time after the state is gone.

Bottom line---churches should not be taking money from the government however they might rationalize it. Long-term loss will more than overwhelm any short-term gain.

If the French Revolution tells us anything at all, it is that we had better keep church and state completely separate.

So, tomorrow on Bastille Day, I will be remembering all those people who so long ago risked everything to overthrow tyranny and oppression. They had had enough of being treated like dirt and they took their welfare into their own hands. Those thousands of people marching in the streets nowadays are heirs of the French Revolution. They have had enough of the tyranny and oppression of racism, and they are not going to take it any more. I will be remembering them tomorrow too.

Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé! 

 

NON-EPISCOPAL CLERGY HOLD THEIR LAST SERVICE AT ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH;

EPISCOPAL SERVICES BEGIN JULY 17 (tentative)

July 10, 2022. This morning, clergy of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina held their last service at St. John's Episcopal Church, on Johns Island, Charleston. Next Sunday, 17 July, the Anglican rector will meet with the congregants who will follow him at 10:00 a.m., at Haut Gap  Middle School, on Johns Island. This will be "going on into the future." (Hopefully, they will take that non-musical hootenanny band with them.)

Today's service seemed to have two purposes, the say a goodbye to the Rev. Greg Snyder, and to bond the congregation to make an exit together. Today was Snyder's last day after twenty years at St. John's, seventeen as rector. At the schism of 2012, Snyder, and most of the congregation adhered to the secession from the Episcopal Church and joined the new separate diocese. The next year, Snyder was released as a clergyperson of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. He is now set to relocate in Tennessee. His assistant is to lead the departing congregation as its clergyperson. Presumably this new congregation will call itself St. John's Anglican Church. 

In his understandably emotional farewell sermon of today, Snyder made a brief swipe at Episcopalians (I think he was trying to be humorous) while he repeatedly assured the congregations it was the right thing to do to leave the buildings behind. He told them "marvelous things" would happen when the faithful people move out. In addition, he called on the people to go outside and "bless" the buildings (again). Throughout, there was a tone of "us against them." Bishop Edgar even appeared for a short blessing assuring the people the diocese would be behind them as they leave. It is hard to imagine what more the non-Episcopal clergy could have done to keep people from staying behind as the parish returns to the Episcopal Church.

Snyder said there will be three Anglican churches on Johns Island. Actually, there will be only one. St. John's Episcopal Church will be the only one in the Anglican Communion, the only one recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury as Anglican. The other two are in the Anglican Church in North America which, despite its name, is not in the Anglican Communion. It is a separate Christian denomination.

Next Sunday, 17 July, the Rev. Calhoun Walpole is tentatively set to conduct the first Episcopal service in St. John's since the schism. She is planning to celebrate Eucharist and preach at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

The SC Supreme Court sent a Remittitur a month ago to the circuit court ordering the transfer to the Episcopal Church of these parishes:

---St. John's, Johns Island, Charleston

---St. James, James Island, Charleston

---Holy Trinity, Charleston

---Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant

---St. David's, Cheraw

---St. Bartholomew's, Hartsville

---St. Matthew's, Fort Motte

As far as I can tell, the only parish outside of St. John's to move toward transfer is Christ Church. It is conducting a teaching series on the errors of the Episcopal Church. It has scheduled "A Service of Thanksgiving, Lament, and New Life" for August 28. This is perhaps a hint they intend to vacate the premises after that. To my knowledge, no other parish has posted any information about the transfers on the Internet.

So, Judge Edgar Dickson has on his desk the Remit order from the SCSC. When he will act on this is anyone's guess. He is not known for expediency. Last time, he sat on the church case for two and a half years before issuing his infamous order, which was subsequently largely discarded by the SCSC. This time, he does not have the right to discard the order from the SCSC. 

Nevertheless, it is clear the transfer of some of the wayward parishes back to the Episcopal Church has begun. Seven have already been ordered back while seven others await a final judgment from the SCSC. Actually, the SCSC has already ruled twice that these very parishes belong to the Episcopal Church. But then, given this court, one should not jump to conclusions about what they will do on the pending seven. We have no choice but to bide our time until the wheels of justice turn, however slowly that may occur.

  

THE BROKEN KEY

It is Friday, July 8, 2022. Let's take a mental health break from all the heavy news of late in our lives. It will be a good way to end the week. I will share with you an unusual incident that happened to me recently. You may find this of interest. Perhaps it will lighten your day as it did mine.

My only sister lives in Mississippi. We have always been close. Both of us have been going through some rough patches in our lives lately and so we decided we would take off a couple of days for R & R at a resort. We were to meet each other there at noon.

When I arrived, I found her sitting in her Honda Accord with the motor off and all windows down. She was in tears and shaking. "My key is broken!" she exclaimed. "What am I going to do?" she sobbed, "I can't start the car or roll up the windows." Sure enough, her car key had disintegrated (it was not the time to ask why). Strangely enough it had happened right after she had arrived. It was one of those remote control keys with the little buttons on it. The metal piece that goes in the ignition would not work without the rest of the key all intact. She had no other car key with her. 

We decided we might be able to duct tape the key to hold it together so I went to a nearby store and bought a roll (I have since decided that all cars should carry duct tape). We worked and worked with the little key. It was not easy to duct tape it together but we finally managed. We slid the key into the ignition. Low and behold, our patched-up key worked. The car started, much to our relief.

How long would the tape hold? Our precarious rig was not reassuring. We decided to call the nearest Honda dealer to see if we could get a new, duplicate key. The dealer turned out to be forty miles away. They had the key in stock but told us we would have to bring in the car to program the car to the key. Could we get the car to the dealership?

Next morning, we crossed our fingers, held our breath, cranked up the car and drove to the Honda dealership. We made it only to find a long line of cars waiting for service. Three hours wait, if you are lucky, they said. We assured them we did not care as long as we got a new key. (They laughed when they saw our duct taped key.)

Exhausted and flustered, we went outside to sit on a bench and get some fresh air while we passed the time. A young woman was sitting on the bench and motioned for us to join her. She turned out to be a college student who worked as a clerk at a Wal-Mart pharmacy. She was a bubbly, talkative young woman who kept us in stitches for an hour with humorous incidents at work. She was a natural comedienne who should be on the stage. My sister and I laughed and laughed. It was just what we needed. All of our cares evaporated.

Eventually, a large pickup truck drove up and stopped in front of us. Out hopped an elderly man without a right arm. He waved with his one arm and chatted a minute, then proceeded to collect large parts he had ordered. With his left arm, he alone loaded all the heavy packages into the bed of his truck. The man then waved, jumped back into the truck and drove away. My sister and I looked at each other in disbelief.

By this time we were wishing for some cooler air, so we went inside the dealership where the several salesmen were sitting around shooting the breeze. There were no customers. We struck up a conversation with one. He told us they had only eight new vehicles for sale and they were the gas guzzlers that no one wanted at that time with the high price of gas. On the used car lot, they had one vehicle, a pickup truck that had seen better days. We asked the salesman how he was managing with practically no vehicles to sell. His face turned grim and he said softly, "It is hard, very hard, and scary." Working on commission meant he might have little to no income for awhile. He too was a victim of covid.

Soon thereafter, we collected the new key and drove off. I said to my sister, "We are much better off today than we were yesterday. Your broken key led us to three blessings that we would not have had otherwise." The college girl entertained us for an hour and taught us not to take things too seriously. If she could find humor at a pharmacy in Wal-Mart, we could find it anywhere. That girl will never know how much she helped us, how much she meant to us at that particular moment.

The one-armed man taught us to be thankful we have all of our limbs but he also inspired us by his jovial can-do attitude. He acted as if he had no disability at all. He went right on with life making the best of things. If he could do that, we could too.

The salesman taught us to be thankful for our guaranteed monthly incomes. We must never complain about how much they are, just be grateful that they were there at all. Imagine having to live month to month with no idea how much income one would have the next payday. 

The broken key was the best thing that had happened to us in a long time. It came at just the moment we needed it the most. We have been counting our blessings ever since, most especially the three completely unexpected ones we had that day. When we finally ended our stay at the resort, we left better off, not from our stay so much as from the broken key.    

 

THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND IDENTITY

July 6, 2022.

Seven parishes are preparing to return to the Episcopal Church while seven others are awaiting word from the SC Supreme Court on whether they too will return to TEC. In order to keep as many congregants together as they leave the properties for other meeting spaces, some leaders of these parishes are emphasizing what they see as the differences between the "Anglican" and Episcopal dioceses. It is a lot of anti-Episcopal propaganda meant to keep people from staying behind. 

Given this situation, this is a timely moment to review the identity of the new Anglican diocese that it formed for itself. This should help the people in these transferring parishes get a better-rounded view of what has happened in the schism.

In the first place, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was created in 2012. The clerical and lay authorities of the old diocese led the majority of the people out of the Episcopal Church. They claimed to have taken the old diocese intact out of TEC but this was not true. The remaining Episcopalians retained the historic diocese. By federal court injunction, the Anglican diocese cannot in any way claim to be the historic diocese.

At first, the new entity had only a general, if certain, identity. It was not a member of any larger denomination. That would come only five years later. So, in 2015, the diocese set up a Marriage Task Force that was to enunciate a very clear identity of the diocese. The Task Force presented a report later that year which laid out in unmistakable detail the policies and procedures of the new diocese. 

The Task Force produced four documents that were imposed on the diocese. Only one of these four is now available on the Internet. 

The one available is the diocesan Statement of Faith, adopted by the diocesan Standing Committee on Oct. 6, 2015. Find it HERE .

The other three were:  1-the parish adoption of the Statement of Faith. All parishes were required to adopt it.  2-a form for all diocesan employees to sign pledging to follow the diocesan policy, on pain of dismissal.  3-"A Facilities Use Policy" forbidding church property from being used for same-sex weddings.

On January 8, 2017, I posted on this blog a description and analysis of this Marriage Task Force work. At that time, I found the new diocese to be at least fundamentalist leaning, rigidly authoritarian, and ardently transphobic and homophobic. Now, five years later, I still stand by my thoughts at the time. In fact, if anything, I think subsequent history has validated them.

In time, the schismatic entity doubled down on its identity. In 2017, it joined a larger body, the Anglican Church in North America, a denomination formed in 2009 explicitly to prevent homosexuals and women from having equality and inclusion in the life of the church. There are fifty-odd bishops in ACNA. All are men. Ninety percent of them are white. The leadership of ACNA has crushed any hint of possible denominational changes in attitudes to homosexuals and women.

So, as communicants in the seven, possibly fourteen, parishes face a decision of whether to leave with the departing "Anglicans" or stay behind with the Episcopalians, they might find it useful to consider the past, present, and future of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.

Here is my blog post of January 8, 2017:

THE CABAL OF COMING STREET

On Jan.5 [2017], I made a post "A New Fundamentalist Cult in SC" about the development of the independent Diocese of South Carolina into a fundamentalist sect. I believe this is so important it requires more examination and reflection. Everyone should read the "Marriage Task Force" report of Feb. 23, 2016, in the DSC convention journal of 2016. It can be found here . It takes a few minutes to download the journal. See pages 56+. The Report clarifies a great deal for us in understanding the causes, nature, and results of the schism.

The Marriage Task Force was chosen by Bishop Lawrence in 2015. They were six clergy (most from Trinity School for Ministry), Kendall Harmon (TSM alum, in DSC since 1987, perhaps closest advisor to Bp Lawrence), Peter Moore (former dean of TSM and chair of its Trustees), Ted Duvall (Christ Ch., Mt. Pleasant), Greg Snyder (St. Johns of Johns Is., alum TSM), Tyler Prescott (asst. at St. Paul's of Summerville, alum TSM), and Lawrence's assistant, Jim Lewis.

It has become clear the cabal of Coming Street (the headquarters of DSC in Charleston) are creating a fundamentalist cult-like sect in their own image far removed from the mainstream diocese of the past and from classical Anglicanism.

It took several years for the motivation of the schism to become clear, but it did so in the Marriage Task Force work of 2015. The Force laid out an absolute religion and demanded that all obey it. They issued four documents to be followed by the diocese. One was a "Statement of Faith," another a statement of obedience for the parishes to sign, another an addition to the employee handbook requiring conformity, and finally a form for facilities use. These were not made as optional documents. They were handed down and required of the recipients. In all matters, absolute and final authority was given to the bishop.

The documents themselves, which were reproduced in the journal, were thoroughly fundamentalist. Of the many characteristics of fundamentalism that I outlined in my earlier post, three were outstanding: literal interpretation of the Bible, intolerance, and social conservatism. We can see all of these, and more, in the four new documents. In the main document, the Statement of Faith," we see:

1-LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE.

---a belief in the Holy Scriptures as divine revelation, trustworthy, carrying the full measure of His authority, containing all things necessary to salvation, and to be submitted to in all matters of faith and practice in life.

---the bodily resurrection of the dead and their entrance into either eternal damnation or everlasting blessedness.

---God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin.

---the Bible is the trustworthy Word of God that speaks with final authority.

2-INTOLERANCE AND AUTHORITARIANISM.

---for purposes of the Diocese of South Carolina's faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Bishop is this Diocese's final interpretive authority on matters of doctrine and their application.

---it is imperative that all persons employed by the Diocese in any capacity, or who serve as leaders, agree to abide by the Statement of Faith.

3-SOCIAL CONSERVATISM.

---God, who wonderfully and immutably creates each person as genetically male or female. These two distinct complementary genders reflect the image and nature of God. Rejection of one's biological sex is in conflict with this created-ness and is inconsistent with our beliefs.

---Because God has ordained marriage and defined it as His covenant relationship between a man and a woman, the Diocese will only recognize and solemnize a marriage that is between a man and a woman. Further, the clergy and staff of the Diocese shall only serve in weddings and solemnize marriages between one man and one woman. The facilities and property of the Diocese shall only host weddings between one man and one woman.

The Statement reveals a thoroughly vertical religion of the relationship of one person and one God drawn entirely from a literal interpretation of the Bible. The other two legs of the classical Anglican stool, reason and tradition, were no where to be found. Missing too was any whiff of the social gospel, regard for one's fellow human beings or caring for or improving the world around us. The purposeful denial of human rights for homosexual and transgender persons is obvious. 

While handing down their dictates, the Task Force called for the indoctrination of the diocese: It is the sense of this Task Force that we live in a culture where the level of confusion and misinformation around the issues of marriage and sexuality are so profound that it must be presumed that a major teaching initiative is needed just to support our own parishioners.

To enforce conformity and obedience, the Task Force issued a form to be signed by the parishes, another by the employees, and yet another by anyone using the facilities of the churches.

The one for the parishes was entitled "A Statement of Faith Adopted by _____ Parish of the Diocese of South Carolina, _____, 2015." It began: _____ parish (the Parish) in the Diocese of South Carolina is an Anglican congregation in the state of South Carolina. Our Vision is to "_____." We are committed to our Mission, "To _____." As the Vestry of _____ parish in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina, we ascribe to the following as our core doctrine: (the Statement of Faith follows).

The one for all employees was entitled "Additions to Diocesan Employee Handbook." It said any employee could be fired at any time by the bishop: Conduct inconsistent with the Diocese's Statement of Faith as finally determined by, and in the sole judgment of the Bishop is subject to discipline, up to and including immediate discharge.

---It is imperative that all persons employed by the Diocese in any capacity, or who serve as leaders, agree to abide by its Statement of Faith.

The form for facilities was called "A Facilities Use Policy." It required that anyone seeking to use church facilities sign an agreement in advance of adherence to the Statement of Faith: The Bishop or official designee must approve all uses of diocesan facilities...Groups or persons requesting facility use must affirm that their beliefs and practices and planned uses of the facilities are not inconsistent with the church's faith and practice...The group or person seeking facility use must submit a signed "Church Facility Reservation Request and Agreement" form.

The point of the facilities use policy was to prevent homosexual couples from getting married on church property.

Actually, we should have seen the total subjugation of the parishes coming. Bishop Lawrence spent a great deal of time in 2012 propagandizing the parishes for the upcoming schism; and it worked. At the time of the schism, the diocese had the parishes sign a loyalty oath to the diocese (this came out in the trial of 2014). They also made 35 parishes parties to the lawsuit making it all but impossible for them to deal separately with the Episcopal Church. Then, in June of 2015 the diocesan leaders summarily dismissed the offer of TEC to give the parishes their independence and properties. One of the great ironies here is that before the schism the DSC leaders complained loudly about the authoritarian interference of the national Church in the local diocese. As it turned out DSC was far more authoritarian over the local churches than TEC ever was.

It took several years for us to realize finally what the schism in South Carolina was all about. It was about homosexuality, but in hindsight we can see that was only the wedge issue the diocesan leaders used to whip up popular support for their schism. Their ulterior motive was to peel off the diocese from the supposedly heretical and apostate Episcopal Church in order to make a purely fundamentalist sect and make it a part of the worldwide movement of the Anglican Realignment which itself was a fundamentalist backlash against modern trends in the Anglican Communion. GAFCON and Global South led this Realignment. They wanted to remove the conservative Third World majority, in union with the ultra-conservatives of America, from the old Communion and create a new form of fundamentalist Anglicanism based on literal interpretation of the Bible, intolerance, and social conservatism. However, this movement failed to break up the old Communion and began to decline after the primates gathering of January 2016 when the GAFCON/GS coalition began backing down and breaking apart. This left the DSC out in the cold. It was not a part of the Anglican Communion and had no prospect of ever being part. As an alternative, it moved to join up with the Anglican Church in North America which itself was not part of the Anglican Communion and in fact had been abandoned as the replacement for TEC by GAFCON/GS in 2016. DSC has no future in the Anglican Communion.

Having failed to find a place in the Anglican Communion, the ayatollahs of Coming Street reacted by doubling down on their work, hence the Marriage Task Force. On their own without the guiding hand of a larger body, they delivered their own particular version of Christianity and dictated it to the communicants. This has left DSC as an independent fundamentalist-leaning separate sect outside of the Anglican Communion and far removed from the mainstream of classical Anglicanism.

Where all this is going remains to be seen. What does not remain to be seen is the flight of DSC's communicants. Over 6,000 have left the 50 (now 53) churches of DSC since the schism and more are fleeing every year. DSC lost 29% of its active membership since the schism. It lost nearly half of its size since Mark Lawrence became bishop in 2008. The ayatollahs of Coming Street, aka the Trinity Gang, may dictate their version of religion and require people to adhere to it but they cannot keep the people in the churches against their will. This reminds me of the Vietnam Syndrome, destroy the village to save it.

The Marriage Task Force has served to clarify for us the ulterior motive of the schism of 2012.