THANK YOU, JANET ECHOLS AND JOY HUNTER

Let's give credit where it is due, and today that is to Janet Echols and Joy Hunter, at least according to the TESTIMONY of the Rev. Calvin Robinson (see @ 22).

First, a little background as we are learning more about the brouhaha of last weekend at the Mere Anglicanism conference in Charleston. On Friday, Robinson gave his talk. Find it HERE . Robinson said he was invited to the conference by Jeff Miller, the manager, in order to speak about "Critical Theory." Robinson is biracial and used to sport an outsized afro, which he has cut into a close crew cut. Given his over-the-top conservatism on virtually every subject, Robinson believed he was invited to serve as the "token" black who would be sure to bash civil rights. He said that what Miller really wanted was for him to bash "Critical Race Theory" a present-day talking point of counter-revolutionary forces in the culture war. Instead, in his talk, Robinson turned to attack "feminism" and lay the blame for all present-day ills on this supposedly evil movement. Miller was not amused. Some people walked out of the talk. However, Robinson said that right after the talk Miller was fine with it and made light of it all. 

Some of the women in the audience were not fine with it and did not make light of it all. They were appalled. Not only had Robinson denounced women's ordination, he also laid the blame for every social malady of the day on women, ("feminism"). Apparently some people were so disgusted and offended they went to Miller and Bishop Edgar and demanded that Robinson be removed from the rest of the program. This had never happened at a Mere Anglicanism conference.

The Rev. Janet Echols was one who was upset enough to do something. She is the head of the diocesan deacon training program. Robinson said that at 5:30 the next morning she started a barrage of demanding emails of "interrogation" followed by more questions. It was so much that Robinson cut off her emails. Then, when he went to the coffee shop, Joy Hunter, diocesan communications director, confronted him "clearly upset," and "very hostile." She called him "juvenile" to his face. Thus, Robinson said, "the feminists were out to get me."

That morning Miller and Edgar brought Robinson into a meeting, which Robinson recorded and has promised to release in due course. They told him he could stay but would not be allowed to participate in the program. 

Robinson said he was "cancelled" by the radical "feminists" who did not like his truthful remarks in his talk. 

And, finally came the race card. Robinson said that "class issues were at play here." Insert race for class. This was curious coming from a man who had very vocally decried racism as a liberal falsehood. (The ills of society were not caused by racism, but by feminism.)

Robinson is now getting his revenge against Miller, Edgar and the ADSC for cancelling him. He is all over the Internet telling his side of the story and gaining a lot of support and sympathy (check out YouTube) at the South Carolinians' expense. Indeed, this incident has greatly boosted his exposure in the "orthodox" "Anglican" world. Over the recent years he has developed a cottage industry of appearing on the Internet and giving talks in person. He spews out outrageous opinions guaranteed to provoke others and gain Trumpesque attention for himself.

Here are my thoughts about this incident, as of what I know now:

---Robinson is a flame-thrower, a provocateur. The manager knew that when he invited him. When one asks a flame-thrower into one's house, he or she can expect flames. 

---Apparently, Miller wanted Robinson to denounce civil rights. He refused and denounced women. This left both Miller and some women furious.

---Robinson's only expertise was in computer programming. He had no credentials to speak on the subjects he chose. 

---Thanks go to Janet Echols, Joy Hunter, and the other women who stood up to this chauvinist bully. But where were you in 2017 when the diocese voted unanimously to join the misogynist Anglican Church in North America? Not one woman spoke up against joining a group that refused equality in the church to women. If women are good enough to be priests in the church, they are good enough to be bishops. It is just simple common sense.

---Thanks too to Bishop Edgar for finally admitting that the church can hold more than one view on controversial issues. If this is true for women, it has to be true too for gays. At least we have a start.

---Better late than never. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done in the ADSC to reach true equality and inclusion in the church for all of God's children. It is not our place to stand in judgment. It is our place to love them as our neighbors. No one is beyond redemption and I find the events of last weekend encouraging. It's a good start. 

---I assume we will not see any Robinsons at next year's Mere Anglicanism. That's another good start.