wfn.org | Demonstrations and protests influence Episcopal convention

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

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Episcopal News Service
James Solheim
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http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens

GC2000-087

Demonstrations, protests attempt to influence General Convention

by James H. Thrall

     (ENS - DENVER) As bishops and deputies speaking on the 
floors of the two houses packed as much persuasion as they could 
into their allotted three- or sometimes two-minute speaking 
slots, other efforts to move General Convention in specific 
directions took entirely different and less regulated forms.

     Vigils, protests and symbolic gestures captured the 
convention's attention from time to time, though with varied and 
sometimes counter-productive results.

Soulforce pushes for inclusion of homosexuals

     Acts of civil disobedience by the interfaith, gay rights 
group Soulforce on the day before convention opened led to the 
arrests of 73 demonstrators, including a number of Episcopalians. 
One of those arrested, Bishop Otis Charles, retired bishop of 
Utah and the house's only openly gay bishop, said that for most 
of his life he had not had "the courage to live the truth of my 
life." The time has come, he asserted, "to say that we [lesbians 
and gays] are fully a part of the church. We refuse to be silent; 
we refuse to be invisible."

     Co-founded by the Rev. Mel White, a former ghostwriter for 
the Revs. Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, 
Soulforce favors a confrontational style of advocacy. Still, 
media coverage highlighted the civility of the demonstration, in 
which the more than 50 police officers conducting the arrests 
politely asked the protesters whether they had any shoulder or 
hand problems before handcuffing them.

     The Rev. Michael Hopkins, president of Integrity, the 
national Episcopal organization of gays, lesbians and their 
supporters, welcomed Soulforce's action, but noted, "our focus 
remains on the inside of convention, and their ministry is to 
speak on the outside to the church."

Kansas group's protest condemned

     In stark contrast, another perennial demonstration at many 
mainline denominational meetings, including the past three 
General Conventions, was perhaps most noticeable for its lack of 
impact. A small group of adults and children from the Westboro 
Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, spent most of a day outside the 
convention center carrying signs that proclaimed "God hates 
fags," and "Thank God for AIDS." 

     Most convention-goers steered clear of the picket line, 
apparently sharing the belief of press briefing officer Bishop 
Chester Talton (Los Angeles) that the best response was to ignore 
the demonstrators. "To pay too much attention is to give them too 
much power," Talton said. The picketing was "deplorable, 
especially in the use of children," he said.

Judy Collins cancels

     Singer July Collins cancelled her scheduled appearance at a 
concert benefiting the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World (now 
renamed Episcopal Relief and Development), to protest the lack of 
a national church policy supporting the blessing of same-sex 
unions or the ordaining of openly gay or lesbian people. In a 
statement to the press, Collins said the lack of a national 
policy amounted to "supporting discrimination," and that she 
cancelled her appearance to protest this "indecision of the 
Episcopal Church to fully accept all persons into the Christian 
faith." She identified herself as a member of the Episcopal 
Church.

     Even supporters of full inclusion of homosexuals in the 
sacramental life of the church questioned the appropriateness of 
Collins' action. Integrity appreciated "the message of full 
inclusion of lesbian and gay persons that she intends to send to 
the church," Hopkins noted. But he added, "the Episcopal Church, 
we believe, is on a journey to the full inclusion of gay and 
lesbian people, a journey we, as Episcopalians, are proud of--
despite the fact that it remains incomplete."

     In a rousing sermon at the Integrity Eucharist held in a 
packed St. John's Cathedral on the night that Collins released 
her statement, Bishop Steven Charleston, dean and president of 
Episcopal Divinity School, suggested that Collins must have "been 
talking to the wrong people." The Episcopal Church "has a long 
way to go," Charleston said. But, he added, "Judy, look at all 
the faces in this room, look at the healing that is rising up in 
this cathedral."

Salting episode leads to deputy's resignation

     An apparent effort at symbolic purification proved a 
unifying moment for the House of Deputies after a member of the 
Dallas deputation scattered salt under the tables of several 
deputations, including Dallas and Newark. While the salt was 
being cleaned up, "there was a spontaneous response on the part 
of large numbers of deputies," said the Rev. Marthe Dyner (New 
Hampshire). "They gathered in the middle, holding hands and 
singing. There were people from all sides of all issues; it was 
just powerful."

     The deputy, the Rev. Nelson W. Koscheski, resigned from the 
deputation. Both he and his Dallas colleagues apologized to the 
house for his actions.

Sudan crisis, international debt awareness raised

     International needs drew about 75 Sudanese and American 
Christians in a vigil and candlelight march from the convention 
center to the World Trade Center. Sponsored by the Institute on 
Religion and Democracy (IRD) and Truro Church in Alexandria, 
Virginia, the vigil was intended to raise awareness of Islamic 
persecution of Christians in southern Sudan.

      "We need the church to speak on our behalf," said Bishop 
Peter Munde of Yambio, Sudan. Munde and Archbishop Joseph Marona, 
Primate of Maridi, Sudan, visited the General Convention in an 
effort to help make Episcopalians more aware of their country's 
massive human rights violations.

     Marona, in a talk with the World Mission Committee, said he 
was surprised to see so many people smiling on this, his first 
visit to the United States. "In Sudan I can't smile at all," he 
said. "I have come to tell you to support us. Human wrongs must 
be changed to human rights."

     In a later interview, Munde explained that the north of 
Sudan is dominated by Muslims, who also run the government; the 
south is populated predominantly by Christians and people of 
traditional African faiths. "They (the government) want us all to 
become Muslims, to dress like Muslims, to eat like Muslims," said 
Munde. "We want the church to speak to the U.N., to Americans, to 
intervene. Americans have got the ability to stop the war."

     Sponsored by Jubilee 2000 Colorado, a rally and "human 
chain" of about 200 people focused attention on the burden of 
international debt on poor countries of world. The keynote 
speaker, Bishop Enock Lee Drati of the Diocese of Madi, West 
Nile, Uganda, said the modest debt relief Uganda has received has 
helped increase the percentage of young people enrolled in school 
from 53 to 90 percent.

     The event also featured speakers from the United Methodist 
Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Roman Catholic 
Church, United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church USA.

--James H. Thrall is a doctoral student at Duke University, and 
former deputy director of news and information for the Episcopal 
Church.