The Lead

Anglican network offers a way to talk about fracking

2013-05-18T00:30:00Z

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Golliher, offers a way to engage with local stakeholders about hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," through respectful dialogue. He brings a Christian faith-based perspective to a technical and scientific conversation.

Golliher is a priest in the Diocese of New York, Program Director for the Environment and Sustainable Communities, Anglican United Nations Office, New York, NY and an adviser to the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

His letter to Anlgicans confronting fracking in their communities may be found here.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I’m writing with love for God, great concern about our environment, and about an increasingly troubling subject - a method of drilling for natural gas called hydraulic fracturing, or more simply “fracking.” This has been a contentious practice in many parts of the Anglican Communion (especially the United States, Canada, South Africa, and parts of Europe) for several years, and the concern is spreading more widely, which is one of the reasons that I’m bringing it to your attention now.

Fracking involves deep vertical and then horizontal drilling in order to extract natural gas. Drilling can extend for distances measured not in feet/meters, but miles/kilometers. It requires millions of gallons/liters of water per well, mixed with chemicals that are known to be toxic, despite the fact that they might not be revealed. For the most part, the controversy involves the consequences of this drilling method: the risk of contaminating drinking water and the impact on climate change (fracking wells can release methane, a greenhouse gas much worse than carbon dioxide). Issues of local rights and community decision-making also come into play - in the United States, the fracking industry was given an unwarranted exemption from environmental standards set years ago by the Clean and Clean Water Acts. In addition, how this issue is portrayed and explained can vary a great deal from one country to the next, which can complicate understanding. Obviously the fracking industry has their own agenda and they use the media, some elements of government, and, in some cases, universities to get their message out. In the United States, a number of university programs were closed, once it was realized that their studies of fracking were secretly supported by the industry. My point is that it’s not very easy to know what anyone is actually talking about or how reliable the information is.

I also need to explain the capacity in which I am writing. In addition to working with the Anglican Communion Environmental network (ACEN) I’m the Program Director for the Environment and Sustainable Communities at the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations. Our mandate is to educate and organize around issues primarily on the basis of Resolutions passed by the Anglican Consultative Council, but also in connection with official statements made by individual Provinces, ACC Networks, and/or other Anglican organizations. Given that fracking is a relatively specialized form of technology, there are no existing ACC Resolutions that specifically mention it, nor are there likely to be in the future. In this instance, I’m responding to several members of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network who have raised questions and concerns about fracking and asked me to share my views.

I’m also a parish priest in the Episcopal Church USA, in the Diocese of New York. In that capacity, I’ve been deeply involved with local and regional anti-fracking campaigns, and I’ve worked diligently to ensure a ban on fracking in my hometown. Without hiding or playing down my point of view, my purpose is to encourage you to discover for yourselves what the facts are (which may not be easy) wherever you live. In fact, that’s exactly what I encouraged local town officials to do where I live. The majority of those elected officials had been inclined to favor fracking - until they investigated the matter on their own.
In most areas, fracking represents a “boom or bust” economic expansion – quick profits for a few, with little concern for the long-term impact. Communities often jump at the promise of large financial returns without examining the environmental and social costs. In places where public debate has actually taken place, the controversy has generally turned on this essential question: Is fracking safe? Pro-fracking advocates (including the industry) argue, as you can imagine, that the drilling technology is safe for groundwater and public health, and that it poses no threat whatsoever. Their point of view suggests an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality – whatever happens deep underground could not possibly affect life on the surface. Independent studies have shown otherwise. In fact, some scientific studies in North America link earthquake activity to the impact of fracking. For all these reasons, concerned citizens in over 130 local municipalities of my home State (New York) have either banned or declared moratoria on fracking (temporarily halting the practice until further study is done) through democratic processes. In other words, local communities have taken action by educating themselves, organizing themselves politically, and sometimes challenging the industry in courts of law.

Pro-fracking constituencies also say that because the burning of natural gas (and gas drilling) is relatively clean (it emits much less carbon dioxide than coal or oil), it offers an important transitional step toward renewable energy. This can be a persuasive argument, and there is some truth to it. For example, let’s imagine the thoughts of someone living in a region of the world, like the Pacific Islands, who feels the impact of sea level rise as a result of fossil fuel use in North America. That person would reasonably wonder why anyone in the United States would want to ban a new, apparently “cleaner” technology – especially since people in the Pacific are not so dependent on fossil fuels, but are suffering the consequences of them anyway. The answer has several parts: First, the issue is not the fuel (natural gas, which is much cleaner than petroleum), but the consequences of a specific method for extracting it. Second, governments and energy industries should be pursuing genuinely renewable energy, rather than taking half-way measures. Third, the technology of fracking could do much more harm (to drinking water) than good, and it could make climate change worse (as a result of methane emissions). Fourth, do we really want to put ourselves in a position of trading one kind of hazard/risk for another – telling ourselves that we’re willing to risk public health and possible groundwater contamination for the sake of a halfway measure that “might” alleviate only a portion of climate change? That’s just one example of the difficulty in discerning the difference between fact and fiction in this issue.

With regard to the question, “Is fracking safe?” or “Can it possibly be safe?” with better technology and regulations, the answer is very controversial. Many anti-fracking activists would say no – that it will never be safe. I’m reluctant to say “never.” If scientific studies, someday, find that new drilling methods of this kind are safe, then I would want real proof. But if that proof exists, then I would probably favor it, for the sake of climate change, water, and public health – that is to say, for the sake of the future and God’s green earth....

...If fracking is practised where you live, my suggestion is to familiarize yourself with the materials provided here, contact local groups that have probably formed, and discuss the issue with your bishop. And you can always contact me at the Anglican UN Office with any questions or concerns that you might have.

Faithfully yours,

The Rev. Canon Jeff Golliher, PhD.
Program Director for the Environment and Sustainable Communities, Anglican United Nations Office, New York, NY.

Thurgood, Jonathan, and Pauli, Pray for us

2013-05-17T20:54:00Z

Today we remember Thurgood Marshall, Lawyer and Jurist who died in 1993 who, along with other Episcopalians, Jonathan Daniels and the Rev. Pauli Murray, blazed a trail of freedom witnessing to Christ along the way.

From an essay by Byron Rushing on the House of Deputies web site:

Today, May 17, in the Calendar of the Episcopal Church, we commemorate Thurgood Marshall, who served as a deputy to the 61st General Convention in 1964. Born in Baltimore in 1908, Marshall had an exceptional career as a civil rights attorney and was appointed Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1967. He retired from the Court in 1991 and died January 24, 1993. The church chose May 17 as his day to also commemorate the unanimous ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, released on that date in 1954.
Beyond ruling that racially separate public schools were inherently unequal, the Court not only overruled the legal concept of separate but equal, but its action was also a spark for the modern civil rights movement. Over the next 14 years African Americans and their allies would struggle to end all aspects of legal segregation.

By 1965, the central strategy for the civil rights movement was to restore to all black citizens the right to vote. This right, guaranteed specifically to them in the Fifteenth Amendment, had been denied to virtually all black Americans in the South since the end of Reconstruction.

Early that year the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) invited Martin Luther King to Selma, Alabama, to join and invigorate their voting rights work there. The Selma to Montgomery marches began on March 7 with a violent attack on the marchers by Alabama state troopers seen on television news by Americans throughout the country, including President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson filed the Voting Rights Act ten days later. Meanwhile, King and SNCC called on Americans to join and complete the march from Selma to Montgomery on March 25th. Among the hundreds of Episcopalians who came responding to a call from the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU) were Judy Upham and Jonathan Daniels, students at what is now Episcopal Divinity School.

Daniels completed the march and returned to work that summer in Alabama. He was arrested in a demonstration and on August 20, 1965, and after being released from jail, was murdered protecting seventeen-year-old, Ruby Sales, from a threatening, armed, deputy sheriff. The Voting Rights Act had passed Congress and was signed by Johnson on August 6....

...Daniels was murdered in Lowndes County, where more than 80 percent of the residents were African Americans. Yet the jury that acquitted Tom Coleman, the man who shot him, was entirely white. State law and local practice made it all but certain that juries in Alabama would be composed entirely of white men, and on the heels of the verdict in Daniels' case, a team of lawyers, including Pauli Murray, who later become the first African American woman ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, prepared to challenge the law.

Murray had already played an important role in the civil rights movement. In 1950, she wrote States' Laws on Race and Color, a critique of existing statutes that Marshall and lawyers for the NAACP drew on in shaping their arguments in Brown v. Board of Education and other important cases. Marshall referred to the book as "the bible" of the civil rights movement.

As a result of the work of Murray and others, a U. S. District Court in Alabama ruled in 1966 in White v. Crook a ruled that jury service was a right guaranteed to all citizens under the 14th amendment.

Prayers for Bishop Tom Shaw, SSJE

2013-05-17T19:49:00Z

Update The following was sent via e-mail list to clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of Massachusetts Canon to the Ordinary Mally Lloyd.

Bishop Tom noticed over the past week that he wasn’t remembering things well, so on Thursday he went to see his primary care doctor and had some tests. Those tests revealed a mass on his brain. He is having surgery this afternoon to remove the mass. After that we will know more about his recovery and any other required follow-up treatment. He is expected to be awake and conversational after surgery and to be headed home to the monastery within two to three days, with an anticipated two-week recovery period at home with his brothers in the community.

Please pray for him.

Update:

Canon Mally Lloyd sent the following note to the clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese of Massachusetts at 9:42 pm EDT.

I'm glad to be able to send this update about Bishop Tom (text of my e-mail sent earlier today is copied below). I've just heard from Brother Geoffrey Tristram that Bishop Tom's surgery went well, the doctors are pleased and there were no complications. Bishop Tom is in an ICU room, which is standard for this type of procedure, and is coming out of anesthesia. They expect after a good night's sleep he will be fully awake tomorrow morning. It will be a week or so before we know whether further treatment is necessary.
Brother Geoffrey wanted me to let you know that he and the SSJE community are grateful for all your concern and continued prayers, as are we.

Wishing you a restful night.

Peace,
Mally

The IRS scandal and liberal churches

2013-05-17T15:47:13Z

As the IRS vs. Tea Party scandal unfolds, we remember that in 2006 All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, California was threatened by the IRS under a previous administration.

Ken Lane at Gawker writes:

Only 25% of the 300 scrutinized groups seeking non-profit status were reportedly affiliated with right-wing causes....
...IRS examinations of politically vocal non-profits is not new—the most recent outrage to make the national news was in 2006, when tax officials threatened and persecuted liberal churches during the presidency of George W. Bush.

The experience of both liberal and conservative churches in 2004 and 2006 show that bureaucrats have difficulty interpreting tax code prohibitions especially when the language is vague on what constitutes political engagement by charitable groups.

The IRS has yet to reveal the non-Tea Party non-profits investigated in 2012, but at least one other politically motivated wave of harassment was revealed in 2006, when tax officials went after a liberal church in Pasadena.
All Saints Episcopal Church was threatened with the loss of the church's tax-exempt status because the congregation allegedly heard political speech from the pulpit. The church's then-rector, the Reverend George F. Regas was accused of being anti-war in his sermons.

These sermons took place during the 2004 presidential campaign between George W. Bush and John Kerry. During the Bush Administration and many presidencies before it, actively agitating against one of Washington's wars will get the IRS sniffing into your business—even when your stated business is not for profit.

The witch hunt of liberal churches happened under the leadership of IRS commissioner Mark Whitty Everson, a Republican appointed by George W. Bush in 2003. Another Bush appointee, Douglas Schulman, headed the IRS during the scrutiny of Tea Party groups seeking non-profit status in 2012. Schulman's term ended on November 11, after the 2012 election.

So, in the midst of the current crisis, the question is "Where was the outrage then?"

During the 2006 scrutiny of liberal churches, it was a Democrat congressman who demanded investigations into the IRS practice of targeting non-profits with Democratic leanings:
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who unsuccessfully tried to launch a Government Accountability Office investigation into the IRS' probes of churches nationwide last year, called the summons "a very disturbing escalation" of the agency's scrutiny of All Saints.

"I don't want religious organizations to become arms of campaigns," he said. "But they should be able to talk about issues of war and peace without fear of losing tax-exempt status. If they can't, they'll have little to say from the pulpit."

Scottish Episcopalians discuss same-sex unions

2013-05-17T13:12:26Z

The College of Bishops the Scottish Episcopal Church is working to establish a process by which the whole church will be able to engage in discussion about same-sex unions in that church.

The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St. Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow writes in his blog, What's in Kelvin's Head?:

The short version is that the College of Bishops has invited the Mission and Ministry Board to establish a design group to create a process by which the whole church will be able to engage in discussion. The remit for the design process is this:
To design a process to enable consideration within the Scottish Episcopal Church of matters concerning same sex relationships; such a process to enable exploration and discussion in a range of contexts and in an ‘unpressured’ atmosphere to allow time to be taken for careful and thoughtful consideration of the matters in question.
The Design Group is asked to seek the advice and engagement of the Continuing Indaba initiative of the Anglican Communion in designing a process for the Scottish Episcopal Church and also to consider the possible involvement of one or more partner dioceses or provinces within the Anglican Communion in any such process.

The Design Group is asked to report to the Mission and Ministry Board following the conclusion of the process

The Bishop of Brechin, the Rt Rev Nigel Peyton has agreed to act as convener of the group. He, the Primus, along with two Episcopalians who have experience of organising Provincial Conferences (the Rev Dr Anne Tomlinson and Elspeth Davey) met with the Rev Canon Dr Phil Groves of the Anglican Communion Office recently and they came up with the following principles to be offered to the design group.

Dean of Westminster Abbey in U.S. for fundraising visits

2013-05-16T21:00:25Z

The Very Rev. John Hall, dean of London's Westminster Abbey, is visiting the U.S. on what he calls a "friend-raising" tour to garner donations for the upkeep of the historic church. Hall, who officiated at the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton two years ago, talked with the Huffington Post about the spiritual significance of the abbey, one of Britain's premier tourist attractions. He also talked about the Episcopal Church and its role within the Anglican Communion:

For me, the experience of preaching on a couple of occasions at St. Thomas in New York and St. James in Chicago this week showed me a tradition of worship with which I am extremely familiar. You simply feel that we are one.

We live in a complex and difficult world and we engage with the world as we see and we want to share the gospel with the world in which we are. That may lead us to take different views about some marginal issues from Anglicans in other parts of the world. But on the core issues of belief in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and God's revelation of himself in Jesus Christ, we are the same.

I am glad that we wrestle publicly with issues, and I'm glad that with that we have this community that keeps us together. I long for the unity and reconciliation of all Christians so we can give a more powerful, united message to the world of God's love in Christ. I certainly don't want to see the Anglican Communion broken up. Nobody does.

See a video clip and read more here.

In other news of sacred spaces in England, Canterbury Cathedral will not be closing its doors, despite press reports to the contrary. From Religion News Service:

The BBC reported on Sunday (May 12) that Canterbury Cathedral would soon close to visitors after it missed out on a 10.6 million pound ($16.2 million) request to the Heritage Lottery Fund for structural repairs. That report was dismissed on Monday as “greatly exaggerated” by cathedral spokesman Christopher Robinson.
“The Germans didn’t force us to close Canterbury Cathedral during the Second World War,” he said in an interview. “So there’s no chance it will be closed to visitors because we need to carry out some urgent repairs.”

When churches act too much like family

2013-05-16T18:22:40Z

The Rev. Catherine Caimano asserts that when church members consider themselves "family," they can make it very difficult for newcomers to feel at home. From Duke Divinity's Faith and Leadership:

We are more like families than we realize, in ways that are not always good. Like families, churches can be very close-knit groups, with a select few people who aren't really all that excited about bringing other people in. What group has higher barriers to entry than a family? You can't just wander in. You can only join through birth, adoption or marriage.
No wonder we don't act like we're expecting guests. No wonder, even in a time of decline, we're not putting out the welcome mat. Too many churches are like actual families, slowly bringing in and incorporating new members but rarely going out looking for them.

Read full post here.

Jefferts Schori, other leaders, meet to promote civil discourse

2013-05-16T14:58:44Z

From Religion News Service:

WASHINGTON -- Twenty-five top Christian leaders gathered in the U.S. city with perhaps the worst reputation for civil discourse Wednesday (May 15) and committed themselves to elevating the level of public conversation.
Meeting in a row house three blocks from the U.S. Capitol, the group spanned the Christian spectrum, and included officials from liberal churches and the most conservative of interest groups.

“The ground of our spiritual understanding is in treating other people as the image of God, treating people with respect,” said Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. “Faith leaders have a remarkable opportunity to shift the conversation, but it’s very challenging, particularly in a larger society that wants to understand everything as a battle, as engaging the enemy, rather than with someone who might have something to teach us."

See full story here.

Evangelist Graham blasts administration over IRS audits of his organizations

2013-05-16T11:15:21Z

As furor mounts about IRS scrutiny of conservative non-profit groups, evangelist Franklin Graham is raising hellfire over tax audits of two organizations he leads: the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the relief group Samaritan’s Purse. He wrote a letter this week to President Obama asserting that "someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us."

The BGEA ran ads in 2012 supporting a North Carolina amendment banning same-sex marriage, and also ran ads urging voters to consider candidates who make decisions based on “biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.”

From Religion News Service:

“I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year is a coincidence — or justifiable,’’ wrote Graham, who last year apologized to the president for seeming to question Obama’s Christian faith.
He said his organizations learned after the fall election that they could continue to be tax-exempt. But Graham said the audits “wasted taxpayer money” and “precious resources.”

Why rituals work

2013-05-15T22:54:05Z

Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton suggest that there are real benefits to rituals, religious or otherwise, in Scientific American:

Recent research suggests that rituals may be more rational than they appear. Why? Because even simple rituals can be extremely effective. Rituals performed after experiencing losses – from loved ones to lotteries – do alleviate grief, and rituals performed before high-pressure tasks – like singing in public – do in fact reduce anxiety and increase people’s confidence. What’s more, rituals appear to benefit even people who claim not to believe that rituals work.

The extensive article looks at rituals from many settings: symbolic things we do "before, during, and after a meaningful event".

Receiving the Holy Mystery

2013-05-15T19:18:03Z

In Forward Movement's "50 Days of Fabulous" , a celebration of the Easter Season, Susan McDonald reflects on understanding the Eucharist:

My daughter, “too young to understand”, had in turn helped me to understand a call to Eucharistic living that all my well intentioned education and formal formation had not. Simply and repeatedly, right in the palm of her little hand.

McDonald's reflection is on Luke 10:17-24, along with three response questions.

The "myth" of Christian persecution

2013-05-15T15:17:59Z

Candida Moss' new book "The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom" addresses the exaggeration of claims of martyrdom in the early church, and the effect it has in modern circles concerning the way Christianity is taught and perceived.

Religion News Service, in an article by Lauren Markoe, interviews Moss about "the travails of early Christians, and how they are misappropriated in the public sphere today".

Candida Moss is professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame.

Reimagining Task Force opens the conversation

2013-05-15T12:00:55Z

The Task Force for Reimagining The Episcopal Church (TREC) is asking for help.

TREC has created a website to invite feedback about the structures, governance, and administration of the Church.

It is using Twitter and Facebook as well. Yesterday they posted on the two social media sites:

It's time to get the conversation going! We'll throw out topics & questions in hopes that you'll throw out thoughts and ideas!

Go to the provided TREC Twitter (use #reimaginetec ) and TREC Facebook sites to share your ideas!

Faith fueled progressivism

2013-05-14T22:45:03Z

How faith fuels progressivism from the Center for American Progress:

Despite the campaigns and messaging of the so-called religious right to claim a monopoly on God and religion, their views do not represent America’s surprisingly diverse—and often discernibly progressive—religious landscape. A new video from the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative shows how religious groups have played a critical role in many of our nation’s social-justice movements, and continue to fuel many of today’s forward-looking campaigns for justice, mercy, and equality.

Why are world birthrates falling?

2013-05-14T19:28:01Z

Birthrates in most countries around the world are falling according to the Washington Post. The reason seems to be access to television and other media:

...many developing countries now have lower birthrates than even some European nations. “Chile (1.85 children per woman), Brazil (1.81), and Thailand (1.56) have lower birthrates than France (2.0), Norway (1.95), and Sweden (1.98),” Lewis writes.
The same goes for India. Back in 1968, biologist Paul Ehrlich famously warned about a coming population explosion in India that would lead to mass famine and catastrophe. Yet today, India’s fertility rate (2.5) is only slightly higher than the United States’ (2.1). In India’s southern states, the birthrate is actually below replacement level, meaning that the next generation will be smaller than the current one.

So what happened? Lewis examines a number of hypotheses, from rising incomes to growing female literacy. Those are all moderately correlated with the decline in birthrates and could help explain the shift. But, curiously enough, nothing seems to match up with the trends as neatly as the growth in TV ownership and media exposure:

Peak Oil also notes these changes in life for women:

. . . A 2009 paper (pdf) by Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that the introduction of cable television “is associated with significant decreases in the reported acceptability of domestic violence towards women and son preference, as well as increases in women’s autonomy and decreases in fertility.” It’s far from certain that television alone is driving these changes, but the evidence is suggestive.

A separate 2008 study (pdf) by Eliana La Ferrara found that the popularity of soap operas seems to have had a similar effect in Brazil, where birthrates have dropped from from 6.25 to 1.81 in the past 50 years. The idea here is that television helps alter certain cultural norms that, in turn, lead to women choosing to have fewer kids. (Again, though, it’s possible that soap-opera exposure is simply an outgrowth of some other factor, like rising incomes.) . . .

h/t to Murdoch Matthew