Yesterday, I drifted over to David Virtue's site. I should know better. It's an astonishing experience.
I'm not giving a link, but the post that I reference is titled, "When They Came For Me There Was No One Left To Speak Out".
First off, David quotes Martin Niemoller:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
Good enough, except that Niemoller's list is not all-inclusive of every group the Nazis came for.
Then David says this:
Friedrich Gustav Martin Niemöller's words, uttered more than 50 years ago, ring with an ominous clarity as we watch the slow evisceration of orthodox Episcopalians in the American Episcopal Church. Never has the prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor's words resounded with so much terror as we watch what is happening to the nation's premier church that has seen numerous presidents, senators and community leaders pass through its hallowed doors.
Just as Niemoller became one of the founders of the Confessing Church which opposed the nazification of German Protestant churches, we are seeing today in the U.S., with the homosexualization of The Episcopal Church, the rise of confessing churches that stand in opposition to the pansexual (LGBT) agenda that is ripping and tearing at the fabric of a once proud denomination. (Bolding is mine.)
Hold on. One of the targeted groups that Niemoller left off his list of folks the Nazis came to get are the "pansexuals".
I need a minute to work this out. Niemoller is speaking against the Nazis. The Nazis arrested and killed "pansexuals". Now Virtue compares the Episcopal Church to the Nazis, because they call for equal rights for "pansexuals". I don't believe that logic holds up. Of course, I could be wrong.
Virtue sinks lower and lower with each paragraph in the post, and I won't quote more. Niemoller's words resound with terror for them now! I'm convinced. Fear is their fuel. The comments are unbelievable. The folks there have a seige mentality, a "they're out to get us" mindset that comes from where? Just amazing. I really should know better than to go there.
Perhaps the Episcopal Church was "a once proud denomination". I hardly think it can be so today, and if the pride is gone, that's quite a good thing.
Inexcusable really. They are so tangled up in their logic and fundamentalism that it's really a little sad...
ReplyDeleteThe Harvey Fierstein op-ed today had good words:
The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.
Gives me pause
Clumber, I read Fierstein's op-ed. We all operate out of our biases. I was raised in a racist, anti-semitic, and homophobic environment. I have done what I could to overcome the prejudice, but I realize that I probably will never be able to shake off 100% of my prejudices. That's why I titled my four-part "Confessions" which are listed on the sidebar of this blog as a story of ongoing recovery that is not yet finished and will not be finished in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to get into an argument with the folks at Virtue's place, which is why I did not link, but once I read that piece, I could not let go of it without posting it. I could not be silent. I realize that my tiny audience is mostly with me in a preaching-to-the-choir situation, nevertheless....
I put "When They Came For Me" on my blog a couple of years ago, but added, "When they came for the gays, I remained silent; I was not gay." And then "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
ReplyDeleteWell, Virtue's about as low as a pregnant ant, and fascists always tell the big lie.
I was astounded at VOL's article - how can anyone can compare himself to those who were murdered in the death camps. Sunday is the commemoration of Yom HoShoah in the Jewish calendar.
ReplyDeletePat, Ann, I was jaw-dropping shocked at the linkage of themselves to victims of the Holocaust. I don't think I could go back there any time soon, but I suppose that it's good to visit once in a while, just to have an idea of what's out there.
ReplyDeleteFear is such a cruel mistress, like the White Witch of Narnia.
ReplyDeleteWhen encountering such nonsense, I cannot help but ask the believer, "If God is who you believe He is, why are you so afraid?"
I don't think I want the term "pansexual" applied to me, as it gives the connotation of "anything goes". As we all know by now, I'm 100% homo, and 0% pan. This sounds like a term used by the opposition in and attempt to frame the dicussion in a way that serves them best.
This sounds like a term used by the opposition in and attempt to frame the dicussion in a way that serves them best.
ReplyDeleteKJ, I am sure it is. That's why it's in quotes. It's not my choice. Is it offensive? I'm thinking yes. I confess that I had to look it up. Shall I remove it?
What these folks write is awful, really awful. Unbelievably awful.
Grandmere Mimi:
ReplyDeleteSorry to go off topic, here, but MP's site needs votes now that lj has nominated him for the Blogger's Choice Awards.
Go here to see where to vote for OCICBW for best religion blog. A few hundred votes will in in this category.
While you are there you will need to register but once you've done that you can vote for MadPriest's blog "Of Course I Could Be Wrong."
Quick, go vote for him before he tells us to stop this little campaign!
Dennis, I can't complete the registration. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteWhen encountering such nonsense, I cannot help but ask the believer, "If God is who you believe He is, why are you so afraid?"
ReplyDeleteIf God IS who they believe He is, they have every reason to be terrified.
As do we all.
Good thing God is NOT like that...
Their God is not my God. Either they are very wrong, or I am very wrong.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to emphasize certain passages in the Bible - the same Bible that I read - but, I wonder, do they ever read the Gospels?
I agree, Doxy, that if God is as they believe Him/Her, they should be afraid. But remember, they believe that their salvation is assured through correct doctrine, orthodoxy, and they are very assured they have those ducks in a row, so they believe if God has any body in His/Her sites, it's those whose doctrine is not "correct", and woe to the GLBT and their supporters.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, one thing that I think we ("them" and "us") have in common is a shared belief regarding the omniscience and omnipotence of God. My point was, if they believe those things about God, then why are they so afraid of mere mortals with whom they have differences regarding matters of human sexuality. i mean, I know we're fabulous, but are we "omnifabulous"?
KJ, my thought is that their leaders suspect that they can only hold their followers by instilling fear of the "other". They're like the Bush administration. Keeping the faithful in fear is all they have going for them.
ReplyDeleteBut where is their trust in God? I suppose we, "our side", must be "omnifabulous", irresistable, whatever. I did not know we were so powerful.
I must say that I think the disagreement is as much about women as about GLTB persons, the fear of the feminine or any hint of the feminine. Remember that the men who run the operation are totally heterosexual. The fear of the feminine, as represented in the black widow spider story, yet looms large for them.
It's not acceptable to openly bash women today, but it's still OK to bash the GLTBs in certain circles in so-called polite society.
Remember that the men who run the operation are totally heterosexual.
ReplyDeleteOr fear that someone will discover that they are not. Ted Haggard, anyone?
Grandmère Mimi, I agree -- and I am appalled at the use of Pastor Niemöller's quote by Virtue and co. Have they no knowledge of what Nazism was and did? I'm speechless. Hadn't been over to that site in a long while (I haven't even been over to the progressive sites recently, e.g. Father Jake [though as you know I hang out at MadPriest's and relish the company] -- I find I get saturated with Episcopal and Anglican in-house politics even though once in a while I'm a church-news-junkie about them and for a variety of professional and personal reasons, I'm supposed to keep up on this stuff) so I'm grateful to you for pointing this out to us. Well, emphasis on the grateful to you!
ReplyDeleteAnd you are right one about the connection between sexism and heterosexism. I must dig out the essay my friend Jay wrote about this a few years ago (he's a gay Episcopal priest).
Many Easter blessings to you and your loved ones. Thank you for gracing the blogosphere.
Jane, I had not been to that site for months, perhaps since MadPriest put up the picture of David singing in the shower at Dar es Salaam.
ReplyDeleteI confess that I, too, sometimes get overwhelmed by the political machinations in the church and have to take periodic breaks.
Thank you for the blessings and kind words.
God's blessings back to you.
David Virtue's self-comparison of being a victim is akin to Don Armstrong's portrayal of his martyrdom in his Easter sermon. It is a beyond low to compare the conservative movement to the Shoah.
ReplyDeleteCaminante, I don't know how they show their faces in public. Obviously, some folks have no sense of shame.
ReplyDeleteNo sense of shame, or no sense of proportion--the world does seem to revolve around them, so that the possibility of not being in control morphs into a sense of martyrdom.
ReplyDeleteWay back at the beginning of March, Fr. Christopher Hofer posted an a "new version" of Pastor Niemoller's poem. At the time I linked to it on my blog. Christopher was a seminarian at St. Mary's in the academic year 2001 - 2002 and maybe one other year.
ReplyDeleteDrat. Not an a "new version," just a "new version."
ReplyDeleteso that the possibility of not being in control morphs into a sense of martyrdom.
ReplyDeleteI think that's true, Nina. If they cannot have things their way, then they become victims under seige, with the "other" out to get them.
Allen, I'm thinking about Christopher Hofer's version, and there's something about it that I find troubling. I think it's that I don't want to see those of us on the side of inclusion jump to assume the role of victims. It's not that I deny that people have been abused and excluded, but we still have a lot of fight in us.
I'm not gay or lesbian; I'm not a woman priest, and I have not suffered the kind of abuse that you/they have, so, I could be wrong, since I speak from a privileged position, as one that they have not yet come after.
Niemoller wrote his words after the fact of the Holocaust. If the message from Christopher is that we must be active now and speak and do what we can for the cause of inclusion, then I would agree.
I think it's that I don't want to see those of us on the side of inclusion jump to assume the role of victims.
ReplyDeleteMimi, I find that somewhat troubling too -- but I am also aware, for example, that Gene Robinson wore body armor for his consecration because of death threats. I also think of the pain that Leonardo Ricardo carries over the murder of his partner, and there are countless other examples of actual physical violence in the US against LGBT persons, some high profile like Matthew Shepherd but most not widely known.
Christopher's pastiche was posted on March 1, the day after +Katherine's webcast on the Dar es Salaam meeting and communique. There was a lot of anxiety among those "on the side of inclusion" that the leadership of TEC in general and Bishop Katherine in particular was about to step back from inclusion. Do you remember +Katherine's Shrove Tuesday "fast for a season" comment and the reaction to it?
I take Christopher's intent as cautionary.
Allen, everything you say is correct. I know that Gene and Katharine and Leonardo have been abused and threatened and taken the heat. I think of Luiz Coelho and Elizabeth Kaeton also. I know some have been driven to despair.
ReplyDeleteBe on guard. Be aware. Fight the good fight. To all of that, yes.
Maybe I read Christopher wrong.
I am simply speechless at the wicked -- no, evil -- misuse of that quote to apply to Virtue's lot.
ReplyDeleteMark, as you can see. I'm not quite speechless. Incredulous? Shocked? Stupified? Yes.
ReplyDelete