Paul Raushenbush: July 2008 Archives

Rev. Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, was pointedly not to attend Lambeth Conference. But he has been there and posted this poignant dispatch on his blog.

Since arriving in Canterbury, I had not yet visited the Cathedral. I went nowhere near the place on Sunday's opening service. The ever-anxious leadership had provided the Cathedral security guards with a large photo of me, posted at the security checkpoints, presumably to keep me from "crashing the gates" of the opening service. No one believed that I would be true to my promise to the Archbishop not to attend.

 

On Thursday, knowing that the conference attendees would leave early in the morning for London -- for the MDG walk, lunch at Lambeth Palace, and tea with the Queen -- it seemed like a good, low-profile time to make my own pilgrimage to our Mother Church. I told no one of my intentions to attend -- except I had my security person follow the properly courteous protocol of alerting the Cathedral to my visit. I had him also seek permission for a videographer to accompany me on my visit for a documentary to be released sometime in 2010. We were informed that the videographer could NOT accompany me or film me inside the Cathedral. Fair enough. We were told that he could accompany me to the gate onto the Cathedral grounds, and, standing in the public street, could at least film me walking into the Cathedral through the gate's archway.

 

We contacted Cathedral security to let them know of our imminent arrival, as had been requestd. When we got there, we were met by a gentleman, representing the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral, I think. He intercepted me and told me that I could not be filmed walking into the Cathedral (even from the public street outside) after all. The reason he gave took me by surprise, rendering me speechless (an uncommon experience for me!). "We can't have any photographs or film of you entering the Cathedral," he said, "because we want this to be a church for ALL people." Presumably he meant that my being seen walking into the Cathedral would cause others not to want to come.

The current criticism of Progressive Revival by Street Prophets at Daily Kos highlights the tension in both religion and politics over who is "progressive enough" in this campaign season. They write that the Revivalists are not "an expression of the Religious left....Tthe people I recognize are really political centrists, and if you count social issues, some of them wind up being on the right of center."

"Certainly they're not progressives as I understand the term's meaning today. It's great that people oppose the war or want more spending on poverty. But to be really progressive requires a willingness to confront the creeping authoritarianism of the conservative movement and an understanding that the American political and media systems are in dire need of reform. It's really not enough to say "we should all get along and do the right thing."

"We've got to do something different, in other words, not just the same thing only better. That involves being able to step outside the system to critique people like Steve Waldman's new boss Rupert Murdoch. It also involves the ability to critique even allies who aren't stepping up to the plate on needed reforms. Somehow, I don't see this roster having the heart to do the latter, and I'm pretty sure they won't be encouraged to do the former.

"Which means that the outer edge of allowable discourse from religious progressives will be fixed well before the point that would produce any meaningful change. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they'll all surprise me. But at the moment, I'm thinking this is a problem."

It was intentional that we invited a mix of voices on Progressive Revival. One of the things I most deplore about President Bush is his self-satisfaction and his narrow circle of advisors that insist on the "God given" righteousness of their actions. I say widen the circle so that the tax collectors, the Pharisees, the sinners and the poor all come together at one table and are inspired to create new solutions so that God's kingdom might be formed on earth, deliberately, and progressively. That is not moving to the center -- that is creating a new center where we are.