1990 the Witness, Vol. 73, No. 2. February 1990
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VOLUME • 73 NUMBER • 2 FEBRUARY 1990 Cryo in the wilderness: On freezing pre-embryos • Charles Meyer publication. Seminaries and liberation and • Alison Cheek reuse • Carter Heyward for required Prayer — ever new • Malcolm Boyd Permission DFMS. / MY Church ODD, Episcopal the of GOD, Archives ave LJOU 2020. w orsakien Copyright Letters Middle class scapegoats Read with eagerness 1,200 Hiroshimas. I am part of the Whitefish Peace Alli- The Navy likes the Trident and the D- It is kind of John Snow to identify the 5 missiles they carry because they are cause of all our problems, the white, ance and we send you our Peaceweaver newsletter, from which you quote on oc- accurate and fast — the missiles can straight, money-oriented, college edu- travel 6,000 miles and come within 600 cated, affluent middle class (December casion in Short Takes, so I feel like sending you a personal note. feet of their target. The Navy claims that WITNESS). He exhibits all the prejudice the D-5 can destroy Soviet land-based that he would deplore if directed at an- Many thanks for all you stand for. I would never have known about the Ap- missiles while they are still in their hard- other group. We have to have our scape- ened siloes. goats, don't we? palachian coal mine strike except for And aside from their awesome de- I would remind John Snow the white your coverage. You got to it early, and structive capabilities is the fact that each middle class feels, bleeds, and has its that has added help for me when I have publication. Trident submarine fully equipped with tragedies due to AIDS, drugs, delinquen- seen it in other media contexts. its load of 24 D-5 missiles (each carry- and cies, etc. The two periodicals I always read with ing up to 12 nuclear warheads) costs No wonder the church speaks to a great eagerness are THE WITNESS and reuse $1.3 billion. Just imagine how many af- smaller and smaller audience when Sojourners. You represent a very impor- for fordable housing units could be built spokespersons of the Gospel drive tant part of the Episcopal Church, and a with that money, or community health people to the margins because of who voice that is sorely needed today. centers, or how many urban schools up- they are. The Rev. Richard A. Kirchoffer required graded. This is just a way of saying that Abner K. Pratt II Whitefish, Mont. what we need in this country is nothing Eastham, Mass. less than a profound reordering and Read with reservations reshaping of our economic priorities. Permission Snow responds I generally disagree with you 90% of the Anne Rowthorn I am sorry to see my article in THE time, but you are always stimulating, Hartford, Conn. DFMS. WITNESS interpreted by Abner Pratt as and your December AIDS issue was re- / an attack on the middle class. What I ally excellent. was attempting to say is that American The Rev. Robert M. Darrow Shares resistance story Church culture as it affects everyone from the West Bend, Wise. Pat Washburn's "Inviting the IRS to din- underclass to the very rich is based on ner" in November prompts me to share a Social Darwinist assumptions. Trident correction story of another EPF member's tax resis- tance. A dear friend of mine, long either Episcopal As a middle class person successfully I'm particularly pleased with the No- a student or otherwise unemployed, is the on the way up believes he or she is a vember issue commemorating the 50th now entitled to a respectable taxable in- of winner, so the underclass kid about to birthday of the Episcopal Peace Fellow- come. His solution was to live within drop out of high school believes deeply ship. I like all the articles, especially that modest amount that can remain un- that he or she is a loser. Both believe, or Nathaniel Pierce's piece and Mary Archives taxed and donate the remainder to his rather assume, that the survival of the Miller's history. parish for the express purpose of making fittest adequately describes the human I would only make one small correc- 2020. it fully accessible to persons with dis- enterprise. The middle class is not an tion in Jim Lewis' interview which I also abilities. God only knows what good evil conspiracy to dominate American think came out well. It is understandable works will come from this method of tax society, it is captive to the same crazy that he would quote me as saying that resistance. Copyright idea that life is a struggle among indi- "just one Trident submarine has as much viduals, the "war of all against all," destructive power as 25 World War II Jane Jackson Oakland, Cal. where only the most fit must survive if submarines," because it's almost impos- there is to be human progress. sible to imagine the terrible extent of the Not only is this kind of reductionist destructive power of these weapons. Ac- Issue gave hope evolutionary socio-biology scientifically tually what I said is that just one Trident Having been "grounded" by a bad cold, I silly, it is in direct contradiction to the carries as much destructive force as 25 caught up on some of my reading, in- life and teaching of Jesus Christ. World War Us!! (According to cluding the November WITNESS. I was The Rev. John Snow Newsweek magazine.) Or put another so excited about some of the articles that Cambridge, Mass. way, just one Trident is also equal to I called numerous people to share with THE WITNESS them my excitement. tor, "300 years late" (December). Cer- Kudos from Peru The article about the death penalty re- tainly his hostility toward the church is ally got to me. When Joseph Ingle men- Loving greetings for the New Year, and readily apparent, but I wonder if his hos- many thanks for keeping THE WIT- tioned about the throwaway diapers, tility masks a deeper alienation, suffered "stripped of his dignity ..." I wept. NESS coming our way. The contents are by many gay and lesbian people who always stimulating and we share the I have been a member of EPF since have left the church and, consequently, about 1960, so I was much interested in ideas with our Christian Feminist group, the faith which it represents. One can Talitha Cumi. It is good to feel con- the issue. I had also been a member of hardly blame Rice for his hostility. At the Episcopal Society for Cultural and nected in some way with all the efforts the same time it seems ironic that while to humanize our planet. Racial Unity (ESCRU) and always felt he would not allow the church to deter- that the two groups should join, but So many momentous events going on mine his right to his sexuality, he has in our world — does it mean there may publication. ESCRU just died. Why can't we make seemingly allowed the church — by be a breakthrough for transformation in connections? completely embracing his exile — to de- and the coming century? THE WITNESS pulled me back into termine his spirituality, and the corre- Sister Rose Timothy the Episcopalian fold. I was so discour- sponding understanding of how God reuse Sister Rose Dominic aged that I had given up going to church. interacts with the world. for Lima, Peru Of course, I knew that wasn't the answer but the November issue did me more Gay men and lesbians have not been good, gave me more hope, than any ser- the only group to suffer at the hands of Returns to Nicaragua required mon could have given me. the church: Women, blacks, Jews, chil- My husband and I have returned to Nica- dren, among many others, have equally Mary Austin ragua to work for a few years, si Dios experienced shame and rejection. Each Newtown, Pa. quiere. We're interim staff of the Quaker have been forced to clarify God's contin- Permission Center, then we'll work in the campo, I ued faithfulness to their people regard- doing health education and Charles, car- John Walker memories less of the prevailing attitudes of the in- pentry. I recently saw the Rev. Miguel DFMS. I was deeply touched by the WITNESS stitution, a scandalous particularity espe- / D'Escoto and remembered his fast for article on Bishop John Walker, as it cially to white, heterosexual men. Each peace in 1983 when so many came to brought back many memories of that have reclaimed their rich heritage, their fast with him from all over the world, Church wonderful evening at St. Margaret's, so rich traditions. Likewise, gay men and including THE WITNESS. What a spe- full of love and of the man who inspired lesbians are beginning to reclaim their cial moment in history that was. them all. heritage, even if it is only to remember Poor Nicaragua is suffering terribly. Episcopal Many people said after the service that the countless brothers and sisters who There is hunger among adults as well as the they needed a personal way to say good- were burned as "faggots" at the stake. children. With rising costs, it is a daily of bye. The Cathedral service helped us lay And gay and lesbian Christians are giv- struggle for the poor to survive. Since our bishop to rest. But we needed some- ing witness to a God who seeks justice Congress voted funding for the opposi- thing more intimate to express our love for those among God's people who have tion in the elections, the contras in the Archives for our friend and pastor.