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VOL. 63, NO. 8 AUGUST, 1980 publication. and reuse for •^ required The Tightening Noose John Gessell Permission Iran: Paul Washington Ramsey Clark DFMS. / Church Episcopal the of Archives 2020. Copyright efforts of all individuals and groups 'Conscience' Abused involved focus on addressing the needs of the whole person. This article would In the May Letters to the Editor, Wendy be helpful in our work with the elderly. Williams of Sewanee, Tenn. has spoken Ella Dash to an issue that can no longer be ignored Jamaica, N.Y. by the body of the church. The abuse of the conscience clause to oppress women instead of to take cognizance of their rights in the canonical system of Praises Washington the Episcopal Church has been going on I am enclosing a copy of a letter I am since 1976. The statement of Oct. 5, sending to the Rev. Paul M. Washington 1977, in Port St. Lucie has given small regarding his recent participation at an comfort to people who believe in the international Conference in Teheran, democratic process in the Episcopal publication. Iran on the "Crimes in America." I urge Church, because some bishops have you to explore, if possible, in one issue allowed conscience a very wide and Aging Need More of your distinguished publication, the interpretation; namely, "I have the right

reuse implications of the ministry and witness Although practically every copy of THE to my conscience," and this means in of Father Washington regarding biblical for WITNESS is provocative and en- essence, "I also have a right to see that grossing, the May issue had two articles imperatives and American foreign your conscience is not served." Those of that addressed themselves to where I am policy particularly regarding Iran. I us who have actually seen in practice required now. Although like Peg Ferry I reached continue to delight in your publication what Wendy Williams suspects, know this "state" (as John L. McKnight's Old and wish you and your staff persistence that her point is well taken. This is a Grandma calls it) neither First Class nor in conscience raising in the church. problem for the whole church, and it Steerage, but Tourist, I too have reached Eugene D. Squillace must be addressed nolaterthanthenext Permission the practical conclusion that what the Bristol, Pa. General Convention. aging need is more. Like all the poor— (Editor's Note: See interview with Paul The Rev. Arnold F. Moulton

DFMS. and a majority of the aging fall into that Washington in this issue of THE Racine, Wise. / category—the more economically WITNESS.) disadvantaged aging have to pay more God Against Isms Church (not proportionately, but absolutely) for In the May WITNESS, George McClain the essentials, despite the ameliorative Likes WITNESS Values writes on "The Idolatry and Promise of institutions of pensions, Social Security, Thank you for the recent issues. I liked the Church." He beautifully debunks the

Episcopal Supplemental Security Income, especially the May issue on the aged (I'll author of the Moffatt Bible Commentary

the Medicare, and Medicaid. be 36 in June) and the February issue on who "spiritualizes" Jesus' statement of of Lamentably, now the working poor women. I'm a part-time worker and a full his mission, "the spirit of the Lord is are being pitted against the aging poor, time student and my Sociology of the upon me. . .to preach good news to the and such a divided house cannot stand Aging teacher liked the May issue too. poor, release to the captives, recovering Archives against a threatened system which I became an Episcopalian in 1963 in of sight to the blind . . . liberty to the becomes more merciless in its death Minnesota. I left a few years later, partly

2020. oppressed." throes. You do good work! because of the all-white churches and He rightly, but not in Christian The Rev. Arthur C. Barnhart all-black churches. And if a black man theological terms, speaks of the need for Erie, Pa. got ordained, I was told, he'd have to a "materialistic" approach to human Copyright leave the state to find a job if there was needs. This could have been interpreted no vacancy in one of the two black in incarnational and sacramental Helpful to Elderly churches. theological terms. He chooses, The Jamaica Service Program for Older How ironic! Now many of my gripes as however, to speak of it in terms of a view Adults would like to obtain 10 copies of far as sex and race are no longer true of Marxism that was prevalent in the Margaret Ferry's article, "Retirement: about the Episcopal Church, but I've 1930s. Marx has a whale of a lot to teach First Class or Steerage?" JSPOA is a changed. Now I have a personal us. We ignore him at our peril. He consortium of community agencies relationship with Jesus Christ. I still love certainly cannot be the new working with a Council of Senior your magazine as I do one with similar "absolutism." He was speaking Citizens to identify needs, coordinate values, Sojourners. culturally conditioned by what he saw existing services and to develop new Karen Walling in 19th century England. Tragically his programs as they are needed. The Salt Lake City, Utah Continued on page 19 Robert L. DeWitt, Editor; Mary Lou Suhor, Managing Editor; Kay Atwater, Robert Eckersley. Richard W. Gillett, Ann Hunter. Susan Small. Lisa K. Whelan. Hugh C. White. Jr. Editorial and Business I HE WITNESS Office: P.O. Box 359, Ambler. PA 19002. Telephone (215) 643-7067. Subscription rates: $9.00 per year; $1.00 per copy. The Witness is published monthly by the Episcopal Church Publishing Company. Board of Directors: Wesley Frensdorff. Steven Querra, Barbara Harris, Suzanne Hiatt, John E. Hines, Mattie Hopkins, Joan Howarth, James Lewis. H. Coleman McQehee. Joseph A. Pelham. Robert S. Potter, and Helen Seager. Copyright 1980 by the Episcopal Church Publishing Company. Printed in U.S.A.

As the Earth Turns: Revolutions

publication. Robert L. DeWitt and The Iranian crisis and the tragic holding of the reality. Consider: reuse

for hostages has occupied and preoccupied the minds of "Workers of the world, unite; you have nothing to U.S. citizens for many months. There is at times a lose but your chains." suggestion of simplism in all of us which resists and "This nation cannot continue half slave and half required resents the intrusion of such untoward events into the free." life of human society. "Give me liberty or give me death." Yet such events continue to occur with a stubborn These declarations were each uttered out of a deep

Permission tenacity. The pattern is not new. It often issues from and desperate social dilemma, and were reaching out, political revolutions, as in Iran. So it was with the pointing toward a fairer earth, a saner and safer human revolution in , which in the '60s so society. DFMS. / grievously wrenched the soul of America. So, earlier, Consider the alternative. Would we want to live in a the revolution which established the present regime in world in which injustice meets with no resistance, a

Church Cuba, and earlier still the revolution encompassing world in which people supinely acquiesce to their own one fourth of the men, women and children of the subjugation and abandon their sense of self-worth? world, which issued in the creation of the People's Would we care, or dare, to live in a world in which the

Episcopal Republic of China. Few of us remember, but we know powerful hold undisputed sway, with no threat of revolt the that an earlier event, the Russian Revolution, changed from those they oppress? of the political face of the world. Lest we focus our These questions lead us close to the heart of our attention only on Marxist revolutions, there was the religious heritage. God is just, and requires justice in abortive, fratricidal secession of our own Southern human affairs. An unjust arrangement in human Archives States that caused one of the most tragic wars in society offends God. History is God's rod, and with history. And let us not forget the War of Independence, 2020. that rod, God will smite ever and again the unrighteous which set 13 struggling colonies on an unimaginable pretensions whereby unjust people build their life at trajectory of growth in wealth and power to establish others' expense. What God requires is repentance (the one of the greatest hegemonies history has ever seen. Copyright Greek root of which means "turning around"), and howsoever inadequately, that same thrust, that same What can we say to these soul-wrenching, heart- motion, is seen in "revolution." breaking events? Surely we regret the suffering, the People who find their spiritual roots in the Bible will bloodshed. Certainly we condemn the excesses understand that peace is not to be found by itself. committed in the process, and those which followed in Peace is always gravitating toward the stronger field of their wake. But a deeper question is involved. In each justice. Let us not pray for peace alone, but for peace- instance there was some perceived injustice which the with-righteousness. The Kingdom of the Prince of revolution sought, however imperfectly, to rectify. The Peace is the Kingdom of Righteousness. Let us seek exaggerated rhetoric produced by those social that kingdom first, and all the other blessings will be upheavals had its source, nevertheless, in a deep added. So speaks the Word of God. • The publication.

and Tightening reuse i Noose for by John M. Gessell required Permission DFMS. / Church Episcopal the of Archives 2020. Copyright it can happen here. Some of the same conditions which characterized life in the Weimar Republic are appearing worrisomely in the : The growing loss of confidence in "People of my parents' generation watched the loss of government and other institutional civic virtues under the pressure of the menace of structures of authority, unmanageable imaginary foes, as good Germans became privatized and inflation, alleged communist threats, left to criminals the field of political action. People of my the secularization of the churches and parents' generation said, 'It can't happen here.' But the the separation of Biblical and theological scholarship from the church cunning of history is such that it can ..." community and its faith context. These economic, political, and ecclesiological publication. erosions sap the vitality of the civic

and community and render it increasingly susceptible to the simplistic solutions of reuse t is an alarming scenario when U.S. generals are separated from the real extremists from the right. for Itax dollars are spent to convince U.S. world by their military game plans. The The continued outcry from the right citizens of an external threat so rest of us are shielded from reality by for increased military expenditures and

required immediate and so menacing that only positive reinforcement of our for the development of first-strike the most advanced state of military interiority, of our privatism. capability in Europe against the readiness, including forward bases and Perhaps the Spanish novelist, Juan "communist threat" exhibits a mania first-strike capability, will meet it. Goytisolo, best captures what is which, if not checked, will so exacerbate Permission Rapidly climbing levels of federal happening to us by his reflection on the arms race as to make a nuclear war spending of tax dollars are making the Franco's Spain of "the impossibility of inevitable. Such a war could then

DFMS. United States one of the most / our realizing a free and mature life of become an excuse to set up a national dangerous countries in the world today. action, influencing in any way the fate security state, to give the Pentagon a This obsession with armaments is of our society outside of the ways laid free hand at home and around the Church impoverishing the Republic and down once and for all [by Franco] with world, to remove all restraints from the causing the neglect of human needs and the necessary consequence of reducing CIA and FBI, to stifle all criticism of deterioration of the industrial plant. every individual's sphere of action to his government policy and of the nuclear Episcopal Increasing numbers of tax dollars are private life, or forcing him into an energy industry — in other words, to the spent further to spy on, harass, and abolish all now protected

of egocentric struggle for his personal imprison U.S. taxpayers who believe survival. . . . Besides the censorship by the Constitution. that good citizenship means calling this sustained by him, his regime created Ted Kennedy in the Senate, and Archives mania into question. something worse: the habit of self- Robert Drinan in the House, both of In short, we are being taxed to buy an censorship and spiritual atrophy (italics whom have credentials as Democratic 2020. extravagant military establishment (the mine) which has condemned Spaniards liberals, are pushing a new version of largest in the world) which we neither to practice the elusive art of reading the criminal code reform act. This is a need nor want nor can afford, and when between the lines, of having always to descendent of the infamous "S.I" Copyright we question these assumptions, that present a censor with the monstrous introduced into Congress several years power is directed to compel our silence power of wounding them." ago as a part of the massive Nixon and pacification. Our tax dollars are People of my parents' generation assault on the civil liberties of turned on us. watched this process, the loss of the Americans. The present bill, S.1437, To accomplish all of this a certain civic virtues under the pressure of the would define laws of general numbness is required on both sides. The menace of imaginary foes, as good applicability which, in the opinion of Germans became privatized and left to some observers, could permit criminals the field of political action. prosecution without proving an People of my parents' generation said underlying crime. It could effectively The Rev. John M. Gessell is professor of prevent citizens from seeking judicial Christian ethics at the School of Theology, "It can't happen here." University of the South, Sewanee. But the cunning of history is such that redress of grievances and the disclosure of information. It would severely concerted and patterned attacks on that such persons are security risks and restrict First and Fourth amendment First and Fourth Amendment should be deprived of their civil rights. It could be used as a legal base to guarantees. He detailed the Court's liberties. All of this is to say that private inhibit criticism or dissent. In short, it inconsistency in applying precedents, enterprise, which has almost no would move us further toward a police depending on the parties to a case, with requirement for public accountability, state. the effect of dismantling the Warren has now assumed the right to make Even without some version of such Court's procedural protections both for public policy. restrictive legislation, some of the criminal defendants and for press Must we choose between a free Supreme Court's 1978 decisions suggest freedoms. As we all know, protection of society and the nuclear industry? If so, that the present ominous drift to the the rights of the press and of the accused then we must teach ourselves to protect right has already created basic is the bedrock of the protections our freedoms by developing benign constitutional changes in traditional afforded to all citizens under our energy resources and a nuclear-free American civil liberties. In Gannett vs. Constitution. economy. Will loyalty to the nuclear publication. DePasquale the court's decision permits An attack on civil liberties is industry be a test of employment and of and secret trials and shows insensitivity to becoming apparent in the controversies loyalty to the nation? If so, U.S. taxes the public's legitimate right to know surrounding the use of nuclear power. are supporting an industry which makes reuse what goes on. Under this ruling the Since Three Mile Island, the industry the weapons for the Defense for Watergate burglars could have been has become more aggressive and less Department, which in turn will use tried in secret, and it would never have thoughtful. Instead of responding to those weapons to protect itself and the important critical judgments on nuclear industry from citizens who criticize required been disclosed that they were acting under higher orders. energy, it has chosen bluff and public them. tantrums. GE and Westinghouse, for Rakas vs. Illinois permits police Liberties Inseparable search of passengers in an automobile example, have demanded additional Permission without cause, further restricting the government assistance for resolving the But, as the 17th century English constitutional right of privacy. And in problems associated with nuclear waste Puritans knew, civil and religious

DFMS. disposal. This would require taxpayers

/ Smith vs. Maryland the Court held that liberties are inseparable. The rights of the government can secure lists of to clean up after private industry. conscience in religious matters must be telephone calls without a warrant and Questions concerning the future of upheld by civil authority, and the rights Church without demonstrating probable cause. nuclear power are fateful. But some of conscience must be freely exercised in It could also permit the government to industry spokesmen have treated them both civil and religious matters since read private first-class mail. This ruling as trivial, since they greatly fear the loss both are ultimately inextricable. The Episcopal would have permitted the monitoring of of political and economic control. TMI depressing erosion of our liberties, so the and the resulting rising crescendo of of telephone calls made by Woodward and hardly won by our parents, cannot criticism have badly shaken them. Bernstein in order to discover their continue without a struggle. The struggle ultimately will be carried on by sources of information for their work Industry Counterattacks Archives on the Watergate case. Christians and Jews whose faith in the And so the noose tightens. Public The industry's counter-attack has one God will not permit the violation of 2020. officials may increasingly be protected taken two forms. The first is a clear biblical teachings about the idolatry of from public scrutiny and accountability threat by leaders of the industry, such as power, and about the proper and under the cloak of secrecy for "national Westinghouse's Robert Kirby, that restricted function of the state. Those Copyright security" reasons. They are protected unless the country accedes to their who worship the God of Abraham, from criticism under restrictive and demands they will create a situation of Isaac, and Jacob and of Jesus Christ repressive legislation and novel economic stagnation. The second is the will inevitably find themselves in the Constitutional interpretation, with the implied and explicit assumption that battle against the pretensions of the consequent destruction of civil liberties. the nuclear power industry and the powerful and the inordinate, and Earlier documentation of this national interest are synonymous. against the no-Gods of our time who systematic erosion was made by Thus, anyone who opposes the exercise power for a season. Be it noted, Richard Harris in his dramatic account, industry's policies acts contrary to the however, that religious integrity today Freedom Spent. Recently Sidney Zion national interest and is, indeed, an requires unremitting vigilance in these in an article on the Supreme Court enemy of national security. It is only a matters. The longer the God believers (New York Times Magazine) wrote of short step from there to the declaration put off the struggle the harder it will be.

6 Equal Rights? Amendment The Time is NOW by Joan Howarth

he only barrier to adoption of the around in the next two years, ERA Organization for Women (NOW). publication. TEqual Rights Amendment is less proponents will have to start all over Each year Women's Equality Day is and than a dozen votes scattered between a again at the beginning of the long celebrated on Aug. 26, the anniversary handful of state legislatures. The ERA, process. The ERA has become a back- of the day in 1920 that women's suffrage reuse which simply prohibits discrimination burner issue for many, especially those was passed. When the ERA was first for on the basis of sex, is near the end of the lucky enough to live in ratified states; introduced in 1923 by two Republican arduous Constitutional Amendment but now is the time to re-kindle Senators from Kansas, it was the excitement. proposed 20th Amendment, a natural

required adoption process. It has been passed by both houses of Congress and ratified by There are four distinct prongs to the and just complement to the 19th 35 of the 50 states. It needs only ERA end-stretch strategy. The first is Amendment, women's suffrage. If ratification by three more state good old-fashioned electoral politics. passed today, the ERA would be the Permission legislatures to achieve the required two- Although media attention is focused on 27th Amendment; seven others have thirds of the states. But the deadline for the Reagan-Carter-Anderson been introduced and passed in the

DFMS. ratification by those three states is June campaigns, the key to the ERA will be meantime! But the ERA remains a / 30, 1982, just two years away. the elections for state legislatures in natural, just and unrealized com- Winning the last states has been slow non-ratified states such as Illinois, plement to the right to vote. Church and difficult, in large part because the North Carolina and Florida. Recent This year NOW will celebrate organized right (including in particular votes in those states have fallen just a Women's Equality Day with the Mormon Church) has seized upon few short of adoption. In Illinois for walkathons for the ERA on Saturday, Episcopal opposition to the ERA as a focus for instance, a unique (and constitutionally Aug. 23, in every city where there is a the questionable) state law requires a three- of conservative politics. In spite of the NOW chapter. Any individual or group flood of money and misinformation fifths super-majority for ratification. can participate either by walking and generated by the right-wing opposition The recent vote was 102 in favor of collecting pledges for each mile finished

Archives typified by Phyllis Schlafly who, like ratification to 75 opposed, but it fell or by gathering pledges for other some misguided Paul Revere, issues five votes short. So ERA supporters walkers. Religious banners in ERA 2020. dire warnings about uni-sex toilets, the have decided that "If we can't change marches are particularly significant as a ERA continues to have the support of their votes, it's time to change the counter to the incorrect but widely-held the majority of Americans across the bodies." Money and volunteer time are notion that churches are opposed to the Copyright country. The local legislatures have needed for the pro-ERA candidates ERA. An Episcopal Church Women, been more vulnerable to pressure, who are challenging opposition voters social responsibility, or youth group however. The result has been a series of in all the key states. Those could participate in the walkathon with frustrating near-victories in key states unglamourous state contests could be the support of pledges from other such as Florida, North Carolina and the most important November church members, aided perhaps by Illinois. If those defeats are not turned elections, and the most deserving of sermon references and announcements financial support. during August. The second focus is a Women's The third tactic is organized Joan Howarth, a newly appointed teaching assistant for writing at Stanford University Equality Day campaign that is being economic pressure. NOW has initiated Law School, is a member of the Board of the organized in every city or region where a boycott of the 13 unratified states. Episcopal Church Publishing Company. there is a chapter of the National Hundreds of organizations (including the Episcopal Church Publishing Company, publishers of THE WITNESS and the Church and Society Newsletter), have made a public commitment not to travel into unratified territory for any conferences or meetings. Unfortunately the Episcopal Church General Convention has chosen to ignore the boycott and is planning to hold the next Convention in Louisiana (New Orleans), an unratified state. Those of us who are outraged by that decision should remember that our publication. anger does not help the ERA until we and use it. Letters should be sent to the church leadership of the Episcopal reuse Church as well as other church bodies, for requesting that the passage of the Equal again. The best way to avoid having to again in 1982 and finally win with the Rights Amendment be assigned a high make ERA donations for the next 10, help of a generation of younger sisters required priority, with funds apportioned, as an 15, or 20 years is to make sure the and brothers, nieces and nephews, urgent social issue. amendment is adopted by 1982. The children, or grandchildren. Contact The fourth prong is the most ERA is such a necessary, fundamental ERA groups in your area, or the NOW predictable: the campaign needs money. step that the United States will adopt it

Permission ERA Strike Force, 425 13th St., N.W., Even if you've given money before (and sometime. The only question is whether #1048, Washington, D.C., 20004. (202) especially if you haven't), it's needed proponents will have to start all over 347-2279. • DFMS. / Church Episcopal the Witness at the Pentagon of by Kay Atwater Archives

2020. he Pentagon has 32 elevators and employees, not noticed by the robot- establishment has grown. Tescalators, 685 drinking fountains like young guide who conducts the Our small band represented the and 85,000 light fixtures. But they go visitors' tour several times a day. Colorado-based Center on Law and Copyright nowhere, quench no thirst, illuminate In the spring I had the opportunity to Pacifism, a legal support group for tax nothing. The miles of telephone wires, participate in the year-long witness for refusal and other forms of civil some 100,000 of them, convey no peace at the Pentagon. The Jonah disobedience. Each group comes for the messages of caring. Nor do the huge House Community of Baltimore has better part of a week, those who can. pillars in the building symbolize a solid signed up more than 50 peace and Hospitality is provided by the Episcopal foundation. In fact, it has recently been justice groups from all over the country Church of St. Stephen and the discovered that the whole structure is to make their individual witnesses in the Incarnation, in Washington, D.C., with slowly sinking into the mud upon which public areas of the huge building, with a member of the Jonah House it rests. There are cracks in the floor signs, leaflets and demonstrations of Community present as host and filled in with wax and glossed over by protest against the overwhelming coordinator. several of the Pentagon's 26,000 proportions to which the military Seven of us arrived in two cars on a drizzly gray morning in April. Before broken and held aloft. Imagine war taxes. Other groups have used walking to the Pentagon, we paused in someone leaving a communion service blood also, or fire, these two elements the north parking lot, formed a close in the Pentagon chapel and immediately being powerful symbols of death and circle with our arms around each other going to a desk to work on orders for violence. We believe that this and our heads bowed, silently gathering nuclear warheads. continuing presence works at an strength from each other and from the Looking at that painting (for we were unconscious level, just as do the huge Lord of Life. not allowed to visit the actual chapel), I pillars, the shiny hallways, and efficient- I wanted the whole experience to be was overcome with burning tears for the looking uniformed staff. behind me as soon as possible, so shame and outrage I felt. This seemed The Jonah House Community is something other than my own will unpardonable idolatry, but I felt planning to invite all participating seemed to be moving my feet up the long helpless to cry out against it. I was groups back for a year's end roundup at curved ramp to the visitors' entrance. inhibited, however, by the presence of the Pentagon during the week between We signed up for the guided tour, along the other people on the guided tour, and Christmas and New Year's. On the publication. with a dozen or so tourists. also of the two armed guards that Feast of the Innocents, children and the and accompanied our group. Whether we unborn will be remembered and The tour was routed to show off the were spotted as possible protesters at celebrated, and as last year, many reuse many collections of paintings and the time we signed up for the tour, or children will participate in that for photographs, model ships and planes, later on, it became quite obvious that demonstration. • weaponry and gear that most citizens they were watching our movements closely. Indeed, one of them stayed with required seem to relate to. Generals and admirals were in oils or photos, and there were us after the tour ended and watched our Images other pictures of battlefield scenes, demonstration in the concourse. As we Of Intercommunion edited to portray the heroism without left the Pentagon we all shook his hand Permission and some said, "See you tomorrow!" ft was a new time, the horror. Lastly, we passed through a yet nothing was new. hall where the state flags were hanging, Our demonstration in the Pentagon's Wayfarers, DFMS.

/ along with the early versions of the stars concourse gave the guards nothing to be we already shared and stripes. Lest the visitors get any alarmed about. We handed out to the earth, we shared a seditious notions, I suppose, the 13-star passersby about 500 copies of a tax second birth. Church flag of the American Revolution was refuser's conscience statement. We took We shared our thoughts, and we shared You, our Lord. either missing or carefully placed so it turns holding aloft a large homemade would seldom be noticed. People in the sign that read "Love Your Enemy." One day in one place Episcopal group, of course, were most interested Whenever someone paused to engage us from one table, You the nourished us. of in seeing their own state flags, thus in conversation, we told them our story One congregation falling into the obvious trap of and found out where they stood with that moment took your identifying themselves and their states regard to supporting the military. Of given life. Archives with the "total national effort." course, they were overwhelmingly loyal to the Pentagon, because they worked The bread remembered 2020. To me, the most obscene and there. Most said they didn't think much lies as a live coal on my tongue. disturbing painting hung in a stair well, about the implications of their work. Expecting pain, I depicting a chapel altar, complete with Some told us what a "nice" group we sense the cool suffusion Copyright cross and Bible. It is well known that were compared to another group who of a balm. established religion gives its blessing to had aroused some shouting and jeering the affairs of state. The military chapel, the week before we were there. In every My eyes contemplate a land where light leaves however, is so incomprehensible, so case, people responded to our sincerity no shadow. irrational and offensive. I wondered as I and friendliness in positive, courteous That land is our home looked at that picture whether the ways. in this new time when Bibles in the chapel had been edited to Perhaps they didn't realize that we images suit the philosophy of nationalism and were warming them up for the next are afterthoughts as well as prophecies. enmity, of violence and retaliation. I day's demonstration, which included wondered whether they know what is the pouring of blood on dollar bills, —Joanne Droppers really happening when the bread is symbolizing the blood money paid in

9 Iran: A View From the Ghetto

egardless of coming events in the unfolding fate of the American R hostages in Iran — a fate no less precarious because this is a presidential election year in the United States — two perennial themes run through the tragedy. One is the relationship between superpowers and Third World nations — in this case the United States and Iran. The tensions between those nations rating high and those rating low in power and prestige is one of the most volatile and crucial issues confronting the world community in this century. publication. The second theme bears on the first. One of the dramatic novelties spawned and by this tension between nations is civilian improvisation on the ancient art of international diplomacy. The failure of nation-to-nation negotiations is giving reuse rise to people-to-people contacts and conversations. We saw this in Vietnam. for Now we see it in Iran. These two factors provided the setting when Paul Washington, the rector of required a parish in the heart of North Philadelphia's black ghetto, went to Iran in June as part of a delegation of 10 Americans, headed by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark. The group attended an international conference on Iranian Permission grievances against the United States. The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, on which Washington served for some years, passed a resolution DFMS.

/ noting that he is known for his committed dedication to human rights and human welfare, and expressed its "appreciation and concern for his sincere

Church efforts in the cause of justice and peace." The resolution further noted that such efforts "often require both individuals and groups to test existing regulations."

Episcopal Robert L. DeWitt, editor of THE WITNESS, interviewed Paul Washington the Paul Washington upon his return, as follows. of

Archives Paul, did you feel there was any special value in your being a macrocosm. We are a domestic colony being treated with part of that deputation to Iran? equal brutality, equal exploitation, equal dehumanization, 2020. Being an American of African descent, I was gratified at and with equal fatality, in the same way that neo- that international conference to hear others witnessing as colonialism and imperialism have exercised on the people of nations to an evil which people of my race have suffered for Iran and other nations of Africa, South America, Southeast Copyright more than three centuries. Within minutes after entering the Asia and the Middle East. hall where the convention was held, I was accosted by a What we hear, therefore, is that the oppressed and reporter who expressed great surprise in discovering that we exploited people and nations of the world are finally were present, despite warnings that for making the trip we realizing that slavery is incompatible with the life of freedom might be prosecuted upon returning home. And the very to which God has called us. Whenever we hear people next subject he brought up was Miami, where three weeks saying, out of their soul and spirit: earlier there had been a human explosion by thousands of "Before I'll be a slave blacks because four white policemen had been found I'll be buried in my grave, innocent in their trial for beating a black man to death. And go home to my Lord and be free," Blacks in America have recognized that the ghettos in which whenever we see a struggling people fighting with the we and other ethnic minorities live are but a microcosm of a determination that they shall overcome, it tells me that they

10 are rising to the fullness of stature to which God has called comprehend a whole lot more than we were getting from the them. press. And also that the American people needed to know more than what the press was giving to the country. Would that be a general perception on the part of the black community in the United States? What do you think the Iranians are trying to say by holding I don't think so. I find people with various levels of the hostages? What are they trying to communicate to the enlightenment in the ghetto. The sophisticated activists see a U.S. and to the world? real relationship between what is happening in the black I heard the Iranian Foreign Minister, Sadegh ghettos and what is happening in Third World nations. But I Ghotbzadeh, say that perhaps the first expression of power don't think there are a whole lot of people, even among and strength of any people — or of any person — is the blacks, who see the connection. With them it is more an power to say "no." I immediately thought of the baby who unreflective reaction of sympathy. The kinds of things that won't open its mouth when one is trying to feed it. Babies are happening not only in Iran but throughout the Third don't yet quite know how to say "yes" because they don't publication. World immediately strike a sympathetic note with blacks trust themselves — they don't know what to say "yes" to. But and who feel oppression in their ghettos. They may not be here is an opportunity to say "no" and to make the sophisticated enough to explain it fully, but when reference superpowers of the world mad. And this is the first reuse is made to oppression being perpetrated by the United expression of power of this exploited people who have just for States on others, blacks feel at one with them. gone through a revolution.

But what of their feelings about the hostages, as people? Are required How about the reactions of whites? With whites it can be quite different. I was recently on a they outraged at them, or do they feel sorry for them as talk show on a station in Chicago. A young white woman innocent pawns? called in, angry because Ramsey Clark said he understood From those to whom I spoke it was almost unanimous Permission why the hostages were taken. I responded that I could that they thought there should be trials. Some seemed to feel understand why black people exploded in Dade County, that perhaps only three could be found guilty on the basis of

DFMS. Florida. She said: "Now, Father Washington, don't mix the evidence, and that the trials would probably lead to the / apples and oranges!" I replied that they are not apples and release of most of them. But they felt the trials should be oranges, only that one happens to be domestic and the other held. Church happens to be foreign. To me they are one and the same. But, The politicians — the President, the Foreign Minister — no, I don't think many people see it as I do, including black and some who are looking beyond this present crisis to people. future relations with the United States, do not feel it is in the Episcopal best Iranian interests to hold the trials. They are politically the

of One of the questions asked of those who make a trip like sensitive. But the Ayatollah Khomeini — who doesn't care yours is how one can become an instant expert on a very that much about how Americans feel — for him it is a part of complicated situation. Four days in a land where you have their religion. And I think that represents the majority view.

Archives never been, amongst people you have never seen before, who speak a language you don't understand—what makes you 2020. trust your impressions of those four days? What is there about the Islamic religion which predisposes Some years ago my wife and I were going back and forth them this way? to Liberia where I served as a missionary for six and a half Essentially it is their concept of the process of justice. For Copyright years. On our last trip home we landed at the airport in Islam, this tends to be a retributive kind of justice, at times Madrid and were greeted by signs all over the place: seeming like "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" attitude. Americans, go home. We expected to encounter a great deal If one has committed a sin, one must suffer the penalty. And of hostility. Yet on walks in the park in the city of Madrid we their point about justice cannot be lightly dismissed. A pro- were overwhelmed with the affection shown us, and Iranian demonstration at City Hall in Philadelphia recently particularly to our children. I got the feeling that the people- displayed two signs. One said: "Why Americans are angry: to-people relationship can be quite different from the 100 days held hostage by Iranians." The other said: "Why government-to-government relationship. In Iran we Iranians are angry: 25 years under torture by the Shah recognized from the beginning that this was to be, as far as supported by the U.S.A." possible, a people-to-people visit. Understanding a language But their religion has deep implications for their self- was not so much the question. We felt we would be able to understanding as well. They are people ready to be martyred

11 for what they feel is justice. The Ayatollah is a man revered A woman who was recently in Iran told of sitting in by Iranians as one who speaks for God. And he has told President Bani-Sadr's office as he told how Iran was feeling them: "We must not care about embargoes nor fighter the squeeze of economic pressures and of foreign agents still planes nor tanks nor guns. We will be martyrs. We will running free in his country. She said that as he was speaking accept as much death as America is ready to give, and we will she could almost hear the same words coming from overcome, and America and all who are imperialistic will Salvadore Allende of Chile, who was slain by a U.S. coup. fail." When one no longer fears death, one is finally free. Yes, intervention has been a way of life in international Getting tough over the issue of freeing the hostages will be as relations; but it is now intensified by a new monster on the successful as Rockefeller was in freeing the hostages at scene, the multinational corporations. When the Shah Attica. I feel that if Carter seriously entertained the idea of needed more money to buy sophisticated military planes, it getting tough, and put more aircraft carriers in the Persian is reported that Kissinger suggested he raise the price of oil. Gulf, that Iran would survive, and America would lose its And that led to the gasoline lines a few years ago. This is how soul. The whole issue of trying the hostages is therefore not complicated it all gets. publication. finally a political question for them. It is a religious

and question. In the light of such an unmanageable situation, and the governmental and corporate power behind it all, what do reuse Given both the delicacy and the complicated nature of the you see as the practical value of such a venture as you were for situation, what stance did your deputation take on the part of? hostage question? The Iranian officials know international law, and the

required At every opportunity I pressed the feeling I have that the realities of international relations, better than you or I. They matter of the hostages has become a preoccupation for know they cannot bring the Shah to justice. Further, they them. I told them that their revolution will not be able to know the chances are next to nothing of getting back the move on because of this bottleneck which prevents their money with which he absconded. About all that leaves is an Permission dealing with other pressing things which need to be done. apology from the highest level possible, an apology for the Foreign Minister Ghotbzadeh said to me in private, "You U.S. role in the disasters which have been visited upon Iran.

DFMS. don't have to tell me we are preoccupied — I know we are!" / Ramsey Clark also came on strong on this issue in his remarks to the Conference. In fact, that is why he made that But is it possible for a government to apologize? Isn't it Church offer personally to take the place of one of the hostages if something which in the official language of diplomacy is that would help resolve the crisis. In one of our strategy never done? caucuses there, our whole group had said to him, "Ramsey, That is usually true, although Washington has a way of Episcopal don't say you are going to offer yourself in place of one of the turning diplomatic phrases, like terming an utter failure "an the

of hostages." We felt it would be tactically unproductive. He incomplete success." And, as someone said recently, this listened carefully to our reasons, but as he was closing his country expressed regret to Russia in the early '60s after the address, he made that offer. And I think he was very sincere. U-2 incident, to Cambodia after the Mayaguez incident, and

Archives (See Ramsey Clark's statement elsewhere in this issue. — to Israel just a few months ago after that highly publicized Ed.) U.N. vote. An apology on an official level would not be 2020. entirely new. What is your opinion of the extensive U.S. intervention in But, failing that, I do think there is real possibility in a Iran over the past several years? people-to-people communication. I heard Iranians draw a Copyright Probably all nations want allies strategically located in distinction between governments and people. An idea in its various parts of the world which can provide them with infancy, but which is being discussed and might prove resources they need — and will take any measures necessary possible, would be the issuance of a letter from the U.S. to get them. I suppose that intervention — covert as well as people, and, with the massive support of groups across the overt — has therefore always been a way of life in country getting signatures, to make this a significant international affairs. I recall my early impressions of the TV response to the need for an apology. Particularly if the series, "Mission Impossible." It was depicting the method of support is strong from religious groups. operation of C.I.A.-type efforts in international affairs — intrigue, murder, overthrowing governments, installing a Why religious groups? new regime. I have come to realize there was more fact than Someone was saying recently that because of the strong fiction in those stories. religious dimension of Iranian life there is a peculiarly

12 appropriate dynamic in initiatives by religious groups. In a and particularly of the three clergy — "What are you doing, measure church groups were a vanguard in the Vietnamese going over there interfering in something that the State situation, as well as in the . It might be Department ought to be dealing with?" Yet, to me, God's equally or more so in the Iranian context. intervention in the oppression of the Children of Israel was a political intervention. God intervened in the affairs of an True, there are those in this country who see that kind of oppressed people to deliver them from bondage. And if God initiative as "meddling in politics." People have raised the did that, then that is where we ought to be, and that is what question with the deputation of 10 of which I was a part — we ought to be doing. •

publication. Statement in Tehran: and

reuse 'Dialogue Makes for Everything Possible' required by Ramsey Clark Permission irst I would like to thank Imam We're here because we believe a new you can understand that special DFMS. / FKhomeini for his vision in calling beginning is imperative and that people anguish. But I must confirm several this conference together, and next to to people conferences like this make items of the U.S. intervention. Of thank President Bani-Sadr for the dialogue possible, and dialogue makes course the United States of America Church excellent leadership he has provided in everything possible. helped return the Shah to the throne. Of bringing such splendid delegations from The Iranian Revolution against course President Carter phoned the so many parts of the earth to Tehran at dictatorship, against imperialism, Shah of Iran from the U.S. in Episcopal this difficult time. Most of all I would against intervention has prevailed. It is September of 1978 on the Saturday the like to thank all of the people of Iran for of a miracle that an unarmed people could following Black Friday with the blood their openness, their generosity and overthrow a dictator with such of martyrs still covering Jaleh Square their compassion in inviting 10 private staggeringly huge armies, fully here in Tehran and said, "We support

Archives American citizens to this conference. It equipped with more tanks than the you." Of course the U.S. staged a shows that the people understand the British army, with more American- military expedition and assault on the 2020. difference between the people and the made jet aircraft, F-14's, F-16's, F-18's, sovereign territory of Iran in April of government. If we ever fail to F-lll's in possession or on order than 1980, and of course that raid would understand that, we must abandon our any nation on earth except the United have killed the very hostages that it Copyright hope. States itself. They struggled against a claimed it was intended to save had it Ours is a good delegation; it's a cross- Shah that from 1972 till 1978 purchased reached Tehran. Of course the U.S. section from coast to coast, it represents more than $19 billion worth of material leadership still clings to the idea that it our religious faiths, our men and to kill people and to control their own, can control the governments and the women, our blacks and our whites, our and against all of the force and the destinies of other people; read the words academics, our lawyers. We're here to cruelty and the cunning of the SAVAK, of President Carter from Washington learn, to grow, to talk with as many of as violent and unscrupulous a secret this week on the possibility of military you as time allows, to carry home the police as ever existed. The people, by interventions. Of course the Shah messages that you can give us, to carry human will, by unity, overcame. should have been tried for his crimes. Is home the searing truth that has been The U.S. role in Iran is for me terribly there to be a man above the law? And of presented of U.S. transgressions in Iran. painful. I'm sure as fellow human beings course the hundreds of millions and

13 billions of dollars in wealth ripped from the bodies and the backs and the sweat and the broken bones of the people of Iran should be returned to Iran for the benefit of families of the martyrs and the poor and the elderly and all those that need. I must say something about lessons of all this for the people of the United States. There are two main lessons. The United States has violated every principle for which the U.S. government claims to have been created publication. by its own people. Our constitution and stands for freedom, yet our government has supported dictatorship of the most reuse oppressive types. Our government and for constitution stand for democracy, for the self-determination of people, yet we

required supported through our government a police state in Iran that stripped the freedoms and the rights of millions of people and left 70,000 martyrs. Our Permission government, our constitution purports to stand for human dignity, yet we DFMS.

/ supported a police state and a SAVAK that killed, maimed and tortured. God help us. But the second lesson to be Church learned is that this policy of the United States that violated every principle on which its own government was founded Episcopal is doomed to failure, and you must help the

of show the American people that that Tehran Caucus policy can not prevail. It is impossible to subjugate a people, as brave Iran has Archives shown. future. We must stop intervention. We As a citizen of the United States I Now, all that I say here I have said all cannot go on like this. Look at the U.S. should remind you that we did not 2020. over the United States many times for record: Vietnam — I cry about invent intervention. Before Columbus many years, and I hope you will Vietnam, that beautiful land and those sailed the Atlantic there was understand that I would not travel half beautiful people and a million casualties intervention. We heard Said Sanjabi, Copyright way around the world to criticize my and the rolling thunder of bombings the brilliant young Iranian, describe government in any way that I have not and the burnings of forests and villages; British intervention here in Iran in the on its own soil, in far more vigorous Cuba and our policies toward Cuba; '20s and 30s. You need only think of the terms, with far more extensive facts than and how we finally neighboring country of Afghanistan what I have put forth here today. Like supported Somoza, a Shah in that and the lives of the people in Albert Camus, I would like to be able to country; armed interventions in Afghanistan today to know that love my country and still love my Lebanon; Salvador Allende of Chile intervention is not unique to the United government, so perhaps this is only my and those who plotted his murder, and States and that all interventions must be small way of struggling for justice in and the fear and the death among the people stopped. by my country so that I can love it. But under the Pinochet government; the What can we do? Dare we create a now the official need is to look to the under Marcos. court of international justice? An

14 international court of criminal justice is But finally, I want to talk as a citizen Henry Kissinger, and ? essential to the survival of our species. of the United States, as a human being, Who are these 53 little people? The We can become the first in history to to each of you about the hostages. I was effect of holding these 53 little people is destroy ourselves. If there were an in Iran three times last year after the to provide an excuse for the powers of international court of criminal justice Shah left before the hostages were intervention. What is the excuse for today, the Shah would be tried. Is this taken. I would have come and will come those fleets in the Persian Gulf, and how so impossible that we can't think of it? many more times to see the fulfillment long would they remain if this issue of Many men have dreamed of it for years. of this revolution, so I ask you to hear hostages were removed? The holding of I feel that we have to act, we have to me. The hostage issue measures the hostages provides an excuse to the believe, we have to stretch our perhaps, what is possible in the future. real enemies of Iran, to the real imaginations and create an Iran has shown us what power its moral imperialists. international court of criminal justice. force holds, how through its people it The effect of holding the hostages is We need to create an international court overthrew this army of the Shah, this to increase the arms race. The total publication. of habeus corpus that can have a long, SAVAK. of the Shah. We need defense budget of the United States is and long arm that can reach prisons courageous and visionary leadership going up 7% to 8% this year. That is a anywhere and liberate prisoners of tragedy not just to the poor people of reuse continents who live in tyranny. Let's the United States. Yes, we have poor for dare to do it. people, millions living in urban We also need desperately to address poverty—minorities, overwhelming

required the superpowers and all nuclear powers numbers of Chicanos, and beautiful on ^immediately dismantling nuclear Mexican people, the blacks, and all that arms. It must be done now. As St. money going into arms so that the Thomas Aquinas, in my Christian faith, multinationals can dominate countries. Permission told us many centuries ago: "War is We shouldn't act to encourage that sort inevitable among nations not governed of thing. This holding of hostages

DFMS. impairs diplomacy among nations. We

/ by sovereign law." As it was then so it is now, and that's why these people-to- need diplomacy among nations until we people conferences are essential, have the things that can prevent Church because governments will be afraid to intervention and imperialism for all act. Only the people can save times, for all people. The hostages are themselves. the wrong people. I agree with several Episcopal We must address quickly the new speakers of this morning and afternoon the before me who urged a prompt of imperialism, the vast imperialism, the cruel imperialism of the multinational resolution of the hostage crisis because corporations that love money, wealth there are these real risks to it. The risk of Archives and power, and care nothing for intervention and violence with terrible children who are suffering, nor for cost to Iran in the fulfillment of its 2020. humanity. Their power is immense. now to create a new world of peace and revolution and finally the question of Single corporations with budgets freedom and dignity, and again the morality. exceeding the budgets of most nations people of Iran and the government of As an individual human being I am so Copyright on earth, dominating our lives as Iran can lead. Taking hostages sure that I am right in this, so sure that it though we were players on a chess uninvolved in specific offenses for is imperative that the hostages be board. We'll be the masters of change or which you are concerned cannot be released now. It is so important to the the victims of change. We must come to justified in a country that wants to live fulfillment of the Iranian revolution grips with this terrible problem of the in peace. which it is damaging in a hundred ways. imperialism of corporate wealth The seizure of the hostages here is It is so important to the individual quickly. Further the Universal understandable in human terms. God justice and right of the hostages, and it is Declaration of Human Rights and insist knows it is understandable, but it is not so important to peace on earth, that I upon its fulfillment. Be outraged by right. Of course it is not right, for where offer today to take the place of any transgression of any human right of any is Alan Dulles, where is Kermit hostage if that would help resolve this human being in any nation on earth. Roosevelt, where is Richard Helms, tragic crisis. •

15 Part 3 of a Series publication. That no one has taken responsibility for and the accident is one of the most important lessons

reuse to be learned from TMI, since the majority for of U.S. citizens now lives less than 50 miles from a nuclear power plant. required

Permission TMI: Who Is Responsible? DFMS. / by Lockwood Hoehl Church

Episcopal he nuclear power industry claims than the nuclear industry's insensitivity. It is not too soon, then, to be thinking the no one died as a result of the It shows that the accident set off a chain about the next time. Nuclear of T accident at Three Mile Island's Nuclear of events that deeply affected lives in proponents say the accident taught Generating Station on 28, 1979. ways we will never know. And lessons that will make nuclear power

Archives Yet Karen Kestetter, a resident of frequently those effects occurred so far safer. But, we can also learn where nearby Middletown, Pa., knows from the accident itself that no one will responsibility for the accident lies—just 2020. differently. ever have to bear moral or economic to understand and be ready for the next Her neighbor, a young mother, had responsibility for them. time. evacuated Middletown with her two Before the accident at TMI, the The nuclear power industry and the Copyright children. On the road between nuclear industry proclaimed proudly Federal government were way ahead of Middletown and the Maryland border that there had not been a major accident the public in anticipating an accident they were involved in a car crash. The in 400 reactor years (the total amount of and economic responsibility for it. In mother was badly injured, and one of time all U.S. commercial reactors had 1957, Congress enacted the Price- her children escaped unharmed. But her been in operation). By implication, can Anderson Act to limit an operating 2-year-old son was killed. we expect another TMI-like accident in utility's liability for damages from any That little boy's death reveals more the next 400 reactor years, or about six one nuclear plant accident to a $560 calendar years? Many nuclear critics million ceiling. believe, in fact, that the question is not The Act also provides that costs for Lockwood Hoehl is a free lance writer and will there be another accident, but when investigating and settling claims, and photographer who lives in Pittsburgh. will it occur? for settling lawsuits would come off the

16 top. Therefore, if damages exceeded the sent the motel's business plummeting. Ed, which lately include an additional limit, the victims would receive only a "No one wants to stay in the Central $3.70 per month—their share of Met proportionate share of their actual Pennsylvania area now," Mrs. Grieger Ed's recent $56.4 million annual rate losses. By today's standards, (and says. increase needed to pay for replacement probably by 1957's also) $560 million is And the accident has cost her more power purchased from other utilities. grossly insufficient. On the other hand, than business. When the Griegers On a much larger scale, the accident incidentally, the Price-Anderson Act evacuated on March 30, 1979, the police also had an impact on the Bethlehem plainly belies industry claims of nuclear told them to turn off all utilities. When Steel mill, north of TMI in Steelton. power's safety. they turned off their heating boiler— Because the mill is just outside the But even if there were not this ceiling, installed less than two years before at a "critical" five-mile radius from TMI, it how far does a utility company's cost of $4800—it was irreparably continued operating during the accident liability for damages extend? It seems damaged. The Griegers and the boiler and did not have a general evacuation of likely it would be liable if, during an manufacturer split the replacement its 3500 workers. publication. accident, a chunk of its building struck a cost. The Griegers' share was $1500. Instead, Bethlehem permitted

and passing car and killed the driver. But is a Where should responsibility be workers to take off as much time as they utility liable for death or injuries placed? Was the boiler improperly felt they needed, either without pay or reuse resulting from an automobile crash constructed or installed? Did the using vacation time. Some took just for involving citizens escaping a nuclear Griegers fail to follow operating enough time to evacuate their families accident? A similar case is less tragic, instructions? Was it necessary to turn and then returned. Some left the area but raises the same question. off utilities, as the police said? Or does for several days until the danger required Mrs. Paul Grieger says she knew responsibility fall on Metropolitan subsided. Many took no time off at all. about the atom when she "was 16 and in Edison, operator of TMI, whose errant A Bethlehem Steel spokesperson school, and I feared it then." Now she is Unit 2 reactor initiated the unlikely could not give a precise figure for Permission 65 and her fear has not changed. sequence of events? absenteeism, but called it "considerable Mrs. Grieger and her husband own Possibly, the Griegers could clear the for some days, probably 20 to 30% for

DFMS. confusion and seek compensation by any specific shift. We were running

/ and operate the Regal Motel between Middletown and Harrisburg, about six going to court. But is it worth it? three shifts a day." Operations were miles north of TMI. The TMI accident Probably not. They will just keep "maintained," but output was not up to Church legitimated her fear of the atom: it has paying their high electricity bills to Met capacity. Calculating the mill's losses due to the accident would be an enormous task, Episcopal and most likely impossible. Not so for the

of the workers, whose lost work and vacation time, plus expenses for evacuating, can be calculated in each

Archives uncompensated pocketbook. Fortunately, the TMI accident did 2020. not release enough radiation to contaminate Bethlehem's Steelton mill. Had it been forced to close, it would Copyright have left—at the very minimum—3500 unemployed workers and millions of dollars in capital losses. Workers who own homes and property in the TMI area would have been hit triply hard by a large release of radiation. Not only would they have lost their jobs and have had to leave their homes, but they also would have been unable to recover property losses from their insurance companies.

17 Homeowner's insurance does not cover Catholic church. How deeply did she Often overlooked are the workers at radiation damage. As consider leaving the area? Three Mile Island, who stayed to bring pointed out in a recent newsletter, "Not "I didn't question that I should the plant under control. Many of them a single firm from Lloyd's of London to evacuate until after it was over," she say they were just doing their jobs, and the great rock of Prudential will issue says. "Then, two people said things to that they did not think they were in any private property insurance me like 'You, who are a Christian, danger. Regardless of motive, they protection due to nuclear accidents. should have stayed to help the poor and fulfilled their responsibilities to their And they told the nuclear power elderly.' But, I don't feel guilty about community. industry as early as the fifties that they leaving. My three kids were my first During the evacuation, as in everyday were unwilling at any price to provide responsibility." life, the burden of responsibility fell on a coverage for full losses due to a Marge Clement was not alone in her few shoulders, and there it remained. radiation accident." decision. One clergyperson told how his The Rev. Howard B. Kishpaugh, pastor A lot of attention has been paid to friends and parishioners who are of All Saints Episcopal Church in publication. speculation about the physical, genetic, doctors, nurses, clergy colleagues and Hershey, says he was the "resident

and and ecological effects of TMI's released other professionals, evacuated during pastor" to 50 evacuees at the Red Cross radiation, and not enough attention to the accident. He was so angry that they shelter in the Hershey Sports Arena. reuse these other tangible and identifiable neglected what he thought were their "I was the only member of the clergy for effects. The public does not seem to responsibilities that it took him months who was there," he says. "Generally, I grasp the idea of genetic mutation in to make peace with them. arrived at5or6A.M.andI put them to some unknown future as well as it does Many immobile and helpless people bed around 12 o'clock at night. That required the reality of damaged boilers, lost work were left behind. Care for those in went on for about eight days." and vacation time, and dead little boys. institutions—hospitals, nursing homes, Why did the responsibility for It is also easier to think about prisons—deteriorated as frightened and ministering to so many become the Permission responsibility for an effect of the mobile citizens evacuated. work of only one? accident that is experienced here and William C. Mielke, pastor of Olivet Pastor Mielke suggests, in his article

DFMS. now, and to understand the hard fact Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, mentioned above, that citizens in the / that no one has taken responsibility and opened and managed for the Red Cross rest of the country should at least have probably never will. That is one of the an emergency shelter in nearby taken the responsibility of sending Church most important lessons to learn from Hershey. He believes the slow exodus of reinforcements for the community TMI, because the majority of U.S. evacuees created an unexpected leaders and volunteers who were burnt citizens now live less than 50 miles from difficulty. out from the pressure of conducting the Episcopal a nuclear power plant. "Probably as people dribbled out of evacuation. the In thinking about the effects of a the area," Mielke wrote in The "So far as I can figure out, the rest of of nuclear plant accident, each caring Christian Century, "the potential the nation was also transfixed by this person is called upon to consider also evacuation problem for the rest of the nuclear terror god," he writes. "Did

Archives her or his moral responsibility to the community increased rather than anyone consider that even under the community. Again, Three Mile Island decreased." As each person left, at least threat of evacuation, human resources

2020. can inform these considerations. one less body and one less vehicle were in addition to nuclear automatons (i.e., Bad as the accident was, it could have on hand to help those remaining. Had officials and experts sent to TMI) might been much worse. It occurred slowly the condition of TMI worsened, there be needed in Harrisburg? No one Copyright over a period of days, rather than would have been more hard decisions to thought, no one suggested, no one suddenly; but next time it may not. In a make. asked, no one came." warped sense, it can be seen as a dry run. M arge Clement thinks a call for quick But should people who live outside Does a caring, moral person evacuation would have created a triage the Central Pennsylvania region be evacuate, or stay behind to help others situation—which ones are not to be expected to respond in that way? To say escape? saved. "There was a transportation "no" puts the weight of responsibility Marge Clement lives less than 10 problem," she says, "because there for TMI's effects on the victims of the miles north of TMI in Lemoyne. She is weren't enough buses available. So who accident—something the nuclear power an active critic of nuclear power and a was going to get out first—the elderly, industry is already doing quite member of the Social Justice prisoners, kids, the handicapped, the adequately. To say "yes" points toward Committee of St. Theresa's Roman sick?" how Christians should respond next

18 time. And it implies that our Continued from page 2 much more human liberty and justice responsibility continues even now, just theories for a just industrial society were there is. as the accident continues and will first tried in rural agrarian Russia where John Balz continue for up to 10 more years. from a human point of view it has Pittsburgh, Pa. Typically, our image of a disaster- certainly been a disaster and not even torn community is one of cooperation, followed. Responsible Capitalism neighbor helping neighbor, everyone Any society must have capital, To the good, George McClain's article pitching in for the survival of all. The including a Communist society. There makes me uneasy. But what is less good accident at Three Mile Island did not the state is the capitalist. Mr. McClain is that it makes me wonder what the elicit that reaction. In a nutshell, does not seem to see that the article contributes to the mutual up- Communist rulers are the ruling class building of the church. community responsibility collapsed, which control through a dominant and the majority ran—60%, in fact, of To me, the article reads like a religious economic system. talking about the early church using those living within a five-mile radius of publication. It seems to me that the Gospel terms offhandedly of the various TMI. message is, not that the will of God is heresies, not saying what aspect of each and Troubling as that is, it needs to be opposed to capitalism (he is opposed to he is concerned about. From the article understood objectively and without any such ism) but that he is opposed to I'm not certain what is meant by the reuse judging the residents. Then we can also the use made of capital in many areas of terms capitalism and socialism. for ponder the fact that nuclear power in life. I wonder if the church might not our midst has distorted an important, A lot deeper thinking is going to have contribute more by speaking of to be done by Christians on the insights required traditional image of community, and responsible capitalism rather than has created the potential for what of Marxism and its relationship to our muddying the water with the term faith and the analysis of economic Pastor Mielke calls "mass urban socialism. Can there be no responsible systems if we are not to sound like terror." capitalism? When all is said and done, Permission stereotyped, worn out records of the can there be socialism without And to view nuclear power in that 1930s. With all our terrible failings as capitalism? light is a far cry from the way it is citizens in the West and in the United

DFMS. , I think, / described by the nuclear industry—a States, just compare and contrast with should be complimented for advocating benign generator of safe, cheap, clean, those countries of the world where the responsible capitalism. It does balance state holds all the capital and see how Church necessary energy. its editorial pages with intelligent socialist replies. For a good introductory survey into

Episcopal the complexities of socialism I would ask Christians to consider Michael the

of Harrington's book. With today's complex trade arrangements, national and international, and the strong unions

Archives controlling employee wages, does anyone think that America truly has

2020. capitalism? THE WITNESS is a valuable voice in the Episcopal Church. But would this

Copyright voice be less effective if it spoke in more clearly defined limits on the subjects taken on? Douglas Schewe Madison, Wise.

CREDITS Cover, p. 4, Beth Seka; photo, p. 10, Cornell Cooper; cartoon, p. 14, Conrad, ; photo, p. 17, Lock Hoehl; cartoon, p. 19, Milo Hess, courtesy Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy. "Tell me again how we're going to fight city hall."

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