An Open Letter Regarding The Pseudo-Religious Ideology of Racial Purity: An Episcopal and Theological Exhortation

Bishops Are Not Political Pundits

An Episcopal and Theological Exhortation




Bishops are not political pundits. We are equally the pastors to Republicans, Democrats,

Independents, and others. We would not presume to instruct people how to vote. Immigration

policy is a worry for Americans of various perspectives, and politicians should grapple with the

question. However, bishops are teachers of the faith as well shepherds of the souls of our

parishioners. We speak specifically as such.




Donald Trump, our former President, has recently called immigrants ‘vermin,’ and had said

that they ‘poison the blood of our country.’ A clearer example of racism, in this case with an

eugenic edge, one could not find. When the parallels to Nazi rhetoric were pointed out, Trump

claimed he knew no such thing. But then he repeated the very same statements, when he most

certainly was aware of the parallels.




The idea of racial purity is an idol, something false and harmful to which people bind

themselves. As such it presents a corrupt doctrine of the human person, since it is the human

being per se who is ‘in the image of God’ (Genesis 1:26).




Here we do well to note a modern doctrinal tradition which can help to inform us. The fight

against the racialist German Christians led to the insight that acquiescence amounted to allowing

another leader (Fuehrer) over the Church than Christ (see The Barmen Declaration of 1934). Two

generations later, the Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1982 declared at Ottawa that ‘apartheid

is heresy’, for behind it is a ‘pseudo-religious ideology.’ To be sure these examples involve political

movements of greater duration and articulation than we are at present dealing with. But alluding

to these precedents, as we call out such a trend of thought early, is warranted. In the case of the

former President’s repeated statements, the false teaching implied in his statements is the same.

The ancient serpent moves through such words.




And so, in our capacity as bishops, we adjure our flocks to reject this false teaching. We exhort

political leaders to speak up in its condemnation. We invite fellow Christian leaders to cleave to

the Word of God and to separate themselves explicitly from such a thought. Finally, we express

our hope that our nation can, at this juncture, by God’s grace, follow the ‘better angels of our

nature.’




Signed,




The Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield, Bishop Resigned of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas

The Rt. Rev. Mark Cowell, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas

The Rt. Rev. Andy Doyle, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas

The Rt. Rev. Jeff Fisher, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas

The Rt. Rev. Michael Hunn, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande

The Rt. Rev. Fraser Lawton, Assistant Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas

The Rt. Rev. Scott Mayer, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas

The Rt. Rev. Jacob Owensby, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana

The Rt. Rev. Poulson Reed, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma

The Rt. Rev. Kathryn Ryan, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas

The Rt. Rev. Michael Smith, Assistant Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas

The Rt. Rev. George Sumner, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas

Christian Citizenship Means Creating Cities of Non-Discrimination - We Have An Opportunity in Houston

On November 3, 2015 the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) will be on the ballot. I believe Hero reflects the care I would like for our city to demonstrate for every citizen and visitor. HERO will provide an environment free of discrimination based upon sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status/veterans, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender and pregnancy.

As an Episcopalian, I am in a covenant with God that compels me to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.

Not to do so dehumanizes our neighbors and our own self. When we discriminate, we show contempt for the basic tenants of Christianity--that all of us are created by God and so, are special to God. We are reconciled to God through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and discrimination dishonors God’s work.

I pray that the Church might become a community of salt and light where people who are the most vulnerable, hurt and hated by the world might find refuge and experience something of the unconditional love of God that I know.

My vote will reflect my baptismal promises even as I pray that our community be strengthened by the way in which we regard one another and by the decency of our conversation about this important ordinance.

God has chosen solidarity with us so then with whom shall we show solidarity?

Who are Christians to be in solidarity with? And what does solidarity look like?

Hundreds of Baltimore clergy linked arms and took to the streets this week in an effort to restore peace amid the unrest caused by the death in police custody of Freddie Gray, April 19. WBAL reporter Deborah Weiner described the remarkable scene. “These are the church leaders who are putting themselves in harms way to end the violence … they are linked arm-in-arm … one gentleman is in front in a wheelchair.”

This was a sign of solidarity for peace and transformation.

Weiner continued: “I asked the clergy what they thought of the State of Emergency that the Governor declared. They said there has been a State of Emergency way before tonight in Baltimore City, an emergency in poverty, lack of jobs [and] disenfranchisement from the political process.”

In an editorial, The Baltimore Sun called on “the thousands who have already marched in peaceful solidarity with the Gray family’s cause, and the many thousands more who have silently supported them, to take back the movement, to drown out those few who choose chaos over order.”

Gray, a 25-year-old black male, died of spinal cord injuries following his arrest by the Baltimore police department. The city was already in the process of dealing with broken relationships between police and the community in the shadow of allegations of police brutality for years. Statistics show that a black male is four times more likely to be shot by police than a white male in Baltimore. Many people, including good police officers doing their duty, have been injured.

Violence and looting is wrong and unacceptable in any situation, even as a reply to injustice.

But let’s acknowledge that this is not an isolated event. Let acknowledge that this riot, this curfew is about more than one confrontation between police and one man. This event is about more than what happened in Baltimore. This event is more than violent anarchists using a situation. In this day and age that might be a comforting thought.

Too often we tend to be cause-and-effect thinkers when it comes to issues of race and violence. Baltimore Councilman Nick Mosby suggested that racial and societal healing can only happen when we stop narrowly focusing on the latest victim and begin to think more deeply about the way we continue to avoid the hard work of what it means to be a civil society that benefits its people.

I was moved deeply by Mosby's belief that the violence experienced in Baltimore this week is not primarily about Gray’s death, but rather the fruit of decades of growing anger and frustration over a system that has failed the city’s largely black, urban population. The violence and looting are symptoms of much deeper, and systemic issues that leave privileged groups in power and other folk perpetually at a disadvantage.

The social determinants of violence are clear. (See previous post "Prayer for the United States".) Violence is linked intimately to a lack of education and economic opportunity.

We would be naïve to think that society affords all of us the same opportunities. For some people--perhaps even most people--options seem perpetually limited. Some people take one step forward only to find the systems they must deal with day in and day out push them two steps back. This creates a deep sense of anger and frustration, which breeds violence.

The question then becomes--at least for me as bishop--what is the Church’s response? How do we understand our vocation to strive for justice and to respect the dignity of every human being?

How do I understand the gifts I have been afforded and the opportunities I have been given, knowing the reality for many others is not the same. I have to pause before speaking and ponder my place in this conversation. I must address squarely the racism that has benefited me. I must not be afraid to own my opportunities, safety nets and benefits. I can choose to get angry and reject this reality by being defensive. I can chose to ignore it. But what happens if I, as a Christian (Episcopalian and Anglican), chose to live into my baptismal covenant.

First, we must refuse to cast blame, which is an instinctive response to feel more comfortable. Brené Brown defines blame as the discharging of emotional discomfort. By casting blame, we distance ourselves from responsibility and we wrongly assume that nothing we do helped to create the unfair systems. It is what St. Paul called “the powers and principalities” that breed violence, division and a consistent gap in opportunity between whites and non-whites.

If we are blaming someone else for the violence and racism in our world, we are part of the problem, for in blaming we fail to see our deep interconnectedness as human beings and how our behavior and thinking always creates the behavior and thinking of everyone else.

Second, we must work for political change without naively assuming that political change will bring deep healing. We cannot ignore the fact that some policies leave certain groups of people at a perpetual disadvantage. We must be thoughtful about working to bring change to the political arena in a way that does not cast blame or settle for quick-fixes.

Third, we must engage society faithfully around these issues. As James Davison Hunter notes, the Church’s chief task is to be a “faithful presence” in society. Jesus just called it being salt and light. Perhaps this means mentoring a child at an underprivileged school or getting involved in an organization that helps create jobs. But if our presence is to be effective, it will entail personal sacrifice. Perhaps what is so appealing about blaming others and advocating for political solutions doesn’t require us to actually get bruised and bloodied as we work for transformation and change. I don't actually have to get to know someone different than me or care about the things they care about.

The way of Jesus is the way of the cross, with bruises and blood. The measure of our faithfulness as the Body of Christ is never whether we inflict bruises (on whoever we are convinced is to blame) but whether or not we love people enough to receive bruises. Think about it. Jesus’ commitment to the truth didn’t lead to someone else’s death, but rather to his own.

The question then is how are we supposed to die, be uncomfortable, let go of past behaviors so that others might have life and have it abundantly. The mere existence of racism or another’s impoverishment calls us to personal transformation.

Fourth, we must be realistic about the deeper problems that persistently create violence, which is not a lack of education or economic opportunity alone. These are symptoms of the much deeper problem: sin. Sin is what allows me to believe that unity is rooted in skin color and not grace. Sin allows me to think that I am entitled to what I have because I have worked hard. Sin allows me to think that I exist apart from you and that there is such a thing as a “pure victim” apart from Jesus Christ.

As Bishop I am mindful of how deeply sin dwells, not just in society, but in my own heart. But I am also confident and hopeful because I know the power of God’s reconciliation, which for me is not some lofty idea but a theological truth. From a Biblical perspective, it is not so much that we need to be reconciled with one another, as it is that we are reconciled already–with God and with each other–as an act of sheer grace.

God has chosen solidarity with us so then with whom shall we show solidarity?

As Christians, we do not need to bring the Kingdom of God to earth. We just need to wake up to the great theological truth that in Jesus Christ God’s Kingdom is already here. It is a Kingdom that celebrates diversity of every kind. People from “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” are part of God’s Kingdom (Rev 7:9). It is a Kingdom where Freddie Gray and the Baltimore police department already stand together reconciled under the foot of the cross, and where violence gives way to economic opportunity for all as “swords are beat into ploughshares” (Isaiah 2:4).

Our vocation as Christians is simple. We are to make real social change happen and to be a sign that points to God’s all-inclusive Kingdom where all people have access to education, health, relationships and meaningful work. This will in-turn repair the unjust structures within society.

But let us not forget that real and lasting growth begins at the root. Transformation happens when we (as individuals) work on the sin that is in us and seek to live differently. Transformation happens when we see ourselves as members of the one, reconciled human family and begin working to repair the unjust structures within our own heart.

So let us chose solidarity with Freddy Gray because black lives matter. Let us chose solidarity with our black brothers and sisters because of our past and our potential future. Let us chose solidarity with the people of Baltimore who seek to be a better city tomorrow.

I also stand in solidarity with God and I will show this solidarity by working for the greater good because all lives matter, and how we live matters, long before the living is done.

Prayer for the United States

Michael Brown as an Icon of our Brokenness

I am heartbroken about the events in Ferguson, Missouri. 

Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote: "Michael Brown's death was and is a tragedy, and has become a powerful witness to those divisions between human beings in this nation."

People across the Episcopal Church have joined with brothers and sisters in Ferguson, Missouri over the last few months in prayers for healing, peace, for the soul of Michael Brown and for Darren Wilson. I have lamented together with many of you and with people around country regarding this tragedy.

Since Michael Brown's death, 14 other teenagers have been shot by police: Tamir Rice, Cameron Tillman, VonDerrit Myers Jr., Carey Smith-Viramontes, Jeffrey Holden, Qusean Whitten, Miguel Benton, Dillon McGee, Levi Weaver, Karen Cifuentes, Sergio Ramos, Roshad McIntosh, Diana Showman. Each of these individuals and confrontations with police is its own unique and complex story.

Our communities are in pain. Ferguson cannot be viewed in isolation. We must seek to understand the violence currently infecting our society. According to some statistics young African American males are 4.5 times more likely than other races/ethnicities, and 21 times more likely to be shot by police than white people. 

It is difficult to understand what the numbers are exactly, say most of the articles on this subject. Even Mother Jones has a difficult time grasping hold of the information. In August they reported: 

Yet, the lack of comprehensive data means that we can't know if there's been an upsurge in such cases, says Samuel Walker, a criminal justice scholar at the University of Nebraska in Omaha and author of The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. "It's impossible to make any definitive statement on whether there were more incidents in the last 5 to 10 years than in the past," he says. "We just don't have that kind of data." But what is certain, Walker says, is that the fatal shooting in Ferguson "was just the tip of the iceberg."

The article was updated following a USA Today report with this information:

USA Today reported that on average there were 96 cases of a white police officer killing a black person each year between 2006 and 2012, based on justifiable homicides reported to the FBI by local police. As reported, the FBI's justifiable homicides database paints only a partial picture—accounting for cases in which an officer killed a felon. It does not necessarily include cases involving victims like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others who were unarmed when confronted by police. 

Christian morality understands that all people are created in the image of God. We believe that we are to treat one another with dignity. Christians should never be comfortable with any kind of homicide.

No matter what the statistics are, we do have some clarity on the reasons for them. The social determinants of violence are clear. They should make us very uncomfortable and aware that we have work to do.  According to the World Health Organization:

Risk factors [for the social determinants of violence] within close relationships (family, friends, intimate partners, and peers) are:

• poor monitoring and supervision of children by parents

• harsh, lax or inconsistent parental disciplinary practices

• a low level of attachment between parents and children

• low parental involvement in children's activities

• parental substance abuse or criminality

• low family income

• associating with delinquent peers.

Risk factors within the community and wider society are:

• low levels of social cohesion within a community;

• gangs and a local supply of guns and illicit drugs;

• an absence of non-violent alternatives for resolving conflicts;

• high income inequality;

• rapid social and demographic changes;

• urbanization;

• quality of a country’s governance (its laws and the extent to which they are enforced, as well as policies for education and social protection).

The health and well being of a society is always rooted deeply in how well families and individuals are able to thrive within a supportive community. The recent violence reveals not only racism and violence but the deep issues that prevent individuals and their families from thriving in the United States today. We must face the fact that we are not well and the divisions and violence we now suffer are deeply rooted and symptomatic.

We have a problem.

In recent months, we as a community have had to grieve with the African American parents and families of Michael Brown, along with the families of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Jonathan Ferrell, Kimani Gray, Kendrec McDade, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Aaron Campbell, Wendell Allen, and Oscar Grant.

I also pray earnestly for the families of the thousands of youth killed in our cities by other black youth. "An outrage about unjustified police killings does not diminish by one iota our constant efforts to address the pandemic of violence in our own communities." wrote the Board of Bishops of the AME Zion Church, known throughout our more than 200 year history as “The Freedom Church”. They offered these challenging words in their statement about Ferguson:

Our country and her leaders must ask some penetrating questions. Have we been lulled into complacency after the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, ignoring the remaining struggles in the areas of education, economics, and mass incarceration? Have we been deluded by greater inclusivity and access to public accommodations to erroneously believe ours to be a “post-racial” society? Have we, as religious leaders and the broader community, become so co-opted by status, comfort, and materialism that our prophetic voices on behalf of the marginalized have been muted?

Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following statement on the way forward from Ferguson regarding racism:

The Episcopal Church joins many others in deep lament over the tragic reality that continues to be revealed in Ferguson, Missouri. The racism in this nation is part of our foundation, and is not unique to one city or state or part of the country. All Americans live with the consequences of centuries of slavery, exploitation, and prejudice. That legacy continues to lead individuals to perceive threat from those who are seen as "other." The color of one's skin is often the most visible representation of what divides God's children one from another. ... I ask you to stand with hands extended in love, to look for the image of God in every neighbor, and to offer yourself in vulnerability for the sake of reconciliation across this land. May we become instruments of God's peace and healing, made evident in communities of justice for all.

The issues that face our country are profound. While we are a nation founded on a vision of freedom - racism blurs that vision. While we are a nation founded on a vision of peace - violence (gun violence specifically) mars our sight. We are a country who is blessed with great riches and which offers a vision of prosperity; but that ideal is broken by scarcity and economic depression for many of our youth. 

The death of young people in the United States through violence, and especially at the hands of law enforcement, is not a reality with which we can become comfortable. We are living in a time when we are fearful of the police and the police are fearful of us. We should be heartbroken, outraged, and horrified at this reality.

The social issues that lead to this violence are not a legacy we should be willing to pass on to our children's children.

Forward in Prayer and Action

As the Bishop of the Diocese of Texas, I believe we must work together and partner with one another to deal with the issues of racism. We must work towards racial reconciliation; but this will not be enough. We must work towards reducing violence in our cities. We must deal with the disparities present in our society. We must work together stem the power of the social determinants that lead to violence in our communities. True reconciliation is never only about one thing, and it will only come with God's help and our commitment to stand together in prayer and action, transforming our society which is becoming all too numb with an unconscionable social legacy of violence. 

The AME bishops wrote:

Weariness must not conquer our spirits. Apathy and despair are not options. We will never lose hope! The legacy of our people has been forged in the crucible of slavery, oppression, lynchings, pain, and suffering and we’ve never surrendered to the spirit of defeatism or anarchy. Our efforts will be intensified as we work within our denomination and beyond to develop strategies to address the multitude of issues impacting our community, as we also partner with others who advocate and work for justice and peace. Our testimony is that “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us!”

Let us pray for our country, let us pray for one another, let us pray for the families, let us pray for the end of racism, let us pray for the peace and the end of violence. Let us pray and let us act.

You can find resources for discussion at the Episcopal Digital Network.