Letters
from 10 to 16 January 2005
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Slaughter
of the innocent
In your home-page
letter this week (January 9, 2005), you offer your view that the response
to the tsunami disaster in South Asia has been overwhelmingly generous,
compared to other tragedies of equal or greater scope (the crisis in
Darfur, the AIDS pandemic, etc.) because the tsunami disaster is both
transient and amenable to monetary solutions. While I agree with your
analysis, I would like to offer an additional reason that may be equally
or perhaps even more on-target: the victims of the tsunami disaster in
South Asia are clearly all entirely innocent.
The dubious
reasoning of Sydney church officials notwithstanding, nobody is guilty;
nobody is to blame. While we can debate the moral necessity of, say,
warning systems, there is no cause of this disaster that requires anyone
to reconsider, say, their lifestyle or their political/economic system.
There are no issues of justice involved; no moral finger-pointing or
hand-wringing is required. Governments can easily take the moral high
road, can garner free PR, free brownie points, if you will, without taking
sides in intellectually demanding debate, without the need to grapple
with thorny ethical questions, without very much risk of alienating a
cherished power base or influential constituency, and without engaging
in any delicate calculus in which their policies or convictions might
have to be examined.
The tsunami
disaster is a motherhood-and-apple-pie disaster. No controversies are
involved, and that is how we like our problems: not just transient and
amenable to monetary solutions. AIDS, Darfur, and the others call for
uncomfortable and (guaranteed, with at least some part of the world's
population) unpopular moral decisiveness. I believe the common denominator
in your analysis and mine is simplicity, be it of cause or response.
We like our problems and their solutions not to be controversial, and
not to have far-ranging ramifications that might imply conversion, that
might push us to admit guilt or complicity, and confront us with any
need to repent. Even vast sums of money are a cheap price to pay for
feeling good and above reproach.
Tom Malionek
Saint Matthew's
Hyattsville, Maryland, USA
10 January 2005
Aiding and
abetting
I noticed
this morning that the Vacancies Centre has postings from the Trinity
Episcopal School for Ministry listed there.
As an alumnus
of the School I am disturbed at the direction the school has taken over
the past decade. It seems to me that it is directly involved in trying
to destroy the Episcopal Church in the United States with its homophobic
and literalist tendencies. It actively supports those who are promoting
schism and regularly welcomes "bishops" of the Anglican Mission in America.
I spoke at length with Peter Moore about these concerns and he dismissed
them.
I think that
Anglicans Online should not be a partner in TESM's attempts to destroy
the Episcopal Church. TESM claims to represent "authentic Anglicanism" but
that is a dodge to keep their seditious activities under the radar in
America and enable them to extract money from Episcopalians across the
nation.
The Rev. Canon
David C James, Ph.D.
St. John's Episcopal Church
Olympia, Washington, USA
david_james@comcast.net
10 January 2005
[Ed: Certainly
this is something for us to think about. Probably we have an obligation
to treat TESM just like any other seminary as long as it is accredited
by the national church. TESM is listed on page 46 of our Red Book.]
Looking for
youth mission opportunity
Help! I am
a youth group leader in our parish and we are looking for an out of town
mission opportunity for 8-12 teens (16-18 years old) this coming summer.
Ideally, we would like to partner with another parish or other community.
If anyone out there has any ideas, invitations or experiences they'd
like to share we would greatly appreciate it. We are open to travelling
overseas, but cost will be a significant factor for us. Thanks so much
Jon White
St Michael and All angels
Portland, Oregon, USA
jongadoury@aol.com
10 January 2005
Appalled by
the Dean
I am appalled
that the Dean of Sydney sees the tsunami of Boxing Day as a message
from God. I don't think that God acts that way. I see it as the result
of natural forces that are part of God's creation.
As for what
to do? The Primate's World Relief & Development Fund of the Anglican
Church of Canada is putting designate monies to action in the area through
the related churches. I would also suggest that donations to the Red
Cross/Red Crescent organization, Doctors Without Borders and other similar
groups would be a good thing.
Paul Willson
Anglican Church of Canada
Victoria, British Columbia, CANADA
11 January 2005
Earlier
letters
We launched our 'Letters
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