Gentle reminder: Civil disagreement is always welcome on my page; I’m not a fan of echo chambers.
But once you devolve into name calling and abusive attacks, I’m deleting your comments, and if you persist, I’ll suspend your ability to comment on my threads.
Play nice in my sandbox, or find a new one. Thanks, everyone.
There are 200 comments on this blog. I can’t possibly be expected to moderate it perfectly. If I see people resorting to cursing or abusive conduct, I delete the comment regardless of whether or not the one posting it agrees with me.
Saying the bishop behaved badly is NOT the same as calling someone a “cunt.”
You liked the comment about her being a "nutball." That doesn't happen accidentally. Of course you can be expected to moderate it perfectly! It's your post! Who else is going to moderate it?
When you come from an orthodox Christian background, and look at how all sorts of perversion and compromise has gripped the church, there are times to call a spade a spade and say “No, this is not the way.”
You sounds as if you think Bishop Budde is a Christian despite openly denying the clauses of the Nicene Creed... as does virtually the entire hierarchy of the post-schism ECUSA. They laugh at the very idea of the supernatural, an afterlife, the resurrection (which they ascribe to something unknowable) and so on.. they think that Episcopalians that believe in those things are children that shouldn't be allowed to participate in the serious business of establishing social justice in the "kingdom of this world" (which, to them, means a Marxist totalitarian state).
Any Episcopalian bishops or priests who want to deny the Nicene Creed in the name of Karl Marx should be defrocked. They and laypeople with similar views should be taken to the church door, pointed to the nearest Unitarian congregation, and pushed out. Whether or not they go there is up to them, but they shouldn't be let back in.
While I wouldn’t push parishioners out, I’m beginning to think you are correct about everything else. I became an Episcopalian 6 years ago because I was drawn to their choirs and liturgy. But they’ve really sucked since. I’m just not sure where else I want to go.
The trick is realizing that believing in at most one God… the joke told about Unitarians… reveals that it is a fig leaf. They make disbelief in the Nicene Creed optional, don’t let it be said during services, and lay the groundwork for abandoning everything it means to be a Christian at the same time. It is a lot like claiming that there are no illegal aliens voting despite doing everything in their power to allow them to do so. What do you do to lying scheming sneaks like this? Kick them the Hell out.
How can anyone know that? What grownups do is exercise due diligence in preventing possible avenues for election fraud. Democrats project fantasies of voter suppression onto such due diligence.
Always genuine. I'm not a "gotcha" sort of person. I respect the space she wants to create but am confused about how that's being enforced. Especially now that she said she can't be expected to moderate the place she said she'd moderate. Consistency is important to me.
I used to follow an actress who claimed to be open minded about other people’s politics. Within days of the election, she blocked everyone who had expressed any political opinions at all… other than hers. Don’t believe extreme left-wingers can be trusted about anything at all… they are all immature children. Extreme right-wingers likewise.
I see you have read Rules For Radicals, Chapter 4, "Make the enemy live up to their own rules," which relies on the principle that rules which are effective when they followed in good faith can always be subverted by persons acting in bad faith.
This sort of 'flying under the radar' tactic of twisting rules against their intent or exploiting the imprecision of language is intrinsic to leftist activism, and the duper's delight is so clear on their features when they do it. It makes me wonder how such people can imagine they are the moral ones!
I don't know what that this. I don't consider myself a leftist or a radical. What I was raised with by a very conservative mother (I'm not conservative either) is "say what you mean and mean what you say". This is not dubious at all but rather truly being curious about how she was maintaining what she said she would do.
I don't think of myself as any more morally righteous, I assure you. This was an observation and if you need to think it comes out of immorality, that says more about you then me.
I'm truly perplexed by how far the polarization has come in the US. I'm European but lived in NYC in 2012 / 13. The attitude of "we are just and everyone who is not with us is evil and should be treated as such" is something that I had not seen back then. Goes both ways by the way. But to see a Bishop's morality being questioned because she asks for compassion from the most powerful man in the world for people who are scared and vulnerable is very puzzling. To me, it seems a pretty "Christian" thing to do. But then I'm an atheist so what do I know and I'll burn in hell anyway, right?
As long as the other side (roughly half the country ) is seen as a homogenous group of pedofiles who want to transition children and welcome criminals into the country it can feel very righteous to want to destroy them. Reading the comments to this article it's clear that she is now considered "one of them" and it's ok to thrash her.
I would urge people to take a step back and to try to love your neighbour whether they voted for Biden, Trump or not at all. You're not that different from each other.
She wasn't "asking for compassion." She was abusing the pulpit to talk down to President Trump. She knew that he, being a gentleman, would not reciprocate her rudeness by a response.
Perhaps you, an atheist, are clueless about church etiquette. We are not.
She was talking about policy. You know it, I know it, and she knew it. And church is not the place to talk politics. You know it, I know it, and she knew it.
What do you mean she was talking policy? Can you be more specific? When I go through the whole transcript of her speech I don't find it. She's not asking him to change anything, just to be merciful for those who are scared. I have latino friends who are US citizens but they are scared. I have gay friends who are scared. Are you ok with that?
Budde would not have said those things to any other person present except, possibly, Vance. Nor did she preface her remarks about being scared and having mercy. She leapt right into it, bc the political context was obvious.
She was "talking down" bc she knew that the president was not going to stand up and argue with her. She was abusing her position and that was obvious to everyone there.
I have no intention of explaining any more simple politics to you. You can play dumb or be dumb, I don't care, but I won't help you with it.
Emptied out Latin American villages, with churches and NGOs having gone in to offer the inhabitants a paid-for new life. Sorry I am not seeing the "fearfulness".
I agree we have become much too divided, and I saw it really begin in 2008 and on. But many, many have been harmed by this type of rhetoric and the forcing by one side (I'm sorry, but I have only seen blatant abuse of laws and forcing people to do things that are unconstitutional from one mindset. Both parties, but only those who have a religion of activism). You really shouldn't say "we", those who oppose this agenda, see half the country... You don't know half the country. And you don't know, with all due respect, what they believe or may have suffered because of the ideologies running rough shod over people.
You also seem to mind read what "we" think of your atheism and show an air of, imo undeserved superiority for lacking faith in God. But everyone does have in something, eh?
But that's my point when you say "this type of rhetoric". I re-read the transcript, it's a plea to use faith to bridge the divide and find unity. And yes, she ends with a request directed at Trump who has shown that he has a "winner take all" mindset. But it is a demand for mercy, not imposing anything, let alone some ideology or activism.
A demand for mercy for someone that doesn't exist is toxic. She has no right to demand mercy for a group that has overdemanded, no forced the other 95% to alter reality for their fantasy. And your constant put down of Trump or MAGA or whoever doesn't want to ignore reality and true science to cater to the fantasy is truly chilling.
What the heck is reality for you Jane? If you are such an ardent believer, then justice and mercy for at risk people should be part of your repertoire. BTW, it’s not both sides issue. Yes some left wingers go too far. But Trump and MAGAs have weaponized everything. And it’s going to come back and haunt you and your ilk. Or you will probably just keep blaming everyone but yourself or your leaders. Since Reagan Republicans have yelled govt doesn’t work and then they do everything they can to prove it. And it’s always someone else’s fault. Brown people, black people, lgbtq people or poor people. Never the rich.
I'm not a biblical scolar but I'n not sure where it says that there is no mercy for those who overdemanded. Like free speach, mercy is only meaningful when applied to people you don't agree with.
She did not ask specifically for transgender people but for all people who are scared. I have a latina friend who is a US citizen who does not dare to leave her home without ID and her birth certificate. She lives in constant fear because bigots that target people who look like her have been emboldened and accost her on the streets. If that does not chill you and trigger some empathy I don't know what will.
This is a really important piece of commentary, brave and insightful. It was such a disgusting sermon-spreading false fears, ignoring real fears, demonising protective measures as harmful ones and pretending that harmful policies are decent and good. And all motivated by hate while talking about love. For me it’s that manipulative combination that really made it hideous, and you’ve nailed exactly what kind of emotional blackmail it was.
Sadly, she appears to be a Brit. There's a lot of Trump Derangement Syndrome here, especially amongst the lefty keffiyah-wearing antisemitic set. The tide is turning in the UK, only slower than it is in the USA.
So if you don’t read the article, you have no ground to stand on because you don’t even know what she’s talking about! Again an example of another liberal who cannot even have a discussion because they can’t even try to see a different point of view. You obviously don’t wanna hear about the harm. The transgender movement is causing people. To acknowledge that truth would destroy your position so you just don’t even want to know. I think you need to read the article all the way to the end to the Flannery O’Connor quote for some enlightenment. Perhaps you oughta take the time to look up Chloe Cole, and read her story just to get a different perspective on things like the truth.
I suspect you’re Canadian, as I am. That’s your first problem, because our media keeps playing this “Canadians are superior” game with us. They enjoy demonizing America, especially conservative Americans. Your attitude, reflected in your remarks about President Trump, reflect that. The reason you don’t understand Americans is because you’ve Probably not spent any real time among them. I have lived here on and off for over 20 years.
That alone should keep you from commenting, Just the fact that you haven’t read the entire article should’ve kept you from commenting on it at all. How do you expect to make an intelligent remark when you don’t know what you’re talking about?
Let me end with a southern phrase that pretty much equals your closing remark, “All the best though“…
When the fuck have trans and LGBT alphabet people been marginalized in the past 8 years?
Their ideology has been pushed from the highest levels. It’s as dumb as claiming black women have been marginalized and silenced when reality is quite the opposite.
The trannies overstepped when they went after kids. If the trannies weren’t a collection of low IQ mutants they might have caught the vibe shift and understood just how thick and red the line they crossed was. But since the Biden admin was pushing pro-trans policies, they misread the room and kept on daring people to vote for someone who wouldn’t enable their lunacy.
And now they’re crying that the government will no longer support their goal of ruining the lives of children.
In my mind a sermon on being kind would be we pray for those who are scared of change, we pray for those who are afraid of where the culture is going. We pray that they will find peace and courage in Jesus and know that He is with us always.
Not telling one man that he is causing all this angst.
When girls complained about men/boys in their lockerrooms, changing in the same room made them uncomfortable they were told that they were the problem.
There is a need for discussion about immigration but ignoring the years of looking the other way that democrats ruled over when they could have enforced the laws as written or changed them, but they didn't. They used these illegal immigrants to raise money on, ignored the crime a small group of them perpetrated on local communities. They did not show mercy or kindness by encouraging millions to cross the Darian Gap. How many people died there? How many in the deserts of Mexico and the Southwestern desert? Is that kindness?
How many children have been trafficked? Biden lost 300,000 children because DNA tests were cruel. Cruel to who exactly? The cartel? Certainly not the children, or their parents who put them in the care of cartels.
How many children confused about their sexuality are confused because the left told them that was what natural puberty confusion and experimentation was. How many were helped by these pushed trans treatments vs how many were harmed. We will never know as the media and the left suppress detransitioners stories and hide the reasons for many suicides.
That is not kindness. Lecturing one man to take on your attitudes in order to be kind is not kind.
You seem determined to elevate stupid and ignorant to new levels. Congratulations, your attempt appears to be successful. You may not understand this, but your attitude and the unwillingness of people like you to see reality is one of the reasons that President Trump is in power now. It’s also the reason that ultimately, the things that you push and believe in, such as transgenderism, will ultimately Be dismissed by thinking, rational people.
To be fair, apart from irritating the right wing, the only thing the sermon did, was to promote ‘kindness’. There was no ‘promotion’ of transgenderism or illegal immigration in Budde’s words. The Bishop merely stated that there were significant minorities who might now be concerned about their potential treatment from the incoming regime and even scared about their personal safety. Since Trump has legitimised rioting and violent attacks on police, many others in the community might have reason to share such concern, including law enforcement officers, teachers, judges and other public servants. Moreover, her plea for kindness, a lone voice amid the hubris, machismo and bluster of the new President in a congregation packed by the rich, powerful and influential, was timely and appropriate. This does not mean that illegal immigrants should be assimilated rather than deported or that the shrieking trans lobby appeased in any way.
That’s so disgustingly dishonest and hypocritical. Telling us that people are afraid is stoking that fear. The Bishop was deliberately stoking an irrational fear because she hates Donald Trump and doesn’t respect the right of people to vote differently to her. What do trans have to fear? People not using the imaginary pronouns they prefer? What has Trump done except express a biological truth? He’s not encouraged harm, just defended the right to speak the truth. Being offended by that is not being legitimately afraid. Meanwhile lots of innocent people were afraid under the Democrat regime because it encouraged rioting for months, tried to imprison political opponents, mandated harmful medical experiments and corrupted the law and the FBI into agents of tyranny.
Lots of people had real fears because J6ers guilty of nothing more than trespass went years without a trial. Lots of people had real fears and real suffering. Not ‘you used the wrong pronoun’ suffering. Not ‘how dare you vote for that man’ suffering. The suffering of being attacked or killed by Antifa, BLM and Hanas loving mobs. The suffering of losing jobs for asserting the basic right to decide what medicines you take. The suffering of families that lost loved ones to criminal gangs released from prison by Soros agents or welcomed over an open border. Or what about the 500,000 children missing in the Biden term because of that open border? I suspect lord of them knew fear and suffering a lot more than any trans person whose chosen identity isn’t validated does.
Millions more people both suffered and knew fear under Democrat ideas than Republican or MAGA ones, including abroad. Were the people bombed in endless wars afraid? I think they were.
It's just ‘being kind’. And if we deem you insufficiently 'kind', we will not hesitate to try to destroy you, and we aren't particularly interested to understand your side of the story
I think it's wild that you would assume that fears of Trans humans, youth and their families in the face of so much attack, misunderstanding and vitriol are not real, nor that undocumented immigrants (30 percent of our farmworkers, roughly, are undocumented and we could also look at many other industries that many citizens do not want to get involved with) are not real. Why would they not be real? Being deported to a country of origin in which you will likely be killed or die of starvation, or in which you are politically persecuted, is very, very scary. Being torn away from family members and in some cases, the only home you have ever known is also terrifying. How are these fears not real?
Well they aren’t real because nobody has a right to illegally enter a country in the first place. Nobody has a right to ignore the laws of a nation they are joining. So any fear of deportation that follows is a fear thar person is themselves responsible for. Do something criminal and stupid and it’s your responsibility. Your emotional blackmail afterwards is meaningless.
A government has a duty to protect its own citizens, not to protect a foreign person breaking its laws and potentially threatening its citizens. You mention killings-have you ever spared a thought for innocent people in your own country killed by illegals immigrants, or raped by then, or harmed by them, or who just see their wages depressed by illegal migration? Of course not. There’s never any empathy and kindness left for them, is there?
As for trans fears, fear of what? Not being allowed in a woman’s toilet when you have a penis? What about the fear of actual women and girls regarding that? again, no sympathy for them! Or maybe it’s fear of someone not complying with an imaginary gender that describes a sexual fetish? A fear of not having the power to force other people to speak as you demand they speak? Far from being marginalised, trans rights have been prioritised, placed above those of the majority of people, and that’s unjust and, well, unkind.
Fears, too, are subjective feelings. Anyone can exaggerate them, or claim them in a delusional fashion, or use them as emotional blackmail. Plenty of people had real suffering that they had every right to prioritise over imaginary fears or insane demands that a country should allow millions of people to arrive and then put them above those already in the country.
I wonder how you think such people have been “put above” others who live here? Many work in near slave-like conditions for minimum wage or less (and there is also a lot of wage theft.) Imagine making such a terrible journey (for some/many) to get here, to leave one’s home country—why would someone do this? Risk death to get somewhere? Unless there is a real problem in their home country for them? Serious criminals have always been subject to deportation here. Obama deported many people. And so did Biden, after he came into office with decimated ICE force, actually. (A gift from Trump so he could attack and inflame the issue.) I imagine your news sources don’t discuss this. As for Trans people, I also have no idea what you are talking about regarding a population that is now being viciously attacked from all directions, including by the POTUS himself. I can only imagine you do not know what it feels like to be “marginalized” and so you imagine all sorts of threats to your own personhood. Empathy requires curiosity. Why do migrants come here at risk to their lives? Why do Trans people seek rights? … I am not speaking of violent criminals or drug traffickers. We have always been after them and deporting them. I am speaking of the people who come here because companies will hire them. … Also, why not just raise the minimum wage? Most white or educated Americans do not want to work in slaughter houses nor in fields. The problem lies in these industries themselves.
I couldn’t listen to all of it! But many people thought it was wonderful..probably because it was so critical of Trump.
I thought it was a lot of blather.. the” “ be kind” crowd slurped it up though.
Trump spoke truth about sex being binary ! And that supposedly hurt the trans ideologues. They can’t bear the truth! Maybe because they know they’re all lies!
Thank you for writing this. It should be read aloud on every late night comedy/indoctrination show and by every NPR host and be printed on the front page of every liberal newspaper. When will this malevolent benevolence be seen for what it is?
"Mercy and compassion for kids who are confused about their sex looks like lovingly helping them make peace with the immutable nature of it."
Until the day before yesterday, we employed "watchful waiting" until after puberty, and it turned out that the surge of hormones into the brain resolved the dysphoria 80% of the time. No botched surgeries; no bootleg hormones.
Any number of self-described tomboys over the years have described in great detail how female hormones changed their point of view. Some of the most ardent feminists have ended up wanting to be mothers.
She was so fake-earnest and smug and oblivious. It makes me wince. How could a person be SO disconnected that she's completely unaware of the attitudes of 200 million Americans? In the age of social media?!
The issue is not that people are less merciful than she is or more hateful-they believe that she's wrong and her ideas are poisonous and harmful. That is the one thing these people seem unable to grasp. Dissenters aren't fascists or bigots or fearmongers. She's bigoted (I'm sure)! She fearmongers! The issue is not a moral one. WE BELIEVE THAT SHE IS FACTUALLY INCORRECT and it's not because we're working-class ignoramuses.
The same people who were conned by BLM, cowed by politicians during Covid, blind to realities of Biden and immigration and a dozen fucking things-these people STILL can't comprehend that they might be incorrect about political issues. It blows my fucking mind.
It might help if they ever spoke to some of the people they disagree with of course. It would be a very Christian act, I daresay...
Bishop Budde is all those things. I’ve met her when I was on the Vestry of an Episcopal church in her diocese and she came to visit the small churches. She wanted to meet with the vestry after service and lectured us on our need to improve our “social mission”. I cannot abide that woman.
I’ve attended one of her churches, too, where multiple parishioners have complained to Budde about Clergy Misconduct. She has entirely ignored them (and me). She’s in it for the adulation. A hireling not a shepherd.
I grew up going to a church in that denomination, but when I became a Christian and grew in understanding the real teachings of Christ, I rejected all that wicked tomfoolery. Real Christ-followers reject that "bishop's" rant, recognizing that it is from the pit of Hell and smells like smoke.
Yes, it is. That's not my opinion, it's God's word.
Women have vital roles to play in the Church. Without the efforts of some wonderful and dedicated ladies, our little church would collapse in a month. But those efforts **do not include being in positions of ecclesiastical authority.**
You can roll your eyes and continue in your condescending attitude all you like, but the evidence proves the truth: When a church allows women in the pulpit, sooner or later that church begins to stray from the word of God, and eventually it leads to creatures like "Bishop" Budde. All respect to our esteemed hostess, but this is the only thing in her post that I vehemently disagree with.
I would suggest that you look at how Abrahamic religions became macho patriarchies and have consistently covered up the truth since then by saying that they have ALWAYS been as they are now. They were not in the Bronze Age but women were brutally subjugated during the early Iron Age. Iron weapons led to a huge overreaction toward war, violence and patriarchy.
I would suggest you be less concerned with "Abrahamic religions," and more concerned with adherence to the word of God, which is the Holy Bible, not the Talmud or the Qur'an.
I bet David B. Miller doesn’t //think ordaining women is a terrible sin.// I bet he considers it nigh unto “wicked tomfoolery” to have an issue with it.
Macho assholes like Mr. Thompson can’t possibly be pastors and have female colleagues. They cannot be a woman’s equal, let alone a woman’s subordinate. Most of the men around the world that display their macho as much as he does also beat their wives. He would probably self-righteously quote the Holy Bible to authorize wife-beating.
> The same people who were conned by BLM, cowed by politicians during Covid, blind to realities of Biden and immigration and a dozen fucking things-these people STILL can't comprehend that they might be incorrect about political issues. It blows my fucking mind.
This paragraph suggests you're not really heeding your own message here. I'm not "cowed by politicians" on COVID, nor am I "blind to the realities of Biden and immigration". I just... disagree with you about them.
Your point is otherwise well made, though, and certainly true of a lot of people on each side (perhaps sadly the majority).
Yes, how can they be so sure they are correct when they put their fingers in their ears at any different views…it’s inherently a mindset that leads itself to idiotic views
I'm a bit more blunt, having commented that "enabling confused children to mutilate their bodies does not sound very merciful to me", but on the stage of national politics, ANYTHING associated with Trump is immediately derided by 40% of the population, dismissed with wave a hand. All "we" know is that we HATE him.
I'm afraid that the "have mercy, so long as it fits MY style of mercy" approach is more prevalent in our culture than you may think.
This essay is outstanding. We have been put in a compassion trap by those who refuse to engage in the nuances and complexities of the issue. Albert Maysles said, "Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance." I am a pastor and I have seen first hand the manipulation of the Christian virtue of kindness due in large part to our natural aversion to complexity.
The other side of that coin is over-correction: our parents and grandparents were mean to gay people, therefore we can't possibly question anything trans people ask for. (And as for why trans people get the benefit of our collective guilt over gay people... we need a 3-sided coin so we can talk about forced teaming)
Interesting idea. I've heard this same idea to explain Germany's self destruction through immigration from the Muslims that will not assimilate into German society. Now they are recreating the societies that they escaped from. Guilt over what they did to the Jews will not allow the German leaders to criticize the immigrants flowing into their country. Complex, I agree.
So true. I’ve been in that trap for years. It’s invariably populated with words like ‘consensus’, ‘live-and-let-live’ and ‘tolerance’. It’s a state-of-mind, more often than not, forged in countries with democratic traditions and a strong sense of national community. Qualities that automatically assume ‘others’ can always be accommodated and accepted. The reality is that not all of them can. Any concept of ‘neighbourliness’ is rendered ridiculous. Love is impossible and kindness, futile. So I absolutely see through Bishop Budde’s observations and admire Kaeley’s essay greatly. All that said, since I also have reservations about jack-boots and gas chambers, I found Budde’s words welcome, nonetheless.
It works until, “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.”
Excellent, many thanks. I forwarded the column to a theology seminary professor who read it and sent back "Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I personally think it was only an 18 exclamation point essay, not the full 20 he awarded it. But, still.
Two men went to temple to pray, one was a Pharisee, the other a MAGA Republican. The Pharisee looked up to Heaven and and prayed, "I thank God that I am not like other men. I [insert liberal talking points]. . .
Episcopal priest here. May regret identifying myself as such, which just speaks to how thoroughly cancel culture remains embedded in progressive institutions (particularly this one).
There is a way to speak uncomfortable truths in sermons with grace and nuance. It’s important not to be predictable. It’s important to use language that confounds our expectations and takes us beyond standard ways of knowing. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what good preachers should do.
Yes, there is, but was this the time or place for confrontation? To me, this was grandstanding more than anything else and grandstanding is nothing but pride. If the minister had a burning desire to plead that the president be merciful, she could have asked for a private word with him later or sent a letter. But then the world would not have seen her great virtue and courage.
I do not presume to know the Bishop’s motivations, but her exposition on the values of the Sermon on the Mount, call for unity without uniformity, got the attention of a good , smart, atheist friend of mine and has brought him much closer to faith in Jesus. Had it not been at this public event, he never would have seen it.
I am happy to see this comment. May kindness and mercy follow you [ALL of you, all of US, no exceptions] all the days of your life and may you live in the house of the Lord forever.
Frankly, title and position mean everything to these nutballs like Budde. Her highest achievement is not an intimate relationship with God, not following in her master's footsteps, not loving her neighbor as herself, but "being" the Bishop in the Episcopal church, which is equivalent to being the chief inmate in an insane asylum. Little wonder the pews are almost empty in this denomination.
The Episcopal Church has become the ‘Bud Light’ of Anglicanism. Less filling, looks demonic and tastes awful.
Great job of cutting through the plastic wrapping that covers all of the news of the day. Having empathy for trans people is not the same as funding the industry that preys on them, standing against illegal immigration doesn't make a person racist or anti immigrant. It is so obvious, but we need people like you who can verbalize it. People like me can only drag it out behind the barn and feed it to the hogs, or throw it from a helicopter.
A Substack I follow disappointed me with its positive take on the very passage from Bishop Budde's sermon that is the subject of Ms. Harms' critical piece today. It is titled: "Waiting for a Hero: Who is going to stand up to Trumpism?" [1]
The author, former right-wing radio host turned Never-Trumper and pundit Charlie Sykes, wrote:
If the Bishop really cares about gay and lesbian children, she should educate herself about the history of minors who are deeply at odds with their sex and the culturally determined roles that go with it.
Before queer theory and gender theory escaped academia and colonized progressive institutions about five minutes ago, there were no trans children. The health care professionals who worked with gender nonconforming and gender dysphoric youth made two key findings.
First, almost all the patients were boys. Secondly, and more importantly for the purposes of this comment, most of the kids got over their gender difficulties during adolescence, allowing their natural sexual orientation to emerge. It turned out they were gay or lesbian.
There is no reason to think things are different today. If the Bishop and progressives truly care about gay people, they will educate themselves and discover that trans kids do not exist and that transitioning youth who would very likely to grow up to be gay like I did is an unconscionable thing to do.
Since Sykes is regarded a conservative, it is unlikely many progressives follow his writings. His liberal readers may be closer to the center because Sykes is a conservative. I think those factors explain why my comment did not elicit a powerful negative response. A progressive readership would have been far more triggered by my piece. There were over 200 comments, yet my contribution received only three likes and one critical reply. [2]
This is what the dissenter had to say:
"You don't know what you are talking about. You don't know this Bishop and you don't know the Episcopal church. But now we all know who you are......and it is not a pretty thing. Self loathing needs help. Seek it. "
This type of rhetoric is par for the course for trans activists and devoted trans allies. The readers of this Substack have doubtless encountered it before in its various combinations and permutations. Since she could not censor me (and nobody did it for her), she did the next thing her ilk usually does, which is to discredit me. I hope she returns to her comment, because if she does she will see that she was alone in standing up for the myth of trans kids.
The next two comments were much more reasonable and nuanced:
"I have made this point, and it has been taken as bigoted. But I don't know what's hateful about favoring an approach to gender dysphoria in children that doesn't require drastic bodily alteration and ongoing hormonal maintenance."
"Part of the remedy seems to be reassuring kids that they don't need to conform to gender stereotypes to be a 'real boy' or a 'real girl.' Ironically, gender stereotypes are a core part of transgender orthodoxy, which is ideologically associated with 'gender fluidity.'"
"Saying this does not imply intolerance or disrespect of adults who choose to transition, or those who identify and present as 'nonbinary.' It's about what is really in the long-term best interest of young people who are deeply uncomfortable with their bodily sex."
And:
"I don't disagree with your premise, but it reminds me of Trump not wanting to test for Covid because that just makes the number grow bigger. Point being that with the stigma of trans being a bad thing...there were probably a lot of trans people that were FAR less open about it for fear of reprisal. That's why it appears there were fewer....in some part...not 100% though."
"On the other hand...I agree COMPLETELY that there are kids experimenting with trans for a lot of reasons other than being trans."
While the two readers who responded favorably to my gender critical views did not frame their reply the way a sex realist would, it is reassuring to know that the number of commenters who were pushing back on trans orthodoxy outnumbered the closed-minded trans allies by a ratio of two to one.
Damn those comments in the Charlie Sykes piece are full of delusional people.
No matter how wrong they are, they never learn because they have the conviction that they’re intellectual sophisticates who are always on the right side of history, no matter how many times the people they vote for and the policies they support are on the wrong side of history.
If you’ve ever been close to a narcissist you can see it very clearly-they are never wrong, and those who do not submit to their perspective on the matter cause a narcissistic injury that leads to demonization of the “adversary”. Logic is not functional when speaking to a person who is so far gone
Many of the commentators only address trans people in their arguments (they mean trans activists, many transgender people have a very different standpoint than the activists) as if Budde was only talking about them.
You make a case that there are few people who actually suffer from gender dysphoria, a viewpoint I largely agree with. But what about them then? No mercy for them either?
Budde talks about "faithful members of our churches" who "pick our crops and clean our office buildings" who now live in fear and are confronted with hate. What about them? No mercy form them because they didn't vote for Trump? Many here argue Budde is not a real Christian and that she's a disgrace to the church. I think it's quite Christian to ask for mercy.
I understand that it makes you uncomfortable to see King Donald in a position where for once he is forced to listen instead of being able to bully. I invite you to read the transcript without seeing the video, her speech is really not much more than an appeal to unity and mercy. Yes, her opinion of Trump is quite clear but the real issue is that president's skin is so thin that he is triggered by a critical Bishop and that his loyal followers blindly come to his defense to the pont where it becomes irrational.
Hey everyone,
Gentle reminder: Civil disagreement is always welcome on my page; I’m not a fan of echo chambers.
But once you devolve into name calling and abusive attacks, I’m deleting your comments, and if you persist, I’ll suspend your ability to comment on my threads.
Play nice in my sandbox, or find a new one. Thanks, everyone.
You liked a lot of comments who called the bishop quite a few names. Is the name calling rule only reserved for people who name call conservatives?
There are 200 comments on this blog. I can’t possibly be expected to moderate it perfectly. If I see people resorting to cursing or abusive conduct, I delete the comment regardless of whether or not the one posting it agrees with me.
Saying the bishop behaved badly is NOT the same as calling someone a “cunt.”
Thank you for your understanding.
I respect that but you set the rule and what you said you would tolerate. If you saw it and liked it, I would assume you can just as easily delete it.
And while no one is calling her "cunt* they are calling her an idiot, stupid, etc. Those are not about her behavior but about her character.
Again, I respect the rule and how tough it is to moderate but it is a self imposed one.
You liked the comment about her being a "nutball." That doesn't happen accidentally. Of course you can be expected to moderate it perfectly! It's your post! Who else is going to moderate it?
To to fair, calling someone 'nuts' is not only a colloquial term but it truthfully describes the truly confused mental state that Budde embodies.
I feel sorry for you, Jamie. I hope your attitude changes as you grow up.
When you come from an orthodox Christian background, and look at how all sorts of perversion and compromise has gripped the church, there are times to call a spade a spade and say “No, this is not the way.”
You sounds as if you think Bishop Budde is a Christian despite openly denying the clauses of the Nicene Creed... as does virtually the entire hierarchy of the post-schism ECUSA. They laugh at the very idea of the supernatural, an afterlife, the resurrection (which they ascribe to something unknowable) and so on.. they think that Episcopalians that believe in those things are children that shouldn't be allowed to participate in the serious business of establishing social justice in the "kingdom of this world" (which, to them, means a Marxist totalitarian state).
Any Episcopalian bishops or priests who want to deny the Nicene Creed in the name of Karl Marx should be defrocked. They and laypeople with similar views should be taken to the church door, pointed to the nearest Unitarian congregation, and pushed out. Whether or not they go there is up to them, but they shouldn't be let back in.
While I wouldn’t push parishioners out, I’m beginning to think you are correct about everything else. I became an Episcopalian 6 years ago because I was drawn to their choirs and liturgy. But they’ve really sucked since. I’m just not sure where else I want to go.
The trick is realizing that believing in at most one God… the joke told about Unitarians… reveals that it is a fig leaf. They make disbelief in the Nicene Creed optional, don’t let it be said during services, and lay the groundwork for abandoning everything it means to be a Christian at the same time. It is a lot like claiming that there are no illegal aliens voting despite doing everything in their power to allow them to do so. What do you do to lying scheming sneaks like this? Kick them the Hell out.
Tell me, how many illegal aliens voted in the last election? Facts only please.
How can anyone know that? What grownups do is exercise due diligence in preventing possible avenues for election fraud. Democrats project fantasies of voter suppression onto such due diligence.
Try the Anglican Catholic Church
Too sexist.
Sounds different to what they claim https://www.episcopalchurch.org/what-we-believe/
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/what-we-believe/
Dustin, are you asking a rhetorical question? Or are
you sincerely interested in the motivation in the authors' "likes"?
Always genuine. I'm not a "gotcha" sort of person. I respect the space she wants to create but am confused about how that's being enforced. Especially now that she said she can't be expected to moderate the place she said she'd moderate. Consistency is important to me.
I used to follow an actress who claimed to be open minded about other people’s politics. Within days of the election, she blocked everyone who had expressed any political opinions at all… other than hers. Don’t believe extreme left-wingers can be trusted about anything at all… they are all immature children. Extreme right-wingers likewise.
I see you have read Rules For Radicals, Chapter 4, "Make the enemy live up to their own rules," which relies on the principle that rules which are effective when they followed in good faith can always be subverted by persons acting in bad faith.
This sort of 'flying under the radar' tactic of twisting rules against their intent or exploiting the imprecision of language is intrinsic to leftist activism, and the duper's delight is so clear on their features when they do it. It makes me wonder how such people can imagine they are the moral ones!
I don't know what that this. I don't consider myself a leftist or a radical. What I was raised with by a very conservative mother (I'm not conservative either) is "say what you mean and mean what you say". This is not dubious at all but rather truly being curious about how she was maintaining what she said she would do.
I don't think of myself as any more morally righteous, I assure you. This was an observation and if you need to think it comes out of immorality, that says more about you then me.
I'm truly perplexed by how far the polarization has come in the US. I'm European but lived in NYC in 2012 / 13. The attitude of "we are just and everyone who is not with us is evil and should be treated as such" is something that I had not seen back then. Goes both ways by the way. But to see a Bishop's morality being questioned because she asks for compassion from the most powerful man in the world for people who are scared and vulnerable is very puzzling. To me, it seems a pretty "Christian" thing to do. But then I'm an atheist so what do I know and I'll burn in hell anyway, right?
As long as the other side (roughly half the country ) is seen as a homogenous group of pedofiles who want to transition children and welcome criminals into the country it can feel very righteous to want to destroy them. Reading the comments to this article it's clear that she is now considered "one of them" and it's ok to thrash her.
I would urge people to take a step back and to try to love your neighbour whether they voted for Biden, Trump or not at all. You're not that different from each other.
She wasn't "asking for compassion." She was abusing the pulpit to talk down to President Trump. She knew that he, being a gentleman, would not reciprocate her rudeness by a response.
Perhaps you, an atheist, are clueless about church etiquette. We are not.
You're right. He's such a gentleman. I love his insightful, gentle posts and the warm wisdom he radiates.
There is not o e bit of “gentleman” in Trump. Her sermon was stunning and shocked the fascist. Good.
Calling Trump a gentleman? Cmon now… that’s just deranged.
Her literal words were "have mercy” on people who are “scared now”. Is that church etiquette for talking down?
She was talking about policy. You know it, I know it, and she knew it. And church is not the place to talk politics. You know it, I know it, and she knew it.
What do you mean she was talking policy? Can you be more specific? When I go through the whole transcript of her speech I don't find it. She's not asking him to change anything, just to be merciful for those who are scared. I have latino friends who are US citizens but they are scared. I have gay friends who are scared. Are you ok with that?
Budde would not have said those things to any other person present except, possibly, Vance. Nor did she preface her remarks about being scared and having mercy. She leapt right into it, bc the political context was obvious.
She was "talking down" bc she knew that the president was not going to stand up and argue with her. She was abusing her position and that was obvious to everyone there.
I have no intention of explaining any more simple politics to you. You can play dumb or be dumb, I don't care, but I won't help you with it.
Emptied out Latin American villages, with churches and NGOs having gone in to offer the inhabitants a paid-for new life. Sorry I am not seeing the "fearfulness".
I agree we have become much too divided, and I saw it really begin in 2008 and on. But many, many have been harmed by this type of rhetoric and the forcing by one side (I'm sorry, but I have only seen blatant abuse of laws and forcing people to do things that are unconstitutional from one mindset. Both parties, but only those who have a religion of activism). You really shouldn't say "we", those who oppose this agenda, see half the country... You don't know half the country. And you don't know, with all due respect, what they believe or may have suffered because of the ideologies running rough shod over people.
You also seem to mind read what "we" think of your atheism and show an air of, imo undeserved superiority for lacking faith in God. But everyone does have in something, eh?
But that's my point when you say "this type of rhetoric". I re-read the transcript, it's a plea to use faith to bridge the divide and find unity. And yes, she ends with a request directed at Trump who has shown that he has a "winner take all" mindset. But it is a demand for mercy, not imposing anything, let alone some ideology or activism.
A demand for mercy for someone that doesn't exist is toxic. She has no right to demand mercy for a group that has overdemanded, no forced the other 95% to alter reality for their fantasy. And your constant put down of Trump or MAGA or whoever doesn't want to ignore reality and true science to cater to the fantasy is truly chilling.
What the heck is reality for you Jane? If you are such an ardent believer, then justice and mercy for at risk people should be part of your repertoire. BTW, it’s not both sides issue. Yes some left wingers go too far. But Trump and MAGAs have weaponized everything. And it’s going to come back and haunt you and your ilk. Or you will probably just keep blaming everyone but yourself or your leaders. Since Reagan Republicans have yelled govt doesn’t work and then they do everything they can to prove it. And it’s always someone else’s fault. Brown people, black people, lgbtq people or poor people. Never the rich.
I'm not a biblical scolar but I'n not sure where it says that there is no mercy for those who overdemanded. Like free speach, mercy is only meaningful when applied to people you don't agree with.
She did not ask specifically for transgender people but for all people who are scared. I have a latina friend who is a US citizen who does not dare to leave her home without ID and her birth certificate. She lives in constant fear because bigots that target people who look like her have been emboldened and accost her on the streets. If that does not chill you and trigger some empathy I don't know what will.
The Bishop is grifting millions of tax payer dollars through her personal NGO.
Thank you for a superb walk-through of this issue. "Toxic sympathy" of the Bishop Budde kind is something we need much less of.
Another perspective from a disciple of our Lord.
https://open.substack.com/pub/borsin/p/the-golden-rule-to-test-the-spirits?r=3exks5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
This is a really important piece of commentary, brave and insightful. It was such a disgusting sermon-spreading false fears, ignoring real fears, demonising protective measures as harmful ones and pretending that harmful policies are decent and good. And all motivated by hate while talking about love. For me it’s that manipulative combination that really made it hideous, and you’ve nailed exactly what kind of emotional blackmail it was.
That sermon was like a greatest hits of the dumbest progressive lunacy that the Biden admin deliberately empowered and promoted.
Yes. It was the capstone of his pathetic presidency.
It’s almost like you didn’t even bother to read the article.
You keep lecturing people about kindness without stopping to contend with the reality that what Budde wants isn’t kind at all.
Sadly, she appears to be a Brit. There's a lot of Trump Derangement Syndrome here, especially amongst the lefty keffiyah-wearing antisemitic set. The tide is turning in the UK, only slower than it is in the USA.
So if you don’t read the article, you have no ground to stand on because you don’t even know what she’s talking about! Again an example of another liberal who cannot even have a discussion because they can’t even try to see a different point of view. You obviously don’t wanna hear about the harm. The transgender movement is causing people. To acknowledge that truth would destroy your position so you just don’t even want to know. I think you need to read the article all the way to the end to the Flannery O’Connor quote for some enlightenment. Perhaps you oughta take the time to look up Chloe Cole, and read her story just to get a different perspective on things like the truth.
You really should read the entire article. What the author points out is a very unusual and true take on manipulation disguised as a call for mercy.
Lesley can’t read the article; it might challenge his(?) preconceptions.
To quote the 20th century philosopher George Clinton “Free your mind and your ass will follow.”
I suspect you’re Canadian, as I am. That’s your first problem, because our media keeps playing this “Canadians are superior” game with us. They enjoy demonizing America, especially conservative Americans. Your attitude, reflected in your remarks about President Trump, reflect that. The reason you don’t understand Americans is because you’ve Probably not spent any real time among them. I have lived here on and off for over 20 years.
That alone should keep you from commenting, Just the fact that you haven’t read the entire article should’ve kept you from commenting on it at all. How do you expect to make an intelligent remark when you don’t know what you’re talking about?
Let me end with a southern phrase that pretty much equals your closing remark, “All the best though“…
Bless your heart.
When the fuck have trans and LGBT alphabet people been marginalized in the past 8 years?
Their ideology has been pushed from the highest levels. It’s as dumb as claiming black women have been marginalized and silenced when reality is quite the opposite.
The trannies overstepped when they went after kids. If the trannies weren’t a collection of low IQ mutants they might have caught the vibe shift and understood just how thick and red the line they crossed was. But since the Biden admin was pushing pro-trans policies, they misread the room and kept on daring people to vote for someone who wouldn’t enable their lunacy.
And now they’re crying that the government will no longer support their goal of ruining the lives of children.
Mutilating children and indulging mental illness isn’t kind.
That’s how you end up with some old lesbian hag lecturing the president about a subject he knows more about than she does.
Episcopalians are morons who thought being Catholic was too much work. They’re a dying sect for a reason.
But was it encouraging kindness? Really?
In my mind a sermon on being kind would be we pray for those who are scared of change, we pray for those who are afraid of where the culture is going. We pray that they will find peace and courage in Jesus and know that He is with us always.
Not telling one man that he is causing all this angst.
When girls complained about men/boys in their lockerrooms, changing in the same room made them uncomfortable they were told that they were the problem.
There is a need for discussion about immigration but ignoring the years of looking the other way that democrats ruled over when they could have enforced the laws as written or changed them, but they didn't. They used these illegal immigrants to raise money on, ignored the crime a small group of them perpetrated on local communities. They did not show mercy or kindness by encouraging millions to cross the Darian Gap. How many people died there? How many in the deserts of Mexico and the Southwestern desert? Is that kindness?
How many children have been trafficked? Biden lost 300,000 children because DNA tests were cruel. Cruel to who exactly? The cartel? Certainly not the children, or their parents who put them in the care of cartels.
How many children confused about their sexuality are confused because the left told them that was what natural puberty confusion and experimentation was. How many were helped by these pushed trans treatments vs how many were harmed. We will never know as the media and the left suppress detransitioners stories and hide the reasons for many suicides.
That is not kindness. Lecturing one man to take on your attitudes in order to be kind is not kind.
I think you missed her thesis. Did you actually read her post? And your missive is well…confusing. But you be you.
You seem determined to elevate stupid and ignorant to new levels. Congratulations, your attempt appears to be successful. You may not understand this, but your attitude and the unwillingness of people like you to see reality is one of the reasons that President Trump is in power now. It’s also the reason that ultimately, the things that you push and believe in, such as transgenderism, will ultimately Be dismissed by thinking, rational people.
Is it kind to slap your child's hand before they touch a hot stove? Ideas have consequences.
Lesley,
The sermon did not promote kindness.
To be fair, apart from irritating the right wing, the only thing the sermon did, was to promote ‘kindness’. There was no ‘promotion’ of transgenderism or illegal immigration in Budde’s words. The Bishop merely stated that there were significant minorities who might now be concerned about their potential treatment from the incoming regime and even scared about their personal safety. Since Trump has legitimised rioting and violent attacks on police, many others in the community might have reason to share such concern, including law enforcement officers, teachers, judges and other public servants. Moreover, her plea for kindness, a lone voice amid the hubris, machismo and bluster of the new President in a congregation packed by the rich, powerful and influential, was timely and appropriate. This does not mean that illegal immigrants should be assimilated rather than deported or that the shrieking trans lobby appeased in any way.
That’s so disgustingly dishonest and hypocritical. Telling us that people are afraid is stoking that fear. The Bishop was deliberately stoking an irrational fear because she hates Donald Trump and doesn’t respect the right of people to vote differently to her. What do trans have to fear? People not using the imaginary pronouns they prefer? What has Trump done except express a biological truth? He’s not encouraged harm, just defended the right to speak the truth. Being offended by that is not being legitimately afraid. Meanwhile lots of innocent people were afraid under the Democrat regime because it encouraged rioting for months, tried to imprison political opponents, mandated harmful medical experiments and corrupted the law and the FBI into agents of tyranny.
Lots of people had real fears because J6ers guilty of nothing more than trespass went years without a trial. Lots of people had real fears and real suffering. Not ‘you used the wrong pronoun’ suffering. Not ‘how dare you vote for that man’ suffering. The suffering of being attacked or killed by Antifa, BLM and Hanas loving mobs. The suffering of losing jobs for asserting the basic right to decide what medicines you take. The suffering of families that lost loved ones to criminal gangs released from prison by Soros agents or welcomed over an open border. Or what about the 500,000 children missing in the Biden term because of that open border? I suspect lord of them knew fear and suffering a lot more than any trans person whose chosen identity isn’t validated does.
Millions more people both suffered and knew fear under Democrat ideas than Republican or MAGA ones, including abroad. Were the people bombed in endless wars afraid? I think they were.
It's just ‘being kind’. And if we deem you insufficiently 'kind', we will not hesitate to try to destroy you, and we aren't particularly interested to understand your side of the story
I felt this article to my very bones. Wonderfully executed.
This is the devil’s trick to manipulate your love & empathy against what is right. All love is not equal - this is disordered love.
Very much agreed
I think it's wild that you would assume that fears of Trans humans, youth and their families in the face of so much attack, misunderstanding and vitriol are not real, nor that undocumented immigrants (30 percent of our farmworkers, roughly, are undocumented and we could also look at many other industries that many citizens do not want to get involved with) are not real. Why would they not be real? Being deported to a country of origin in which you will likely be killed or die of starvation, or in which you are politically persecuted, is very, very scary. Being torn away from family members and in some cases, the only home you have ever known is also terrifying. How are these fears not real?
Well they aren’t real because nobody has a right to illegally enter a country in the first place. Nobody has a right to ignore the laws of a nation they are joining. So any fear of deportation that follows is a fear thar person is themselves responsible for. Do something criminal and stupid and it’s your responsibility. Your emotional blackmail afterwards is meaningless.
A government has a duty to protect its own citizens, not to protect a foreign person breaking its laws and potentially threatening its citizens. You mention killings-have you ever spared a thought for innocent people in your own country killed by illegals immigrants, or raped by then, or harmed by them, or who just see their wages depressed by illegal migration? Of course not. There’s never any empathy and kindness left for them, is there?
As for trans fears, fear of what? Not being allowed in a woman’s toilet when you have a penis? What about the fear of actual women and girls regarding that? again, no sympathy for them! Or maybe it’s fear of someone not complying with an imaginary gender that describes a sexual fetish? A fear of not having the power to force other people to speak as you demand they speak? Far from being marginalised, trans rights have been prioritised, placed above those of the majority of people, and that’s unjust and, well, unkind.
Fears, too, are subjective feelings. Anyone can exaggerate them, or claim them in a delusional fashion, or use them as emotional blackmail. Plenty of people had real suffering that they had every right to prioritise over imaginary fears or insane demands that a country should allow millions of people to arrive and then put them above those already in the country.
I wonder how you think such people have been “put above” others who live here? Many work in near slave-like conditions for minimum wage or less (and there is also a lot of wage theft.) Imagine making such a terrible journey (for some/many) to get here, to leave one’s home country—why would someone do this? Risk death to get somewhere? Unless there is a real problem in their home country for them? Serious criminals have always been subject to deportation here. Obama deported many people. And so did Biden, after he came into office with decimated ICE force, actually. (A gift from Trump so he could attack and inflame the issue.) I imagine your news sources don’t discuss this. As for Trans people, I also have no idea what you are talking about regarding a population that is now being viciously attacked from all directions, including by the POTUS himself. I can only imagine you do not know what it feels like to be “marginalized” and so you imagine all sorts of threats to your own personhood. Empathy requires curiosity. Why do migrants come here at risk to their lives? Why do Trans people seek rights? … I am not speaking of violent criminals or drug traffickers. We have always been after them and deporting them. I am speaking of the people who come here because companies will hire them. … Also, why not just raise the minimum wage? Most white or educated Americans do not want to work in slaughter houses nor in fields. The problem lies in these industries themselves.
I couldn’t listen to all of it! But many people thought it was wonderful..probably because it was so critical of Trump.
I thought it was a lot of blather.. the” “ be kind” crowd slurped it up though.
Trump spoke truth about sex being binary ! And that supposedly hurt the trans ideologues. They can’t bear the truth! Maybe because they know they’re all lies!
Thank you for writing this. It should be read aloud on every late night comedy/indoctrination show and by every NPR host and be printed on the front page of every liberal newspaper. When will this malevolent benevolence be seen for what it is?
Wonderful summation:
When will this malevolent benevolence be seen for what it is?
Well, clearly you didn’t read my sentence carefully, but I won’t insult you because of that.
"Mercy and compassion for kids who are confused about their sex looks like lovingly helping them make peace with the immutable nature of it."
Until the day before yesterday, we employed "watchful waiting" until after puberty, and it turned out that the surge of hormones into the brain resolved the dysphoria 80% of the time. No botched surgeries; no bootleg hormones.
THAT was merciful. THAT was compassionate.
Any number of self-described tomboys over the years have described in great detail how female hormones changed their point of view. Some of the most ardent feminists have ended up wanting to be mothers.
Truly ardent feminism includes recognition of the sanctity of motherhood
I've known a woman or two that might qualify... but none of them had had children yet.
She was so fake-earnest and smug and oblivious. It makes me wince. How could a person be SO disconnected that she's completely unaware of the attitudes of 200 million Americans? In the age of social media?!
The issue is not that people are less merciful than she is or more hateful-they believe that she's wrong and her ideas are poisonous and harmful. That is the one thing these people seem unable to grasp. Dissenters aren't fascists or bigots or fearmongers. She's bigoted (I'm sure)! She fearmongers! The issue is not a moral one. WE BELIEVE THAT SHE IS FACTUALLY INCORRECT and it's not because we're working-class ignoramuses.
The same people who were conned by BLM, cowed by politicians during Covid, blind to realities of Biden and immigration and a dozen fucking things-these people STILL can't comprehend that they might be incorrect about political issues. It blows my fucking mind.
It might help if they ever spoke to some of the people they disagree with of course. It would be a very Christian act, I daresay...
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/talking-to-the-other-side-a-brief
Bishop Budde is all those things. I’ve met her when I was on the Vestry of an Episcopal church in her diocese and she came to visit the small churches. She wanted to meet with the vestry after service and lectured us on our need to improve our “social mission”. I cannot abide that woman.
I’ve attended one of her churches, too, where multiple parishioners have complained to Budde about Clergy Misconduct. She has entirely ignored them (and me). She’s in it for the adulation. A hireling not a shepherd.
I grew up going to a church in that denomination, but when I became a Christian and grew in understanding the real teachings of Christ, I rejected all that wicked tomfoolery. Real Christ-followers reject that "bishop's" rant, recognizing that it is from the pit of Hell and smells like smoke.
I bet you think ordaining women is a terrible sin.
Yes, it is. That's not my opinion, it's God's word.
Women have vital roles to play in the Church. Without the efforts of some wonderful and dedicated ladies, our little church would collapse in a month. But those efforts **do not include being in positions of ecclesiastical authority.**
You can roll your eyes and continue in your condescending attitude all you like, but the evidence proves the truth: When a church allows women in the pulpit, sooner or later that church begins to stray from the word of God, and eventually it leads to creatures like "Bishop" Budde. All respect to our esteemed hostess, but this is the only thing in her post that I vehemently disagree with.
I would suggest that you look at how Abrahamic religions became macho patriarchies and have consistently covered up the truth since then by saying that they have ALWAYS been as they are now. They were not in the Bronze Age but women were brutally subjugated during the early Iron Age. Iron weapons led to a huge overreaction toward war, violence and patriarchy.
I would suggest you be less concerned with "Abrahamic religions," and more concerned with adherence to the word of God, which is the Holy Bible, not the Talmud or the Qur'an.
I bet David B. Miller doesn’t //think ordaining women is a terrible sin.// I bet he considers it nigh unto “wicked tomfoolery” to have an issue with it.
Macho assholes like Mr. Thompson can’t possibly be pastors and have female colleagues. They cannot be a woman’s equal, let alone a woman’s subordinate. Most of the men around the world that display their macho as much as he does also beat their wives. He would probably self-righteously quote the Holy Bible to authorize wife-beating.
> The same people who were conned by BLM, cowed by politicians during Covid, blind to realities of Biden and immigration and a dozen fucking things-these people STILL can't comprehend that they might be incorrect about political issues. It blows my fucking mind.
This paragraph suggests you're not really heeding your own message here. I'm not "cowed by politicians" on COVID, nor am I "blind to the realities of Biden and immigration". I just... disagree with you about them.
Your point is otherwise well made, though, and certainly true of a lot of people on each side (perhaps sadly the majority).
Yes, how can they be so sure they are correct when they put their fingers in their ears at any different views…it’s inherently a mindset that leads itself to idiotic views
Wrong....it might help if they Listened to some of the people they disagree with but yes I think your point stands
Brilliant essay.
I'm a bit more blunt, having commented that "enabling confused children to mutilate their bodies does not sound very merciful to me", but on the stage of national politics, ANYTHING associated with Trump is immediately derided by 40% of the population, dismissed with wave a hand. All "we" know is that we HATE him.
I'm afraid that the "have mercy, so long as it fits MY style of mercy" approach is more prevalent in our culture than you may think.
Orwell's title was 40 years premature.
This essay is outstanding. We have been put in a compassion trap by those who refuse to engage in the nuances and complexities of the issue. Albert Maysles said, "Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance." I am a pastor and I have seen first hand the manipulation of the Christian virtue of kindness due in large part to our natural aversion to complexity.
The other side of that coin is over-correction: our parents and grandparents were mean to gay people, therefore we can't possibly question anything trans people ask for. (And as for why trans people get the benefit of our collective guilt over gay people... we need a 3-sided coin so we can talk about forced teaming)
Interesting idea. I've heard this same idea to explain Germany's self destruction through immigration from the Muslims that will not assimilate into German society. Now they are recreating the societies that they escaped from. Guilt over what they did to the Jews will not allow the German leaders to criticize the immigrants flowing into their country. Complex, I agree.
And, comedically or perhaps sadly…the Jewish people of Germany feel no longer welcome there partially because of the immigration policies of Germany
So true. I’ve been in that trap for years. It’s invariably populated with words like ‘consensus’, ‘live-and-let-live’ and ‘tolerance’. It’s a state-of-mind, more often than not, forged in countries with democratic traditions and a strong sense of national community. Qualities that automatically assume ‘others’ can always be accommodated and accepted. The reality is that not all of them can. Any concept of ‘neighbourliness’ is rendered ridiculous. Love is impossible and kindness, futile. So I absolutely see through Bishop Budde’s observations and admire Kaeley’s essay greatly. All that said, since I also have reservations about jack-boots and gas chambers, I found Budde’s words welcome, nonetheless.
It works until, “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.”
Nailed it Kaeley... the lunacy is hard to comprehend.
Excellent, many thanks. I forwarded the column to a theology seminary professor who read it and sent back "Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I personally think it was only an 18 exclamation point essay, not the full 20 he awarded it. But, still.
This: "Jesus says, 'Come as you are,' not 'Stay as you are.'"
Two men went to temple to pray, one was a Pharisee, the other a MAGA Republican. The Pharisee looked up to Heaven and and prayed, "I thank God that I am not like other men. I [insert liberal talking points]. . .
Episcopal priest here. May regret identifying myself as such, which just speaks to how thoroughly cancel culture remains embedded in progressive institutions (particularly this one).
There is a way to speak uncomfortable truths in sermons with grace and nuance. It’s important not to be predictable. It’s important to use language that confounds our expectations and takes us beyond standard ways of knowing. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what good preachers should do.
Yes, there is, but was this the time or place for confrontation? To me, this was grandstanding more than anything else and grandstanding is nothing but pride. If the minister had a burning desire to plead that the president be merciful, she could have asked for a private word with him later or sent a letter. But then the world would not have seen her great virtue and courage.
I agree with you.
I do not presume to know the Bishop’s motivations, but her exposition on the values of the Sermon on the Mount, call for unity without uniformity, got the attention of a good , smart, atheist friend of mine and has brought him much closer to faith in Jesus. Had it not been at this public event, he never would have seen it.
I am happy to see this comment. May kindness and mercy follow you [ALL of you, all of US, no exceptions] all the days of your life and may you live in the house of the Lord forever.
Yes, confounding expectations is what Jesus did and taught! Great comment.
Frankly, title and position mean everything to these nutballs like Budde. Her highest achievement is not an intimate relationship with God, not following in her master's footsteps, not loving her neighbor as herself, but "being" the Bishop in the Episcopal church, which is equivalent to being the chief inmate in an insane asylum. Little wonder the pews are almost empty in this denomination.
The Episcopal Church has become the ‘Bud Light’ of Anglicanism. Less filling, looks demonic and tastes awful.
How is lying to children any sort of kindness? https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/lying-to-our-children-hey-all-parents It is no more than a convenient falsehood to claim that children "know themselves" or to believe that some kids are trans because it is impossible to be "born in the wrong body". https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/the-alternative-universe-offered
Great job of cutting through the plastic wrapping that covers all of the news of the day. Having empathy for trans people is not the same as funding the industry that preys on them, standing against illegal immigration doesn't make a person racist or anti immigrant. It is so obvious, but we need people like you who can verbalize it. People like me can only drag it out behind the barn and feed it to the hogs, or throw it from a helicopter.
Well said!
A Substack I follow disappointed me with its positive take on the very passage from Bishop Budde's sermon that is the subject of Ms. Harms' critical piece today. It is titled: "Waiting for a Hero: Who is going to stand up to Trumpism?" [1]
The author, former right-wing radio host turned Never-Trumper and pundit Charlie Sykes, wrote:
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Bishop Marianne Budde may not have been the hero we were waiting for, but she reminded us what one might look like — and the effect she might have.
As a clearly annoyed Trump sat in the pews of the National Cathedral, the Episcopal bishop issued her plea for mercy.
/ / /
Budde has been a critic of Trump in the past, but on Tuesday, she was soft-spoken and her message was actually quite gentle.
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I responded by posting the following comment:
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If the Bishop really cares about gay and lesbian children, she should educate herself about the history of minors who are deeply at odds with their sex and the culturally determined roles that go with it.
Before queer theory and gender theory escaped academia and colonized progressive institutions about five minutes ago, there were no trans children. The health care professionals who worked with gender nonconforming and gender dysphoric youth made two key findings.
First, almost all the patients were boys. Secondly, and more importantly for the purposes of this comment, most of the kids got over their gender difficulties during adolescence, allowing their natural sexual orientation to emerge. It turned out they were gay or lesbian.
There is no reason to think things are different today. If the Bishop and progressives truly care about gay people, they will educate themselves and discover that trans kids do not exist and that transitioning youth who would very likely to grow up to be gay like I did is an unconscionable thing to do.
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Since Sykes is regarded a conservative, it is unlikely many progressives follow his writings. His liberal readers may be closer to the center because Sykes is a conservative. I think those factors explain why my comment did not elicit a powerful negative response. A progressive readership would have been far more triggered by my piece. There were over 200 comments, yet my contribution received only three likes and one critical reply. [2]
This is what the dissenter had to say:
"You don't know what you are talking about. You don't know this Bishop and you don't know the Episcopal church. But now we all know who you are......and it is not a pretty thing. Self loathing needs help. Seek it. "
This type of rhetoric is par for the course for trans activists and devoted trans allies. The readers of this Substack have doubtless encountered it before in its various combinations and permutations. Since she could not censor me (and nobody did it for her), she did the next thing her ilk usually does, which is to discredit me. I hope she returns to her comment, because if she does she will see that she was alone in standing up for the myth of trans kids.
The next two comments were much more reasonable and nuanced:
"I have made this point, and it has been taken as bigoted. But I don't know what's hateful about favoring an approach to gender dysphoria in children that doesn't require drastic bodily alteration and ongoing hormonal maintenance."
"Part of the remedy seems to be reassuring kids that they don't need to conform to gender stereotypes to be a 'real boy' or a 'real girl.' Ironically, gender stereotypes are a core part of transgender orthodoxy, which is ideologically associated with 'gender fluidity.'"
"Saying this does not imply intolerance or disrespect of adults who choose to transition, or those who identify and present as 'nonbinary.' It's about what is really in the long-term best interest of young people who are deeply uncomfortable with their bodily sex."
And:
"I don't disagree with your premise, but it reminds me of Trump not wanting to test for Covid because that just makes the number grow bigger. Point being that with the stigma of trans being a bad thing...there were probably a lot of trans people that were FAR less open about it for fear of reprisal. That's why it appears there were fewer....in some part...not 100% though."
"On the other hand...I agree COMPLETELY that there are kids experimenting with trans for a lot of reasons other than being trans."
While the two readers who responded favorably to my gender critical views did not frame their reply the way a sex realist would, it is reassuring to know that the number of commenters who were pushing back on trans orthodoxy outnumbered the closed-minded trans allies by a ratio of two to one.
[1] https://charliesykes.substack.com/p/waiting-for-a-hero
[2] https://charliesykes.substack.com/p/waiting-for-a-hero/comments
Damn those comments in the Charlie Sykes piece are full of delusional people.
No matter how wrong they are, they never learn because they have the conviction that they’re intellectual sophisticates who are always on the right side of history, no matter how many times the people they vote for and the policies they support are on the wrong side of history.
If you’ve ever been close to a narcissist you can see it very clearly-they are never wrong, and those who do not submit to their perspective on the matter cause a narcissistic injury that leads to demonization of the “adversary”. Logic is not functional when speaking to a person who is so far gone
Many of the commentators only address trans people in their arguments (they mean trans activists, many transgender people have a very different standpoint than the activists) as if Budde was only talking about them.
You make a case that there are few people who actually suffer from gender dysphoria, a viewpoint I largely agree with. But what about them then? No mercy for them either?
Budde talks about "faithful members of our churches" who "pick our crops and clean our office buildings" who now live in fear and are confronted with hate. What about them? No mercy form them because they didn't vote for Trump? Many here argue Budde is not a real Christian and that she's a disgrace to the church. I think it's quite Christian to ask for mercy.
I understand that it makes you uncomfortable to see King Donald in a position where for once he is forced to listen instead of being able to bully. I invite you to read the transcript without seeing the video, her speech is really not much more than an appeal to unity and mercy. Yes, her opinion of Trump is quite clear but the real issue is that president's skin is so thin that he is triggered by a critical Bishop and that his loyal followers blindly come to his defense to the pont where it becomes irrational.