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House of Bishops:  On Protest and Federal Policing

8/4/2020

 
The Episcopal Church
Office of Public Affairs
Note: the following information is presented in English and Spanish
Aviso: La siguiente información se presenta en inglés y en español



A Word on Protest and Federal Policing
 
[August 4, 2020] The Episcopal Church House of Bishops met virtually July 28-29, 2020. The following statement was adopted on July 29. While the situation on the ground in Portland has changed, the bishops believe it is important to share their statement about protest and policing:


                                         Blessed be the Lord! *
----------------- for he has shown me the wonders of his love in a
-------------------------- besieged city.—Psalm 31:21
 
 
We bishops gathered virtually on July 28 and 29 in the midst of an unprecedented series of public moments in the United States: an ongoing pandemic causing great physical, emotional, and economic suffering; continuing protests over the use of deadly force by police, especially in communities of color; and an expanding investigation into the depth and extent of systemic racism in our national life and history. Any one of these would be a major disruption in American national life. The confluence of all of them has been truly world-changing, and has left some angry, others hopeful.
 
If there is one event during the time we met which encapsulated all the anxieties and aspirations of U.S. bishops in the House, it is the situation in Portland, Oregon and other cities. Even as we were meeting the mostly nonviolent protests in these cities continue, as does the deployment of unmarked, anonymous federal officers there.
 
We Episcopalians stand in a creative tension with regard to civil authority. We are the inheritors of an established church tradition and so it is our longstanding custom to honor legitimate government. At the same time, we follow One who challenged the civil authority of his own day.
 
The national and international conflicts of the twentieth century have taught us the value of protest and civil disobedience. The Civil Rights movement of the mid-twentieth century was built on Christian social principles. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
 
We certainly share and understand the concern for protection of life and property. What troubles us is the unprecedented nature of the federal response to a largely peaceful protest. The federal forces deployed in Portland and elsewhere are unidentified and patrol in unmarked rental cars. They detain and arrest protesters without probable cause. They are specifically uninvited and rejected by the elected civil authorities of where they are deployed.
 
As bishops we serve both as civic leaders and pastors. We are concerned both for the health of our body politic and for the suffering and injustice we see in our streets. We commit ourselves both to advocate for continued nonviolence on the part of the protesters across the United States and for a return of policing authority to local agencies who are known by and accountable to the people’s elected representatives. Respect for the rule of law cuts both ways: protesters must respect life and property; authorities must abide by due process.
 
The United States is not the first nation to face these challenges, and it will not be the last. But the church cannot remain silent when we see such flagrant abuse of civil power deployed against those who stand for justice and peace and against systemic institutional racism. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian who gave his life standing with those who challenged merciless power masquerading as legal authority, “Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak.”
 
May we all, in our shared witness to the love, justice, and reconciliation proclaimed and embodied in Jesus Christ, do all in our power to return the streets of all our cities to the peace of the heavenly city toward which we walk. And in this time of unique challenges and opportunities, may we continue to hold before us the vision of love and justice which have inspired Jesus and all his followers from his day to ours.
 
 
Cámara de Obispos de la Iglesia Episcopal, julio de 2020:
Una palabra sobre la protesta y la vigilancia policial
 
[4 de agosto de 2020] La Cámara de Obispos se reunió virtualmente los días 28 y 29 de julio de 2020. La siguiente declaración se aprobó el 29 de julio. Si bien la situación sobre actual en Portland ha cambiado, los obispos creen que es importante compartir su declaración sobre la protesta y la policía: 


¡Bendito sea el Señor! *
------------------- me ha demostrado la maravilla de su amor en
-------------------------- ciudad sitiada. —Salmo 31:21
 
 
Los obispos nos reunimos virtualmente el 28 y 29 de julio en medio de una serie de acontecimientos públicos sin precedentes en Estados Unidos: una pandemia persistente que causa un gran sufrimiento físico, emocional y económico; continuas protestas por el uso de la fuerza letal de parte de la policía, especialmente en comunidades de color; y una investigación creciente sobre la profundidad y el alcance del racismo sistémico en nuestra vida e historia nacional. Cualquiera de estos sucesos constituiría una interrupción importante en la vida nacional estadounidense. La confluencia de todos ellos ha cambiado realmente el mundo y ha dejado a algunos enojados y a otros esperanzados.
 
Si hay un evento, [ocurrido] durante el lapso de tiempo en que nos reunimos, que resume todas las ansiedades y aspiraciones de los obispos de EE.UU. en la Cámara, es la situación en Portland, Oregón, y en otras ciudades. Incluso mientras sesionamos, las protestas, en su mayoría no violentas, en estas ciudades continúan, al igual que el despliegue allí de agentes federales anónimos y sin identificaciones.
 
Los episcopales nos mantenemos en una tensión creativa con respecto a la autoridad civil. Somos los herederos de la tradición de una Iglesia establecida, y en consecuencia es nuestra inveterada costumbre honrar al gobierno legítimo. Al mismo tiempo, seguimos a Aquel que desafió a la autoridad civil de su época.
 
Los conflictos nacionales e internacionales del siglo XX nos han enseñado el valor de la protesta y la desobediencia civil. El movimiento de derechos civiles de mediados del siglo XX se edificó sobre principios sociales cristianos. En palabras del Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., «La protesta que infringe la ley no es una desviación de la democracia; es absolutamente esencial a ella».
 
Ciertamente, compartimos y entendemos la preocupación por la protección de la vida y la propiedad. Lo que nos preocupa es la naturaleza sin precedentes de la respuesta federal a una protesta en gran medida pacífica. Las fuerzas federales desplegadas en Portland y en otros lugares no están identificadas y patrullan en autos de alquiler camuflados. Detienen y arrestan a los manifestantes sin causa probable [y] son específicamente indeseados y rechazados por las autoridades civiles electas de los sitios donde se han desplegado.
 
Como obispos, servimos como líderes cívicos y como pastores. Nos preocupa tanto la salud de nuestra clase política como el sufrimiento y la injusticia que vemos en nuestras calles. Nos comprometemos tanto a abogar porque se mantenga la no violencia de parte de los manifestantes en Estados Unidos, como por el regreso de la autoridad policial a las agencias locales que son conocidas de los representantes electos del pueblo y responden a ellas. El respeto al estado de derecho se aplica a ambas partes: los manifestantes deben respetar la vida y la propiedad; Las autoridades deben cumplir con el debido proceso.
 
Estados Unidos no es la primera nación en enfrentar estos desafíos, y no será la última. Pero la Iglesia no puede permanecer callada cuando vemos un abuso tan flagrante del poder civil desplegado contra los que defienden la justicia y la paz y protestan contra el racismo institucional sistémico. En palabras de Dietrich Bonhoeffer, un teólogo que dio su vida por defender a los que desafiaron al poder inmisericorde disfrazado de autoridad legal: «el cristianismo se levanta o cae por su protesta revolucionaria contra la violencia, la arbitrariedad y la soberbia del poder, y por su defensa de los débiles».
 
Que todos, en nuestro testimonio compartido del amor, la justicia y la reconciliación proclamados y encarnados en Jesucristo, hagamos todo lo que esté a nuestro alcance para devolver las calles de todas nuestras ciudades a la paz de la ciudad celestial hacia la cual nos dirigimos. Y en este momento de desafíos y oportunidades únicos, que sigamos teniendo ante nosotros la visión del amor y la justicia que inspirara a Jesús y a todos sus seguidores desde su día hasta el nuestro.
 
On the web/En la red:
Episcopal Church House of Bishops July 2020: A Word on Protest and Federal Policing

Cámara de Obispos de la Iglesia Episcopal, julio de 2020: Una palabra sobre la protesta y la vigilancia policial

Bishop Provenzano Issues Statement on Sin of White Supremacy

5/30/2020

 
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May 30, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we all are witnessing the painful events involving police departments and communities of color, we must once again, and urgently, face squarely the sin of white supremacy. This sin was central to our nation’s founding and is enshrined in — and is at the root of — so much of the rhetoric of the day. It lives itself out in the violence inflicted on communities of color, often at the hands and knees of the police. 

It is also evident that white supremacy promotes a second set of standards on how the population is treated differently in so many instances by the police, at the direction of policy makers. A group of armed white men can surround a state capitol and threaten citizens with almost no negative consequences. But black and brown unarmed people protesting the murder of an unarmed black man by police are met with tear gas and the violence of police in riot gear.

White supremacy continues to break the soul of our nation. Hate has torn apart our better selves and we are witnessing the actions of arrogant bigotry in our streets, our parks, in supermarkets and everyday life. 

The sin of white supremacy has stolen away any claim that we are a great nation. A great nation is built upon the character of great people—faithful, loving people. Echoing our sacred scripture, a great nation is one that liberates and unburdens the historical oppressed and protects us when we are most vulnerable.

The character of our nation is being stained by the hatred of white supremacy, which, because of a history of slavery and worker exploitation, is now baked into all of our systems.

Of course, we are not alone. This history of sin has created a spiritual illness in other nations. But we are responsible for this young nation, and its unique origins often make our work difficult.

Most Americans believe that some sort of law enforcement system, as well as an armed military, is necessary for an ordered society. So if we are going to have these systems, we need to ensure that the individuals in them are willing to free themselves from the bondage of sin.

We cannot project all of our sins onto the police or the State. In one way or another, we all have ingested the poison of white supremacy. However, state-sanctioned violence is very different than individual violence. We cannot permit armed agents of the State to take advantage of their privilege and power and allow them to go unchecked within a racialized system that never really questions—or thinks to question—the choices that keep others oppressed and disadvantaged. That is not the basis for a democracy.

Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd all have paid the ultimate price of that system’s broken and sinful compliance with hate. And every person of color, every black man and woman lives on the edge of becoming a victim to our national crime, our willful ignorance of this sin that stains our nation and keeps us from being great. As a father of three adult children and a grandfather, it breaks my heart to imagine the fear experienced by black families every time a loved one leaves the house.
 
I believe, as a person of faith, that we can overcome this sin. I believe we can choose to live in a nation that corrects the past, redeems the past, and creates a world in which each person is honored and treated as a child of God. The power to initiate this change is present in every living person.

We are endowed by our creator with a capacity to love. We are only later taught to hate, to discriminate, to segregate. We must put aside the lessons that divide and create enmity between people and nations, and we must work to unite people everywhere.  

I call upon you each to live in love, to act in peace, and to be inquisitive and curious of the other and not fearful and rejecting.

Embrace difference as a way to discover more about yourself and your neighbor.
Reject hate and hateful, ignorant speech.

Reject the evil, hate-filled actions and motivations of those who seek to divide people. 
And work—literally work—to build a better world. Begin by praying for the victims of hate, their families and loved ones. Put yourself in their place and repent of the hate, discrimination and bigotry we have been taught.

“Your love must be sincere. Detest what is evil, cling to what is good. Love one another with the affection of brothers and sisters. Anticipate each other in showing respect. Look on the need of the saints as your own; be generous in offering hospitality. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.”
The Letter to the Romans 12: 9 - 10, 13 & 21

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The Right Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano
Bishop of Long Island

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