The successor of the likes of John Chane takes her opportunity:
President Donald Trump blasted Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, after she directed politically charged remarks towards him during an interfaith service of prayer for the country at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, the day after Trump’s inauguration.
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President,” she said. “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and [transgender] children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
I’ve said for a long time that the Episcopal Church is singularly unsuited for social justice work, being as it is the church of an elite, white demographic. This is why she put the LGBT community front and centre: they are the first demographic elevated enough to populate her pews (but given the way the Episcopal Church’s numbers are going, it’s not working that well.) And, of course, you have to factor the numerous gay conservatives, like those whose confirmation is wending its way through the Senate…
She gets around to the immigrants, but my bet is that there are far more Evangelical and Pentecostal pastors–to say nothing of the Roman Catholics–who are worried about the immigration status of their flock than Episcopal ones. To once again steal a line from Liberation Theology, the church cannot have the preferential option for the poor unless it is the preferential option of the poor, and the Episcopal Church was and is not.
While we on the subject of Washington things, we have this:
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday night revoking the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who falsely claimed emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop were Russian “disinformation” to help Joe Biden’s 2020 election prospects. The directive also pulls the security clearance of John Bolton, who served as national security advisor in Trump’s first term.
As someone who at one time held a security clearance, I find it outrageous that anyone who holds a security clearance while working for the government or a government contractor would be able to continue to hold the security clearance–and retain the classified documents–after they leave the employ of the government or contractor. That was the core of one of the government’s lawfare cases against Donald Trump. How is it possible to properly secure these documents? (And it’s not just Trump, but Biden and Pence and…) Had both the clearance and the ability to retain the documents ended with his first time in office, the situation would be a lot cleaner. It’s time to stop this practice for good.
Positive Infinity 
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