Kathryn Brightbill on U.S. White Evangelicalism in Era of Trump: "A Deeply Immoral Enterprise That Must Be Condemned and Resisted at Every Point"

As people compile lists of events and articles that impressed them in 2017 to share on social media, I happened to notice someone I follow on Twitter (and respect very much) tweeting a link yesterday to Kathryn Brightbill's essay this past August entitled "The Nashville Statement and the Moral Bankruptcy of Evangelicalism." I clicked and read the essay, and am very glad I did so.

My Response to Timothy Keller on Rebranding White U.S. Evangelicalism: Going to Take a Lot More Than Rebranding

A much-needed gloss on Keller's commentary, in my view: he asks if evangelicalism can survive Donald Trump & Roy Moore?

The historical reality: it DID, in fact, survive its fierce opposition to the Civil Rights movement in the mid-20th century. 1)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 22, 2017

 

As an avis rara who has had feet in both the white evangelical and the Catholic world in the U.S., who has been repuidated by the latter, here's my response to Timothy Keller's parsing-and-rebranding proposal to solve the problem that is white evangelicalism in the U.S.:

At Year's End: Discussion of What to Do About the Now-Toxic Brand of White Evangelicalism in the U.S. — A Project That Should Go Well Beyond Rebranding

Wow.

Some eye-popping details from @JonathanMerritt regarding a study of America’s 100 largest churches:

1. None are LGBTQ-affirming

2. 93% are led by a white pastor

3. Only 1 has a female pastor
https://t.co/wtd5jHTFlP

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) December 29, 2017

Among the biggest U.S. religion stories as 2017 ends: the attempt of a significant number of U.S. white evangelicals to distance themselves from the toxic brand that white evangelical Christianity has created for itself at this point in history — as the same percentage of white evangelicals (8 in 10) who voted for the man now in the White House after all we had learned about him then voted for Roy Moore. After all we had learned about him . . . .

Bishop William G. Curlin: Some Last Words (about Pastoral Image and Pastoral Substance)

I don't like beating dead horses — and could not bring myself to beat a live one, either. I do think it's important to make one final statement about Bishop Curlin and why I posted a series of pieces about my dealings with him over the years, and about his record in the Catholic abuse cover-up, at the time of his death.

"Bishops Like Curlin and Cardinal Law, What They Have Done Is Criminal": A Church That Wants to Be Pastoral Must Listen to Testimony of Abuse Survivors

In a 27 April 2002 letter to the Charlotte Observer entitled "In Eyes of Abuse Victims, Bishop Curlin Is No Hero,"* Neal Evans of Asheville, North Carolina, reports that after an initial 1995 meeting with Bishop William G. Curlin to discuss his abuse at the hands of a diocesan priest and after Curlin came to Asheville to issue a public apology to victims of clerical sexual abuse, Evans heard nothing — not a single word — from Curlin in the ensuing seven years. According to Evans, when Evans met with Curlin, Curlin made promises that he failed to keep, including a promise to form a lay advisory committee to advise him about clerical abuse of minors, a committee on which he would place Evans.

What Christmas Means, and Why (White) U.S. Christianity Is in Crisis Now (Hint: It's about Pretend, as Opposed to Real, Pastoral Behavior)

I took my mom to Christmas mass at @StMonica90403 and got a wonderful surprise. The priest announced all were welcome. Rich, poor, young, old, straight... or gay. I had never heard a priest say the word “gay” in a church, let alone with respect. My mom and I began to tear up.

— Rory O'Malley (@RoryOMalley) December 26, 2017

For clergy who don’t think we should be explicit who is and isn’t welcomed in our churches: https://t.co/C5TfT8nTmF

— Broderick Greer (@BroderickGreer) December 26, 2017

Celia Wexler, author of Catholic Women Confront Their Church: Stories of Hurt and Hope (Rowman & Littlefield), in an essay just before Christmas entitled, "Cardinal Law's Papal Sendoff Shows Church's Laxity On Sex Abuse Scandal":

Remembering Bishop William G. Curlin of Charlotte As Eminently Pastoral (There's Still No Room in the Inn for You Queer Catholics) (2)

On 22 January and 3 February 2003, Cardinal Bernard Law was deposed in Boston by attorneys representing abuse survivors. In that deposition, the attorneys deposing Law asked him about Rev. George Berthold and how and why Belmont Abbey College ended up hiring Berthold with the approval of the bishop of Charlotte, William G. Curlin. 

Here are some highlights from that deposition: