Reflections on Immigration

I am a former high school history teacher and the descendent of immigrants, most of whom arrived before the the American War of Independence. That combination, along with the fact that I am a Christian, makes me allergic to political demagoguery about immigrants. As we approach the midterms elections, such demagoguery is sadly on display. And, sadly, anti-immigrant anxiety and rhetoric is a thread woven into the fabric of American history.

One half of my ancestors (including those named Gunter) came to America from the Isle of Britain before the Revolutionary War. The other half came from various parts of southwest Germany, also before the War of Independence. Many in the American colonies – maybe some of my British ancestors – found the presence of my German ancestors distressing. No less a figure than Benjamin Franklin found their presence problematic:

“Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it; and . . . seem to think themselves not free, till they can feel their liberty in abusing and insulting their Teachers. . . now they come in droves, and carry all before them, except in one or two Counties; Few of their children in the Country learn English; they import many Books from Germany; and of the six printing houses in the Province, two are entirely German, two half German half English, and but two entirely English; They have one German News-paper, and one half German. Advertisements intended to be general are now printed in Dutch and English; the Signs in our Streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German.”

To be fair, he was not for “refusing entirely to admit” my ancestors:

“Yet I am not for refusing entirely to admit them into our Colonies: all that seems to be necessary is, to distribute them more equally, mix them with the English, establish English Schools where they are now too thick settled.”

– Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), ‘Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson’ (1753)

Anxiety about newcomers, or, in the case of the indigenous population, the original comers – all who seemed “other” – runs deep in our national DNA. As does the political manipulation of that anxiety. Of course it did not stop with the Germans.

Each of the following were at one time the target of outrageous, slanderous fearmongering and accused of being immoral, prone to criminality, and unassimilable:

• the Irish
• the Roman Catholics
• the Italians
• the Eastern Europeans
• the Chinese
• the Japanese
• the Mexicans
• the Jews
• and, of course, those whose ancestors were kidnapped from Africa and enslaved in America – many of who arrived on these shores before the War of Independence.
• Etc.

And the tradition of anxiety, suspicion, and fearmongering continues with new targets like Haitians, Somalis, Muslims, etc.

But there is another, more generous and hospitable, strain in American history.

George Washington (1732-1799):

“May America be an Asylum to the persecuted of the earth!”

– one of 13 toasts (one for each of the original colonies) given by Washington at a celebration on November 25, 1783 as the last British ship left New York harbor marking the end of the Revolutionary War. Quoted in ‘These Truths: A History of the United States’ by Jill Lepore

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable Asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.”

– George Washington (1732-1799), from a letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, 28 May 1788

A tragic “what if” of American history:

“Working closely with [Secretary of War, Henry] Knox, Washington devised a policy designed to create several sovereign Indian ‘homelands.’ He concurred when Knox insisted that ‘the independent tribes of Indians ought to be considered as foreign nations, not as the subjects of any particular State.’ Treaties with these tribes ought to be regarded as binding contracts sanctioned by the federal government, whose jurisdiction could not be compromised: "Indians being the prior occupants possess the right of the Soil. . . To dispossess them . . . would be a gross violation of the fundamental Laws of Nature and of that distributive Justice which is the glory of a nation.’ A more coercive policy of outright confiscation, Washington believed, would constitute a moral failure that ‘would stain the character of the nation.’ He sought to avoid the outcome – Indian removal – that occurred more than forty years later under Andrew Jackson. Instead, he envisioned multiple sanctuaries under tribal control that would be bypassed by the surging wave of white settlers and whose occupants would gradually, over the course of the next century, become assimilated as full-fledged American citizens.”

– ‘His Excellency: George Washington’ (156) by Joseph J. Ellis

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

“As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

– from a letter to his close friend Joshua F. Speed dated August 24, 1855, quoted in ‘Battle Cry of Freedom’ (131) by James McPherson

On the Statue of Liberty

The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
 
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945):

“Remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

– Remarks to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Washington, D.C., April 21, 1938

 Ronald Reagan (1911-2004):

“I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.”

– ‘Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989’

“Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution. We must share this responsibility with other countries. . .

 
· We shall continue America's tradition as a land that welcomes peoples from other countries. We shall also, with other countries, continue to share in the responsibility of welcoming and resettling those who flee oppression.

· At the same time, we must insure adequate legal authority to establish control over immigration: to enable us, when sudden influxes of foreigners occur, to decide to whom we grant the status of refugee or asylee; to improve our border control; to expedite (consistent with fair procedures and our Constitution) return of those coming here illegally; to strengthen enforcement of our fair labor standards and laws; and to penalize those who would knowingly encourage violation of our laws. The steps we take to further these objectives, however, must also be consistent with our values of individual privacy and freedom. Ties With Canada and Mexico

· We have a special relationship with our closest neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Our immigration policy should reflect this relationship.

· We must also recognize that both the United States and Mexico have historically benefited from Mexicans obtaining employment in the United States. A number of our states have special labor needs, and we should take these into account.

· Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status. At the same time, in so doing, we must not encourage illegal immigration.

· We shall strive to distribute fairly, among the various localities of this country, the impacts of our national immigration and refugee policy; and we shall improve the capability of those agencies of the Federal Government which deal with these matters.

· We shall seek new ways to integrate refugees into our society without nurturing their dependence on welfare.

· Finally, we recognize that immigration and refugee problems require international solutions; we will seek greater international cooperation in the resettlement of refugees . . .”
– ‘Statement on United States Immigration and Refugee Policy’, July 30, 1981
 
“A few isolated groups in the backwater of American life still hold perverted notions of what America is all about. Recently in some places in the nation there's been a disturbing reoccurrence of bigotry and violence. If I may, from the platform of this organization, known for its tolerance, I would like to address a few remarks to those groups who still adhere to senseless racism and religious prejudice, to those individuals who persist in such hateful behavior.
 
If I were speaking to them instead of to you, I would say to them, ‘You are the ones who are out of step with our society. You are the ones who willfully violate the meaning of the dream that is America. And this country, because of what it stands for, will not stand for your conduct.’ My administration will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who, by violence or intimidation, would attempt to deny Americans their constitutional rights.”
– Remarks in Denver, Colorado, at the Annual Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, June 29, 1981

Conclusion 

Few of us living in the USA do not have ancestors who were maligned, vilified, made to seem dangerous, made to feel unwelcome, lied about (there were probably some then who knowingly and willfully spread false stories about them to make a point), etc. Demagoguery about immigrants is as old as America. And it continues today. But it has always been wrong. And, as the above quotes show, it has never been the only response.
 
There is a discussion or debate to be had about border policy, immigration policy, welcoming refugees, etc. People of goodwill can disagree about just what the best policies might be. In a democracy that means we gather the best information we can, there is debate, and, usually, some compromise is required – like the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, widely known as the bipartisan Senate border security bill that was proposed in the summer of 2024 but killed for political expediency. It would be wonderful if we could find a way adequately regulate immigration while reclaiming the generous, hospitable vision of those like George Washington and Ronald Reagan.
 
Whatever policies we advocate, advocating for them by misrepresenting and dehumanizing other human beings dehumanizes us. After all, the vast majority of those who come here are simply desirous of security and opportunity for themselves and their families – not unlike my ancestors, and very likely yours.

Defending "Western Christian Civilization"

 Which of these best understands the heritage of “Western Civilization”?

"The thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it – the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride – is the heart of great civilization. And without it? Without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive.”

– Marco Rubio, Remarks from the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, October 7, 2026

Or

“I believe that while statesmen are considering a new order of things, the new order may well be at hand. I believe that it is even now being built, silently but inevitably, in the hearts of masses whose voices are not heard, but whose common faith will write the final history of our time. They know that unless there is belief in some guiding principle and some trust in a divine plan, nations are without light, and peoples perish. They know that the civilization handed down to us by our fathers was built by men and women who knew in their hearts that all were brothers because they were children of God. They believe that by His will enmities can be healed; that in His mercy the weak can find deliverance, and the strong can find grace in helping the weak.”

– Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945), Letter to Pope Pius XII, December 23, 1939

Passion, strength, courage, pride vs universal brotherhood, healing of enmity, and caring for the weak – these are two very different understandings of our cultural heritage. Only one of them reflects the Christian influence on that heritage.

In the Bible and the Christian tradition:

    Passion is a synonym for sinful, selfish craving

    Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins

    The best example of courage is martyrdom

    The only strength that really matters is the strength to love

In the New Testament thumos = sinful anger or wrath, something we “must put away” (cf. Romans 2:8, 2 Corinthians 12:20, Galatians 5:20, Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:8)

These are not the values we want to endorse.

False Gods and Idolatry

Providence Lithograph Company - http://clipart.christiansunite.com

We humans are fragile, fallible, faulty, finite, and fearful beings. We bruise, we break, we bleed, we die.  And so, we create idols because we long for protection and security. The God who is does not readily offer the kind of security we want. Rather, God offers the scandal and foolishness – the “weakness” – of the cross. We want power and safety. We desire ease. False gods offer us these. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ offers love. False Gods offer certainty. The true God offers not certainty, but clarity and confidence. Idols and false gods promise protection from the changes and chances of life and maybe even from death. God offers us life – abundant, eternal life – but only by way of the cross, self-surrender, dying to self. Jesus does promise victory over death and all the powers of death that would threaten or oppress us. And there is our freedom. And our hope. But we can only access that victory as he did – through dying with him and living in his Life.
 
It is possible to belong to the church and say the creeds while actually giving our hearts or some portion of them to a false idol/god. These are the main idols/gods that are competing for our loyalty or that have established “squatters’ rights” in our lives and in our minds. Are these the gods we really worship?
 
Mammon
The Market

      The pursuit of wealth
The celebration of wealth and the wealthy

      Stinginess
Putting profit above other concerns
Denial of the spiritual hazards of wealth accumulation
Denial of the social hazards of wealth accumulation
Denial of the ecological hazards of wealth accumulation
Blessing greed and economic self-interest
 
Mars
All celebration of violence

      Glorification of war
Will to power
Collateral damage
Bullying – physical and verbal
Domination
Exploitation
Coercion
Vengeance
Giving ourselves over to Anger
Militarism
Blessing anger that demeans or harms others by word and deed
 
Hedone
Pursuing pleasure (not just sexual) for its own sake, especially when it is at the expense of others 

      Self-indulgence
Comfort
Consumerism
Turning away from the suffering of others and the destruction of creation (sometimes caused by our very pursuit of our own cravings)
Blessing lust, gluttony, and sloth (the neglect of loving God and loving neighbor through business, distraction, inconvenience, etc.)
 
Narcissus
Individualism/Autonomy of the self
The myth of the self-made person
The notion that we are or can be “free agents,” belonging to nothing or no one, only accountable to and responsible for others by our own choice
Spirituality as an individual choice independent of tradition/community
Technological hubris
Consumerism
The denial of this basic truth: "God hath created nothing simply for itself, but each thing in all things, and every thing each part in other have such interest, that in the whole world nothing is found whereunto any thing that is created can say, 'I need thee not.'”
– Richard Hooker (1554-1600), 'Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity'
 
Volk Geist (The Spirit of the People)
Loyalty to nation, race, ethnicity, party, faction, etc. that shapes our love for some over others
All toxic solidarity
Othering
Racism

      Kinism
Ethnocentrism
Xenophobia
Nationalism
 
How to Wean Ourselves from False Gods?
 
False gods and idols can insinuate themselves into our imaginations such that it can be hard to see them as such and to uproot them. Maybe it is not simply either or. We might be unconscious polytheists who rely more on one or another god depending on the circumstances. Or maybe, in our heart of hearts, we invoke all the gods including the Christina God to cover our bases, like some ancient magic formulas did. 

      There are three related spiritual practices that might help. One is watchfulness. This goes back to the early Desert Fathers and Mothers. It involves constantly monitoring the inner thoughts and emotions and cravings that bubble up from our hearts. Along with watching for things like the Seven Deadly Sins, we can interrogate our allegiances and wean ourselves from loyalties things other than Jesus Christ. We can examine our attachments to possessions and status and cultivate detachment from all that is not of Christ. The related practice of examination or the daily review of the last 24 hours is another helpful practice. We can, as the fourth step of A. A. A. calls for, we can “make a searching and fearless moral inventory” of what or who we truly have given our hearts to. We can
 
·       Notice what makes us react in anger, fear, or despair when it is threatened or lost.
·       Ask ourselves what we rely on for peace, identity, or joy instead of God.
·       Analyze where our money, free time, and thoughts naturally flow.
 
Meditating on Scripture is also essential. We can pay particular attention to those things in the Bible that make us uncomfortable. We can ask, why does this make me squirm and want to find an interpretation that will enable me to avoid living it?
 
Regular attentive participation in worship can orient us toward the promises of God and away from the false promises of false gods.
 
Finally, prayer is fundamental. Sinking our hearts into the heart of God and asking God to shape our hearts in the shape of his will enable us to see better those places where false gods threaten to warp them into their image.
 
We can, with God’s help, wean ourselves from false idols and false gods and their counterfeit promises of certainty and security. We can find our hope and security in the clarity of God’s promise that there is nothing that separate us from the love of God in Christ. And we can “be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us[a] and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Evangelical Liberal Catholic Anglican

The Rt. Rev. Charles Grafton (1830-1912), the 2nd Bishop of Fond du Lac, described himself as “Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholics.” I like that and am happy to describe myself in those terms. Each of the historic dioceses of Wisconsin have roots in the catholic Anglican tradition going back to Bishop Jackson Kemper’s embrace of a “Reformed Catholic” church.

This is also more or less the position of other Anglican worthies of the 20^th century: Francis Hall, Charles Gore, Evelyn Underhill, William Temple, Vida Dutton Scudder, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, Austin Farrer, E. L. Mascall, Michael Ramsey, Desmond Tutu, and Kenneth Leech. We might add contemporary folk like John Milbank, Stanley Hauerwas, Sarah Coakley, and Rowan Williams. Though there are differences among them, each of these of these is fundamentally Catholic in orientation while also being informed by some Liberal and Evangelical approaches to faith.

What might it look like for us to be Catholic Anglicans in the 21^st century? Can we be “Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholics”?

Catholic

Church, the Body of Christ:

We understand the divine-human drama to be centered not on the individual but on the community of the Church. While not strictly a matter of either/or, it does matter where we put the emphasis. By the Holy Spirit, God calls us into community where we learn to love one another as God loves us and empowers us to bear that love in the world. We learn to see our solidarity with all people and the rest of creation. As the body of Christ the Church is, in a mystical sense, an extension of the Incarnation. In, with, and under that community, the Holy Spirit moves like an electric current empowering the Church to make our “life together a sign of Christ’s love to this sinful and broken world, that unity may overcome estrangement, forgiveness heal guilt, and joy conquer despair” (BCP, p. 429). We seek to live together in anticipation of the Kingdom of God and the restoration of all things. We embrace the mission of the Church “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (BCP, p. 855).

We will recognize the Church as central to the mission of God in the world, bearing witness to, and seeking to live in anticipation of, the Kingdom of God. It is the body of Christ and contrary to the rampant individualism of our age we will affirm that the fullness of our personal relationship with Jesus depends on our being members of that body. And that wherever people are on their spiritual journey that journey finds its clearest direction in baptism and as members of the Church. The Church is the community established by Jesus to bear witness to the reconciliation and healing of human brokenness. As such it is not insular but rather the place where we learn to see our solidarity with all people and the rest of creation.

Being Catholic Anglicans also means recognizing and celebrating that the church is not bound by time or place. For us that means that we are not just members of congregations, dioceses, or national churches, but members of the Anglican Communion.

The Church is essential. But we have no illusions of it being anything other than a treasure-bearing clay jar (2 Corinthians 4:7). We recognize that the Church has not always embodied well the love and peace of Christ. And we repent.

We acknowledge that the Church is not a closed circle but must remain open in humility to seeing what the Holy Spirit is doing elsewhere in the world. The Holy Spirit is not limited to the Church, of course. It blows where it will. But wherever else it blows, we can count on it blowing through the baptized community that is the Church.

Worship:

We place worship, particularly, the Eucharist, at the center of our lives. When we are baptized into Christ, we are made a member of his body, the Church. As the body of Christ, the Church is called to witness to and be a sign and foretaste of the kingdom of God. The central sign and practice of this body is the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the body of Christ, the Church, is nourished by the body of Christ in the bread and wine. We remember what God has done in Christ and anticipate God’s restoration of all things in Christ. And we participate in Christ and are nourished by his body and blood. The Church is thus a Eucharistic community living in remembrance and anticipation, nourished by its participation in Christ along the way. But, partaking of the body of Christ in the Eucharist also entails judgment. Is the community – and its members – living eucharistically as the body of Christ?

Sacramental:

We embrace the centrality of the sacraments in the life of the Church and their transforming power. This is particularly true of the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist by which Christians are formed. We embrace the sacramental life of the Church. We believe in the potency of Baptism and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

We also understand that sacramentality is not only something about what happens to the consecrated Bread and Wine or the water of baptism, important as they are. We learn through our involvement with the Sacraments to see the whole of creation and one another sacramentally as potential means of God’s grace.

The Christian vision is that all creation and every human being is sacramental. The universe, including all humanity, is a vast interlocking web of glory, charged with the grandeur of God. All things participate in and manifest God. Not just grand vistas and glorious sunsets, but every tree, plant, and animal. And especially each human being along with the whole human community. Creation vibrates with God who is in, with, and under it all, sustaining and cherishing everything. The stuff of creation, like some bread and wine, can bear the Presence of God. Jesus came to heal the damage done to all of this by sin and to restore our ability to see all of creation, including every human being, with God’s delight.

Apostolic Tradition:

The Baptismal Covenant calls us to “continue in the apostles’ teaching.” We embrace a robust and unapologetic affirmation of the classic creedal faith of the Church. Anglican Christianity, trusting that the Holy Spirit continues to move in the Church, looks to the tradition of the Church for guidance, particularly the first five centuries. Tradition is not the dead weight of the past but rather the momentum of centuries of Spirit-led faithfulness giving us direction and propelling us forward.

We engage the tradition of the church not as a problem to be overcome, but a community across time to which we belong and with which it is possible to dialogue. We are not be bound to a simple repetition of the past in all things. Tradition is not static. The Church needs to engage in careful, prayerful, patient discernment to avoid and resist unfaithful deviation. The basic dogma of the Church is set. But there is adaptation and development in some matters of practice. Still, we will seek continuity with the Apostles in communion with the Saints who encourage us as we run the race in our time.

Though not universally the case, we have by and large come to embrace and celebrate women in ordained ministry and tend to be more affirming of those of the LGBTQ community.

Practices:

We seek to cultivate a catholic ethos that will open our hearts and lives to the movement of the Holy Spirit and enable us to resist the spiritually corrosive effects of secularism and consumerism. We seek to reclaim classic practices disciplines that open our lives to God’s mercy and delight? Practices such as: Daily Prayer and devotion, Spiritual Direction, Confession, Regular Fasts, Observance of Holy Days, Sabbath, Commemoration of the Saints, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, etc.

Comprehensive:

A truly catholic Anglican Christianity is characterized by what Rowan Williams calls a “passionate patience” that is reticent to declare too handily exactly how God is to be defined or to presume too easily to know what God desires in all instances. It is a tradition that does not avoid issues of sin, guilt, repentance, and judgement. And as we have seen in earlier posts, it takes seriously the beliefs of the Church and the call to discipleship and holiness. But Anglicans are more likely to start with grace rather than shame or fear. Ours is a tradition that rejoices in God’s grace revealed in Jesus Christ, and from that embraces spiritual disciplines that enable us to live more fully in that grace. As Charles Williams says of Christianity generally, the Anglican tradition embraces an understanding of the faith characterized by generosity and “largesse”.

Our tradition does not look back only to the early and medieval church for wisdom. We are also a church shaped by the insights of the Protestant Reformation We seek to be comprehensive and catholic enough to embrace the wisdom from various Christian traditions – and even wisdom from non-Christian traditions when it is compatible with the creeds.

Liberal

Generous:

We seek to be liberal in its purest sense – a spirit of generosity which makes space for the broadest diversity of views possible within the context of creedal Christian faith. As Chareles Williams wrote, “[Christian doctrine] is a largesse of spirit―courtesy, generosity, humility, charity” (The Figure of Beatrice).

Social Justice:

We seek to be generous toward the poor and oppressed. While not beholden to a particular political or economic ideology, program, or party, we are committed to being on the side of human rights and the uplift of all humanity – particularly the poor the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the forgotten. We might well disagree on the means to such ends and our liberality will include honoring such disagreement.

Receptive to Scientific Discovery and Wisdom Discerned from Creation:

We embrace the intended goodness of creation recognizing all of creation as the object of God’s delight showing forth God’s glory. Confident of the truth revealed in scripture, interpreted by the tradition. and summarized in the creeds, we also avail ourselves of whatever creation reveals about itself and thus about its Maker and about us as part of creation. We do not fear that new learning is a threat to Christian faith even if it might sometimes compel us to take a new look at aspects of the face. We accept the evidence that creation includes a process of evolution and that creation – including humanity – exhibits a surprising and extravagant diversity.

Humility:

Liberality was not based on an attempt to accommodate secularism or appease Christianity’s cultured despisers. Rather, it was rooted in deep humility. And humility is a fundamental Christian virtue. As Rowan Williams has written, “There is in the Anglican identity a strong element of awareness of the tragic, of the dark night and the frustration of theory and order by the strangeness of God's work . . . the result is a mixture of poetry, reticence, humility before mystery, local loyalties and painful self scrutinies” (Anglican Identities, p. 6).

Evangelical

Prima Scriptura:

We are committed to engaging with scripture together. We understand the scriptures to be “the word of God because God inspired their human authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible” (BCP, 853). “We understand the meaning of the Bible by the help of the Holy Spirit, who guides the Church in the true interpretation of the Scriptures” (BCP, 853-854). We can recognize that the Bible is not the only means by which God reveals himself to us. We are more prima scriptura than sola scriptura. We look to the Bible first in order to know the mind and character of God, to understand the world and our place in it. We do not do so uncritically or by imposing theories of what kind of book it must be. We expect the Sprit to speak to us through the scriptures, but we do not think that mean it must be read in a wooden, literalistic way.

Joy in the Gospel:

We rejoice in the Christian gospel, the good news of redemption in Jesus Christ. We seek to embody a humble, generous, and hospitable spirit full of confidence in the hope of the gospel. We desire to fall in love again (and again) with the One who first loved us and demonstrated that love in the Incarnation and on the cross.

Sharing the Good News:

We are confidence that we have Good News to share. And that people outside (as well as inside) the Church need to hear that Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, continues to transform lives and will transform the world. Archbishop William Temple defined evangelism this way, “Evangelism is the presentation of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in such ways that persons may be led to believe in Him as Savior and follow Him as Lord within the fellowship of His Church.”

Conclusion

An Anglican Catholic expression of Christianity that is Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholic is authentically and unapologetically Christian, while embracing humility, generosity, expansiveness, and adaptability. It is committed to worshiping the triune God in the beauty of holiness and in the pursuit of personal holiness, to holy community as the body of Christ, and to being a leavening presence of the peaceable kingdom of God in the world. I think it is a faithful expression of Christian faith.

See also: Anglicanism is . . .

That Way vs This Way

 

“We live in a world, in the real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

– Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor, CNN interview, January 5, 2026

 
Yesterday, the President of the United States of America stood before the world and declared, “To the victor belong the spoils”
 
Those proverb-like sayings represent one way to be in the world. But there is a better way.
 
Here are some proverbs spoken from the heart of God. Shape your life and politics around these. And measure the leaders and movements you support against them.
 
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
(Matthew 16:24)
 
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
(Matthew 5:7)
 
“If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
(Matthew 5:22)
 

"On the day of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter."

(Matthew 12:36"

“If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
(Matthew 5:39)
 
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
(Matthew 5:44)
 
“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
(Luke 6:14)
 
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
(Luke 6:36)
 
 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth”
(Matthew 6:24)

"First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye."

(Matthewn 7:5)
 
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
(Matthew 19:24)
 
 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21)
 
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
(Matthew 6:33)
 
 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
(Matthew 6:34)
 
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”
(Matthew 7:1-2)
 
“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
(Matthew 10:16)
 
“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
(Matthew 20:16)
 
“What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.
(Matthew 15:18)
 
“All who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
(Matthew 26:52)
 
“If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
(Matthew 15:14)
 
“A tree is recognized by its fruit.”
(Matthew 12:33)

"Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.”

(Matthew 25:40)
 
“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
(Matthew 7:26)

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

(Matthew 7:21)

What Does God Hate?

The Lt. Gov. of Indiana, Micah Beckwith, recently preached a sermon on “How to Hate Properly.” It is a theme he appears to be fond of. In an interview last May, he said Americans should be given “permission to hate again” and that “God hates certain things.”

That prompted me to do an old fashioned Bible word search for things God hates and things maybe we should and should not hate. Curiously, they do not seem to be the things that most agitates the Lt Governor.

I don't think I've missed any. I included related words in the search like detests. I’ve also included passages that suggest hate might not be the passion we most need to cultivate.

There are other ways than using the actual word by which the Bible indicates things of which God disapproves. But this seems a good place to start. And I would take people like Micah Beckwith more seriously if they seemed to take the following seriously.

Deuteronomy 12:31

You shall not do so to the Lord your God; for every abominable thing which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

Deuteronomy 16:22

And you shall not set up a pillar [idol], which the Lord your God hates.

Deuteronomy 29:17

and you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them.

Psalm 5:5

The boastful may not stand before thy eyes;

thou hatest all evildoers.

Psalm 11:5

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates him that loves violence.

Psalm 22:23-24

You who fear the Lord, praise him!

all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted;

and he has not hid his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

Psalm 31:6

Thou hatest those who pay regard to vain idols; but I trust in the Lord.

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 69:32-33

Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

Psalm 102:17

he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.

Psalm 119:104

Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:113

I hate double-minded men, but I love thy law.

Psalm 119:128

Therefore I direct my steps by all thy precepts; I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:163

I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things which the Lord hates,

seven which are an abomination to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

a false witness who breathes out lies,

and a man who sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 8:12-14

I, wisdom, dwell in prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate

[perverted speech = that which distorts reality to mislead, manipulate, or tear others down]

I have counsel and sound wisdom,

I have insight, I have strength.

Proverbs 13:5

A righteous man hates falsehood, but a wicked man acts shamefully and disgracefully.

Proverbs 14:21

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner, but happy is he who is kind to the poor.

Isaiah 1:14-17

Your new moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me,

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread forth your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your doings

from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

defend the fatherless,

plead for the widow.

Isaiah 61:8

For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrong

Jeremiah 33:4-5

Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods.

Ezekiel 20:7

And I said to them, Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

Amos 5:21-24

“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings,

I will not accept them,

and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts

I will not look upon.

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an everflowing stream.

Zechariah 8:16

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the Lord.

Malachi 2:16

“For I hate divorce, says the Lord the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.”

Luke 14:26

“If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 16:13-15

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Those who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him. But he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination [bdelyktos, sometimes translated as “detestable”] in the sight of God.

John 12:25

He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Revelation 2:6

Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. [The Nicolaitans were a group apparently given to idolatry and sexual license]

Romans 12:9-10

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

[The whole of Romans 12 is a summary of what it means to “hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.”]

Whatever it might mean to “hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good” it must be practiced in light of the following:

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 69:32-33

Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

Psalm 102:17

he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.

Proverbs 14:21

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner, but happy is he who is kind to the poor.

Matthew 18:10

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Luke 18:9

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

Romans 14:3

Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him.

Romans 14:10

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;

1 John 2:9

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother or sister is in the darkness still.

1 John 2:11

But he who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 3:15

Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 4:20

If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

1 Thessalonians 5:13-22

Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.

Ephesians 4:30-32

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

James 3:8-10

but no human being can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

1 Peter 3:15

but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence;

Philippians 4:5

Let all men know your forbearance.