Always Reforming

Another day, another black man dead at the hands of the police. The well-warranted response has unequivocally condemned the misdeeds of the four officers involved and called for their prosecution.  Social media is replete with calls for action, for change, for justice.  Our nation is in an uproar once again. As a white man, situations like this leave me sad and confused.  I never know quite how to react.  I know that, first of all, we need to make sure that we don't conflate all stories of violence against black men.  Each story is unique and needs to be viewed individually.  We may notice the pattern that these stories demonstrate, but we need to acknowledge every victim and every perpetrator.  We need to weigh the evidence in each and every case. I also know that the problem of police brutality is not exclusively a racial issue.  I am willing to acknowledge that police brutality towards black men may be disproportionate, but the reality i...

There's a lot that I don't know, but one thing I do know is that 2020 will go down as a year of infamy.  This seems to be the consensus these days.  You may believe that COVID-19 is our century-defining pandemic, or you may be convinced that Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci manufactured a crisis to further their vaccine agenda, but you undoubtedly feel that the events of 2020 will ripple into the decades to come.  Finally, we've found something upon which we can all agree! I think we can also agree that crises reveal character.  Yes, crises can also build character, but they ultimately reveal it.  They unveil our constitution, showing us who and what we really are.  This pandemic is no exception.  In a world dominated by social media the COVID-19 pandemic quickly became political.  Information spread as rapidly as misinformation, virtue-signalers and libertarians engaged in heated meme warfare, and people engineered masks from all kinds of asinine o...

Let me ask you a question.  Do you believe that the McMichaels deserve a fair trial? Think about your answer for a moment. Now, allow me to rephrase it. Do the McMichaels, human beings and citizens of the United States, deserve the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law? If you say No , you are denying the most fundamental principle of our justice system. Let me be clear.  I think it is likely that the McMichaels are guilty of a heinous crime.  I believe that they should be tried in a court of law, and, if convicted, be punished for that crime. Again, let me be clear.  Public outcry was warranted.  They should have been (and now have been ) charged and put on trial for their acts. But they do deserve that trial.  They deserve to have their day in court. Even war criminals get a trial. Even serial killers get a trial. Even terrorists get a trial. Even the McMichaels deserve a trial. And these trials are not me...

After watching (and rewatching) the video showing the terrible death of Ahmaud Arbery , here are my initial thoughts. 1) The video isn't as clear as people are saying it is.  The video really only captures the last moments of the situation.  What we do know is that two men made decisions that resulted in the death of another man.  They should stand trial and be punished accordingly.  Right or wrong, I suspect that they will be convicted of manslaughter. 2) We can't read hearts or minds.  We do not know what their precise motivation was.  It is unlikely, however, that they randomly decided to murder a jogger because he was black. 3) It is likely that Mr. Arbery's skin color contributed to his death and the lack of charges brought against his killers. 4) Racism exists, but not all white people are racists, nor is every crime committed against a black person racially motivated.  We need to let this case be its own case.   5) ...

The fifth and final installment of this series will (I hope) encapsulate everything that I have said so far.  There is one final element of the Anglican spirit that I have struggled to put into words, but I think that it underlies almost everything that I like about Anglicanism.  This element is their comfort with mystery. I have done my best throughout this series to avoid insulting Presbyterianism (I apologize if I have failed), but I am trying to describe Anglicanism from my own perspective, so I have often contrasted Anglicanism and Reformed Presbyterianism.  Of the many things that I like about Anglicanism, this comfort with mystery is probably where they contrast most starkly with their Presbyterian brethren.  Presbyterianism, as is the case with many Reformed traditions, emphasizes the intellect.  Some would say that they are overly-intellectual.  To their credit, they have intentionally emphasized doctrine in a world, and a Church, that has abando...