The Blinne Blog

Redefining Hypocrisy

Update 11/18/2003: I have added another quote and made my arguments clearer.

Rush Limbaugh came back today. Here were some of his public comments.

You can boil it down to one real simple essence: I can't be responsible for anybody's happiness but my own, and if I allow somebody else the power to determine my happiness, then...well...that's something I don't want to do. I can't do any longer. I put myself first. Doesn't mean be rudely selfish. It just means I can't depend on other people to make me happy. I have to do that myself. I'm the only one who has control over that. And I have to admit that I am powerless over this addiction that I have. I used to think I could beat it with force of will. I used to think that I would be different, but I'm not.

...

There's also part of me that wonders if I need to apologize. There are people I need to apologize to. When it comes to apologizing to you, those of you in this audience, I think of my statement on Friday before I left that I'm not a victim here and I'm not a role model. What I did I did knowingly. What I did, I did because I wanted to do it, but I knew it was wrong the whole time. It's a powerful addiction this stuff has over me, and it's something that I'm, as I say, am going to be dealing with on a daily basis, and I'm excited to be doing it as well. But the thing that I want you all to know is that the effort that I put forth during that period of time was not affected.

Later in the program Rush dealt with the touchy issue of hypocrisy.

"I was a drug addict from about 1996, 1995 or whatever, to just five weeks ago," Limbaugh said Monday. "The truth of the matter is I avoided the subject of drugs on this program for the precise reason that I was keeping a secret."
...
"Just because I may have been doing something that appeared to be contradictory to what I was suggested others do doesn't mean that what I was suggesting others do was wrong," Limbaugh said. "Critics want to harp on all this hypocrisy, there is no hypocrisy in this."

I am sorry, Rush, but that doesn't acquit you of hypocrisy. Let me slow down the argument and show why. Merely because the moral position you are arguing for is right does not acquit you of hypocrisy — here defined of suggesting one standard for others and another for yourself. In fact, such a hypocrisy is very insidious. That is because the moral position that you are arguing for gets tainted. This is no different from a pastor rightly arguing against adultery and then committing it. This causes people to stay away from the faith. Rush cannot have it both ways now. Now he is saying he is not a role model while all during the period of 1995 on he was repeatedly telling us that he was "a role model for the yutes (youth) of America". Merely being quiet about drugs during that period is not good enough.

Jesus interacted with both libertines — those who argue for a lower standard to justify their behavior — and hypocrites — those who affirm the proper standard but deny they violate it. At first blush it would seem that it would be the libertines that Jesus would have been most concerned with. But, it was the hypocrites with which he had the greater criticism. Why? Because while both tear down the fabric of God's Law, hypocrisy gets in the way of the forgiveness of others and forgiveness from God. When we fail we can possibly connect with the frailty of others and also reach out to Jesus to save us from our desparate condition. Hypocrisy short circuits all of that.

Hopefully, this experience will cause Rush to have compassion and forgiveness for those who are weak. So far, all I see is what the former Rush would have labelled psychobabble. Rush tells us only he can make himself happy. This insulates him from appropriate criticism. The irony of all this is that when we do admit to our hypocrisy and failures then we can truly achieve happiness. Unlike the private sin he admits to, hypocrisy is a public sin. As such, Rush should apologize for it specifically to his listeners. This means that he must take a risk that those who don't have his best interests at heart will take advantage of it. Rush doesn't need to be a linguine-spined liberal but a compassionate conservative would sure be nice.

New Open Source Project Dealing with Blog Spamming

A new open source project called blam! is starting up. I plan on helping out here and help kill this scourge before it gets out of hand. I also plan on contacting Six Apart to see if we can get Typepad to work with this. If you are both a blogger and a programmer please consider helping out here.

Bloggers of the world, unite!

AAC President: Oversight Plan Inadequate

As illustrated by the following story, the President of the American Anglican Council, a group of conservative Episcopalians, declared the proposed alternative oversight inadaquate because it could be vetoed by liberal clerics.

"One of the major problems identified in the Supplemental Episcopal Care Plan was the inclusion of the local diocesan bishop's permission as a necessary component," Canon Anderson explained. "Any plan requiring the local diocesan bishop to give approval will not work and is not adequate to those who would receive the oversight. Canon law and custom notwithstanding, the solution must have an over ride of the local bishop if he or she is not willing to cooperate." All parties recognized that the ultimate accountability for such a plan lies with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates and that means for implementation must be developed quickly.

Major Rift in New Zealand

Fairfax New Zealand Limited is reporting a rift concerning the invitation of former Bishop John Shelby Spong to Christchurch, New Zealand.

A rift has developed in Christchurch's Anglican community, with a third of the church's city vicars rebelling against the visit of radical American Bishop John Spong.

The speaking engagement by the outspoken proponent of liberal views on sexuality and theology issues, in the Christchurch Cathedral tomorrow, has outraged 29 local vicars, who have signed a protest statement claiming Bishop Spong's views are destroying the Anglican faith.

Bishop Spong has alienated church people who claim he has questioned belief in God, denied traditional Christian teachings on the divinity and resurrection of Christ, and espoused liberal sexual ethics.

He publicly supported the recent ordination of New Hampshire's gay bishop, Gene Robinson. The international backlash from this has divided the church and prompted many to leave.

The invitation to Bishop Spong, from the Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Reverend Peter Beck, prompted 16 local ministers to write in protest to the dean last week. They subsequently met the dean to oppose the invitation but failed to have it overturned.

The group's spokesman, Sumner-Redcliffs vicar Ron Hay, said a quick ringaround in the Christchurch Diocese attracted an extra 13 ministers to the protest by yesterday.

The 29 ministers were about a third of the region's clergy. They included the vicars of three of the four largest parishes.

Ex-Archbishop: Incalculable Damage Done

The AP is reporting on a letter sent to the Times of London by former Archbishop Carey:

London, Nov. 6--(AP) The consecration of an openly gay bishop in America's Episcopal Church has done "incalculable" damage to the global Anglican Communion, former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said in a letter published Thursday. However, he urged all factions in the communion to hold together and strengthen their "bonds of affection."

In a letter to The Times of London newspaper, Carey said he shared the distress of conservative evangelicals following Sunday's consecration of Gene Robinson as Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism.

Subsequently, Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, speaking in the name of the "Global South" of the communion, said he would no longer participate in any meetings with Episcopal leaders.

"I can only share the principled distress of the primates of the Global South and others who have expressed themselves so strongly in recent days," Carey wrote. "They are surely right to do so. The damage done to ecumenical relations, interfaith dialogue and the mission of the worldwide church is incalculable."

Episcopal parish in an uproar over dismissal of its priest

The AP is reporting that Episcopal parish in an uproar over dismissal of its priest

CONCORD, N.H. — An Episcopal priest opposed to having a gay bishop has been removed as interim pastor of the Church of the Redeemer in Rochester, the church treasurer said Friday.

Kathy Lewis said members of the church´s executive committee were told Thursday night that Bishop Douglas Thuener had removed the Rev. Don Wilson. Wilson opposed the consecration last weekend of Bishop V. Gene Robinson, as do many of the church´s roughly 60 members.

Lewis said Wilson had clashed repeatedly with Theuner over Robinson´s elevation, which has divided both the U.S. Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion to which it belongs.

Homophobia and Religious Liberty

Today's Denver Post is reporting on a case where a woman is forbidden to teach so-called homophobia. The argument for the Pledge of Allegiance case is based on the principle that the state ought not abridge parental rights — particularly the attempt to inculcate their religious beliefs to their children. This case is far more direct. In the case of the pledge, an optional statement was at hand. Here we have a court order. Thus, the state is directly inserting themselves into this issue. From my standpoint, this is facially unconstitutional.

Mom can't teach hate of gays
But Christian fighting clause in custody pact

By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Religion Writer

Thursday, November 06, 2003 -

A Denver woman is fighting a judge's order that she must shield her adopted daughter from any "homophobic" religious teachings as part of a contentious joint custody agreement with a woman who once was her lesbian partner, court documents show.

Cheryl Clark, a Denver physician, broke off the relationship with Elsey McLeod after converting to Christianity, according to court records and interviews.

Clark fears she will be limited in raising the 8-year-old girl in the faith, which Clark believes condemns homosexuality, said Matthew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel in Orlando, Fla., which takes up conservative Christian legal causes.

Clark last week appealed the April 28 custody order from Denver District Judge John Coughlin.

The order gives Clark responsibility for the girl's religious upbringing. In dispute is a clause that says Clark is to "make sure that there is nothing in the religious upbringing or teaching that the minor child is exposed to that can be considered homophobic."

The order notes that evidence in the case shows the two women "will never be able to agree regarding the religious upbringing" of the child.

The Liberty Counsel became involved - and brought the case to light - by filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Clark's appeal in October.

The Colorado Court of Appeals will likely hear arguments in early 2004, Staver said.

Staver said one problem is that the definition of homophobia varies "from being in fear of someone who is homosexual to disagreeing with someone's homosexual lifestyle."

...

Joan Hollinger, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in adoption law, said precedents exist for courts to decide which parent should take responsibility for raising a child in a particular religion. Oftentimes, the parents hold different faiths and are in disagreement.

"But it seems way beyond the authority of a court to attempt to control the content of religious instruction, or the lack thereof," Hollinger said.

She said it would be difficult to enforce such a court order.

West African province of Anglican Church breaks away

West African province of Anglican Church breaks away

Kumasi, Nov. 5, GNA- The West African Province of the Anglican Church has with immediate effect broken communion with the Episcopal Church of the United States, following the consecration of gay Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

The Most Reverend Justice Ofei Yaw Akrofi, Bishop-elect of the Province, who announced the decision was emphatic that homosexuality was "unscriptural, unnatural and totally incompatible with Christian values". It was therefore wrong "to accept Gene Robinson as a Bishop of the Communion".

The Most Reverend Akrofi said this at the opening of a four-day Joint Anglican Diocesan Council Meeting in Kumasi on Wednesday. The theme for the meeting is "Mission 2020 - Without Vision, My People Perish".

The Bishop-elect acknowledged that technically the Spiritual Head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as the Church's Constitution now stands could not have intervened to prevent the disgraceful act from taking place.

He said it was to help avoid any such unfortunate incident in the future that the Anglican Communion globally was taking another look at the present Constitution.