According to Episcopal Divinity School’s official website, its purpose is quite simple: it is “a Seminary of the Episcopal Church” whose mission is:
[T]o educate lay and ordained leaders for Christ’s Church and for the world who serve and advance God’s mission of justice, compassion, and reconciliation.
Episcopal Divinity School is a special place. Throughout its history the EDS community has been shaped by several key commitments: to live out the Gospel values of justice, compassion, and reconciliation; to liberate institutions and people from the grip of all forms of oppression; and to lead the Church and society with courage and compassion in an ever-changing world.
Outside of the first clause of the first sentence, does that sound like standard liberal claptrap to you? If so (or if not), confirmation of that fact has been given with the unanimous election of Dr. Katherine Ragsdale as its new dean.
Dr. Ragsdale, you see, believes the killing of unborn children by women who don’t want to be inconvenienced by the life-creating consequences of their actions is, to use her words, “a blessing.”
On July 21, 2007, Ragsdale gave a lengthy “sermon” whose theme was that the “work” of radical pro-abortion activists “is not done.”
The sermon was posted on her website on August 13, 2008 with the following preface:
The Democrats have removed “safe, legal, and rare” language about abortion from the platform. About time!
Below are some excerpts from the appalling address:
When a woman finds that the fetus she is carrying has anomalies…the abortion is a blessing.
When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.
And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight — only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.
These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.
Absolutely amazing — particularly the third paragraph of the excerpt, in which this “priest,” and new dean of an ostensibly Christian seminary, exhorts the virtues of murdering unborn children if carrying that child to term and giving birth to that new life would inconvenience the mother in any way, as if the morality of a life free of inconvenience and respect for God’s creation of life as a whole were not only equal, but unevenly tilted in favor of the former.
There is nothing even remotely Christian about this teaching. In a way, it’s nice that EDS has put this radical pro-abort liberal in its top leadership position, as there can no longer be any question about where its loyalties lie: with the liberal worship of convenience and fulfilling of ephemeral whims and desires, rather than with serving the Lord.
Steve Maley
Neil Stevens
Sounds Like the Ideal School
Joe Cor (Diary) Wednesday, April 1st at 3:31PM EST (link)To give Obama an honorary Divinity Doctorate.
5
Jeff Emanuel (Diary) Wednesday, April 1st at 3:45PM EST (link)JE
5 -nt
Caleb Howe (Diary) Wednesday, April 1st at 4:02PM EST (link)nt
Caleb Howe (formerly known as absentee)
This is what the Bible calls abomination
civil truth (Diary) Wednesday, April 1st at 3:33PM EST (link)I’m aghast. To not even have the slightest hesitation or concern for the baby, to not acknowledge any moral qualm about ending a life but to lead a cheer as a blessing and implicitly calling for more abortions – and to do it as the leader of a seminary – with unanimous support from those who appointed her – I didn’t think the Episcopal Church could shock me, but it has.
I don’t see any relevant distinction between this advocacy and being a priest to Moloch.
Well at least the deceivers and apostates and death worshippers are revealing themselves. Our duty is clear.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
This woman has nothing to do with the Gospel of Christ
tcgeol (Diary) Wednesday, April 1st at 4:00PM EST (link)How in the world can a woman who calls abortion a blessing, is a proud lesbian, and doesn’t think it really matters if Jesus rose from the dead run any kind of a true seminary?
Really, some of these schools ought to drop this joke of religious guise and openly proclaim their role as seminaries of left-wing brainwashing.
Just your typical bitter gun- and God-clinger
Even the Left admits we’re Right
Safe, legal, and rare
MikeO Wednesday, April 1st at 5:01PM EST (link)“The Democrats have removed “safe, legal, and rare” language about abortion from the platform. About time!”
Huh? Seriously. Huh?
This woman is about as sharp as a bowling ball.
Nothing new for the Episcopal church
fisk2521 Wednesday, April 1st at 7:34PM EST (link)The Episcopal Church believes that God supports the murdering of babies in the womb — They support secularism in government, oppose religious prayers in schools, and yet spend congregation’s pledges to lobby the state and federal government to support abortion, gay marriage and progressive, liberal dogma. It doesn’t matter what parishioners want ,the ‘leaders’ know what God wants. It is far more a political organization than a church .
This church sues parish churches who won’t adhere to their rhetoric, Lawsuits are filed against congregations who wish to remain with their traditional beliefs and practices. Membership has plummeted and will continue to do so The church used to be was called ECUSA or the Episcopal Church of the USA. They dropped the USA part – you decide why. .Dr. Ragsdale represents the worst in religion, one posing as a Christian church, while denying Christ. She follows in the footsteps of people like Dr. Spong, who was the Bishop of the Newark diocese who doesn’t believe in the resurrection. .. this man was a Bishop! There is plenty more like them.
LDavis
My jaw is on the floor.....
marshmom (Diary) Wednesday, April 1st at 8:21PM EST (link)This Ragland lady is most certainly one of Satan’s minions sent to Earth to lead the Christians astray. The weak will follow.
There is a special place in Hell for this woman. Any person to call abortion a “blessing” is evil. Killing a baby is a blessing??
What the hell is wrong with people????
I heard a bit of audio on the radio today of a bunch of tree huggers having a funeral for a TREE! Yes, they were crying, screaming, and talking to the trees. They also mentioned admiring a rock for it’s “life”. These same people are the people who have no problem with abortion. What a joke.
So, here we are...
bannedtroll Wednesday, April 1st at 11:00PM EST (link)At one point, we were a nation founded on principles with an undying commitment to equality and the truth – clearly the case no more.
I don’t know how any fair-minded person can read the Constitution, claim that our founding fathers unquestionably intended for militias and militias only to have the right to bear arms (“right of the people” be damned), yet assert that the right to an abortion has unquestionable Constitutional foundation, having no mention of it anywhere in that same document.
If you look past the science of embryology (the pink elephant in the room of no use to the “pro-choice” movement) and look to the morality of abortion, specifically as it pertains to Christian faiths as in this case, it’s difficult to comprehend how any honest person can claim that Jesus Christ would consider an abortion a “blessing” or even that he would consider it someone else’s problem. It takes an intellectually dishonest person (or an idiot) to arrive at that conclusion, but I wonder if this Dr. Ragsdale is even past that point to the point where she truly believes it is a blessing.
The human mind is a crazy thing – if you can convince your mind that something is right and just, your heart will follow – or, at the very least, it will allow you to drown out your doubts to the point that you may live with yourself in peace – most of the time, anyway. The name of the game is now malleating the truth to serve your interests, however unethical they may be. Christians, such as these, live the teachings of Christ when it is most convenient to them and are emboldened in their “pro-choice” beliefs by the misteps of other Christians, drawing erroneous moral equivencies on their transgressions to that of abortion, which has killed nearly 50 million Americans since 1973.
I’m a banned Democrat who came here to promote the idea that Republicans are racists for disliking Barack Obama.
The only blessing to this horrific new chapter for the Episcopal Church USA
Praying (Diary) Thursday, April 2nd at 6:43AM EST (link)is that my family and I left the Episcopal Church USA a number of years ago. About the time Gene Robertson (gay bishop) was confirmed. I happen to believe that our religious institutions should accept the bible as ABSOLUTE GOD-SPOKEN TRUTH. RIP Episocal church, and good riddance.
No!!!11!1!!1!1! The Bilderbergers are coming
"Inclusive and diverse" - you think?
fisk2521 Thursday, April 2nd at 8:02AM EST (link)The press release from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass credits Miss Katherine Ragsdale as president and executive director of Political Research Associates. One only has to go to their website, to understand fully what her beliefs are and where the Episcopla Church’s values and beliefs are today.
Spend some time on this website http://www.publiceye.org/index.php and see where their political actions lie, and how they are targeting groups on the right, particularly Christians they term “right” . Their entire purpose is to target conservatives…their mission explained in the quote at the top of each page….
Researching the Right for Progressive Changemakers
Here’s just a taste of their rhetoric:
“Why We Focus on the Right
While attacks on civil liberties can come from any direction, the political and Christian Right use skillful marketing that exploits the public’s desire for quick solutions and capitalizes on today’s hectic information flow. With clever slogans that oversimplify complex public policy issues, the Right routinely scapegoats others in pursuit of their agenda.”
This political group makes Move-on.org and Mother Jones look moderate. They are part of what is now called ‘progressive’ movement that would force everyone to think and live as they do. It is not insignificant that the Episcopal Church has taken this woman as their Dean of the School that teaches their priests how to think. It is THE focus of the Church, explains their tyrannical behavior towards anyone who does not agree with them, and makes one wonder how they define themselves as a religion.
This is a church that believes according to their 2003 ordination exam for priests:
“ Racism is the collective actions of a dominant racial group.”
It goes on to state:
lWho is a Racist?
“All white individuals in our society are racists. Even if whites are totally free from all conscious racial prejudices, they remain racists, for they receive benefits distributed by a white society through its institutions. Our institutional and cultural processes are so arranged as to automatically benefit whites, just because they are white. It is essential for whites to recognize that they receive most of these racist benefits automatically, unconsciously, and unintentionally.”(Education and Racism, National Education Association, 1973)”
(note this is a quote from one of the largest teachers unions in the country..
..
The Church claims to be inclusive and diverse – - they are just the opposite.
LDavis