Research On Religion » social justice

Sarah Dreier on Anglicans, Lutherans, and African Churches

tonygill — Sun, 14 May 2017 08:00:11 +0000

In recent years, movement towards progressive policies and values on gender and sexuality have caused cultural rifts within the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Such tension is most apparent among their affiliated churches in the Global South, most notably Africa, with some African clergy becoming very outspoken against the policies adopted by Anglicans and Lutherans in Europe and the United States. Sarah K. Dreier, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Washington, engages research on transnational organizations to explore how these tensions arose and how they are being managed.

As often is the case, we begin our conversation exploring how our guest came to study her topic of interest. Ms. Dreier talks about the influence her parents had in her intellectual development and how certain mentors at Northwestern University also helped to shape her interests about the world. Sarah took these interests into a professional career working for religious non-governmental organizations, which further piqued her interests in the topic of how transnational groups in the developed North relate to their counterparts in the developing South. Sarah details some of the cultural changes that are manifesting themselves in policy changes within the Anglican Communion and the ELCA with a specific eye towards same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and women’s issues. Such changes have caused rifts within these denominations in Europe and the US, but have really risen concern within many parts of Africa such as Kenya and Tanzania, where Sarah did much of her dissertation fieldwork.

We then shift track a bit to discuss recent scholarship on transnational organizations, with Sarah pointing out that many researchers have not paid much attention, until recently, to how various development efforts by transnational groups headquartered in the OECD nations are received by the recipients of these efforts in the Global South. She regales us with a story wherein she was working with an African official of a Lutheran Church on a malaria initiative when the bishop told Sarah, at the outset of their interview, that he needs the ELCA to back down from their homosexual agenda, revealing that this cultural issue was of a huge importance to him and many others within his church. We explore this tension further and Sarah lays out her reason for why some African churches have been vocally opposed to these cultural issues whereas other ones have not. She explains that African churches that have a relatively stable source of funding outside the transnational network are more capable of raising critical voices as it doesn’t endanger their long-term viability as an organization as much as churches that are more reliant on international funding. Moreover, the presence of religious competition in the form of Pentecostals, evangelicals, and other charismatic religious movements that are growing rapidly in Africa, puts pressure on the African Anglican and Lutheran churches to signal their solidarity with the cultural norms of their home populations (which, by various polls, are overwhelmingly opposed to more progressive views on gender and sexual issues). When some Pentecostal ministers point to the policies of the Church of England and/or the ELCA and tag their local African affiliates as being part of the “gay church,” leaders of these mainline African congregations are compelled to signal their distance from their transnational partners. Many African Anglican and Lutheran members view the progressive doctrines as a “neo-colonial imposition,” an interesting conundrum in that both the Anglican Communion and the ELCA have been very critical of past colonialist practices. Tony then asks why some of these African churches don’t simply “go Pentecostal” and leave their denomination, prompting Sarah to provide an interesting response about the long-term benefits of a mainline denominational affiliation.

We further discuss how religious officials in Europe and the US are trying to do to respond to these concerns. While these officials have tried to note that such progressive policies are really only contained within Europe and the US, Sarah points out that “everything flows across borders,” making the situation rather difficult to manage. Sarah closes with some thoughts about what she has learned throughout her investigation of this topic and notes how culture is very dynamic and constantly shifting. Recorded: May 8, 2017.

Disclosure: Tony is serving as a member of Sarah’s dissertation committee at the UW.

Robert Sirico on Markets, Morality, Faith & Freedom

tonygill — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 08:00:55 +0000

Religious leaders are often quick to criticize free market economics because of the belief that it harms the poor, creates greater inequality, and relies upon the base motives of selfishness. However, can a moral case be made for capitalism and free markets? Rev. Robert Sirico, co-founder and president of The Acton Institute, explores this question in depth. We begin our discussion by reviewing Father Sirico’s personal journey from his idealistic youth in the 1960s and early ’70s to his transformation into a proponent of free market economics. His intellectual development is all the more interesting in that it occured as he was simultaneously drawn back to the Catholic faith of his youth, eventually choosing to enter the seminary and become an ordained priest. During this discussion we review his thoughts on Ayn Rand and other libertarian thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek and Frédéric Bastiat. We then venture into a discussion about greed, selfishness, and self-interest with Rev. Sirico laying out the difference between these different concepts and noting how the pursuit of self-interest can also be good for others as entrepreneurs attempt to benefit themselves by making others happy. Greed, on the other hand, is defined as the pursuit of desire with the intent of subordinating others. Father Sirico then makes a case that socialism tends to promote greed more so than capitalism. This discussion allows us to review early communal experiments by the Pilgrims and Fr. Sirico explains why liberation theologians and others are mistaken to interpret the social organization of the early Church Fathers as an example of socialism. We then discuss the role of profits, the gap between the rich and poor, the nature of envy, and the importance of voluntarism. Our discussion closes with an examination of President Bush’s faith-based initiative (which Rev. Sirico gave some early input on), how government policy (even if pursued with good intentions) may inhibit the important social role of individual charity, and a discussion of the recent controversy surrounding the health care mandate and the Catholic bishops. With the latter issue, we review the tension between a corporatist worldview and the Catholic principle of subsidiarity, a nice review of our earlier discussion with Prof. Phillip Muñoz. Finally, Rev. Sirico details the origins of the Action Institute and his role with that institution. Recorded: May 29, 2012.

James Wellman on Evangelical vs Liberal Christians

tonygill — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:00:48 +0000

Evangelical Christians and liberal mainline Protestants represent distinct religious subcultures in the United States. James Wellman — associate professor of comparative religion and sociology, and director of the Comparative Religion Program at the University of Washington — discusses the core beliefs, organizational structures and pastoral strategies of these two groups. Prof. Wellman’s most recent book Evangelical vs. Liberal, examines these two groups in a most unlikely of environments: the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), arguably one of the least churched region of the United States. We briefly discuss the cultural environment of the Pacific Northwest, with Prof. Wellman (a native Washingtonian) emphasizing the region’s libertarian sensibilities. Jim argues that the evangelical emphasis on personal salvation leads to dramatically different styles of worship, community outreach, and engagement in the political arena. We explore the reasons for these differences in the first half of the podcast. Our discussion also focuses on why evangelical churches are growing at a faster pace than more liberal-oriented mainline churches. Recorded: September 24, 2010.

(Please note that due to a scheduling conflict with our normal recording room, the acoustic environment for this podcast created an echo, particularly with your host’s voice. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.)