THE GRAVEYARD for the victims of the monster known as political correctness is filled with corpses. The tombstones there commemorate the passing of such notables as the Washington Bullets, the male pronoun, and even the Virginia Pep Band. Day by day, the American desire to make everything sanitary and inoffensive results in the burial of entities like these and the introduction of their bland, compromised replacements. Every so often, a determined, principled group is able to fight off the undertaker by refusing to let its identity be consumed by the ravenous forces of being "P.C." One such group is the American Anglican Council (AAC), which deserves praise for recently choosing to dismiss political correctness and publicly oppose the Episcopal Church's decision to instate an actively gay bishop.
Representing a conservative contingent within the Episcopal Church, the AAC garnered attention as of late for its disagreement with the larger church over the consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a practicing homosexual. In the months following Robinson's acceptance, the AAC has spoken on behalf of several Episcopal churches opposed to Robinson, claiming that these churches are in a state of "impaired communion" with the liberal mainstream part of the denomination. The Council has even brought up the possibility of a split with its Episcopalian brethren, though no definite plans have yet arisen.
When the Episcopal Church approved Robinson's elevation to the status of bishop, it was quite clear that political correctness provided part of the motivation to do so. Following the consecration ceremony on Sunday, the bishop presiding over the service remarked that Robinson will "bring into our fellowship an entire group ... hitherto unacknowledged in the church" ("Episcopalians Consecrate First Openly Gay Bishop," FoxNews.com, Nov. 2). This statement reveals an effort on behalf of the church to make itself seem more acceptable to a wider section of the population. While one cannot blame any organization for trying to appeal to as many people as possible, the identity of the Episcopal Church will now be different for the sake of turning off fewer people. This is the essence of political correctness.
Conversely, the AAC holds its belief system in higher regard than it does its image in the public eye or the volume of its membership. By taking their stand, the AAC churches are potentially eliminating their hopes to find favor in the eyes of the homosexual community. They also risk alienating themselves from the rest of the Episcopal Church, as the mere mention of a split creates a mood of antagonism. The only thing the Council has to gain from selecting the un-P.C. route is the continued integrity of its spiritual beliefs, which it has defended admirably.
Supporters of Bishop Robinson would likely accuse the AAC not of being courageous, but of instead failing to overcome its own self-righteousness. They could argue that it is more noble to embrace the selection of a non-traditional bishop than to act as if the church were "too good" to allow such people to lead. Such assertions, however, would ignore the true nature of the Council's protest.
Statements issued on the AAC's own Web site explicitly demonstrate the absence of self-righteousness within the Council. The Council admits that it too is prone to fall short of the many demands of Christian morality, and it acknowledges a religious belief that God possesses "unconditional love for all people," not simply heterosexuals. The AAC isn't promoting its own moral superiority or denouncing Bishop Robinson as a person. The Council only opposes the type of teaching that Robinson's presence will bring to the church, which is inconsistent with its own view of what is right.
The AAC will encounter further challenges to its steadfastness should its network of churches decide to formally divorce itself from the main Episcopal body. If this occurs, the dissenting churches could become embroiled in lawsuits over church property rights. In the face of more tangible economic risks, the AAC would have to muster an even greater dedication to its ideals if it wished to keep its integrity. Failure to do so would serve to discredit the courage it presently demonstrates.
The American Anglican Council is commendable for its resistance to the costly trend in the United States of throwing away one's identity in order to make everyone else happy. Though offensiveness is not a virtue, it is preferable to let yourself upset some people than to conform your belief system to whichever set of social norms currently rules the day.
(Chris Kiser's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ckiser@cavalierdaily.com.)
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