The Mercy Pulpit & The Sermon Heard Around the World; Religion News Service (RNS), Complexified, January 27, 2025

Jonathan Woodward, Religion News Service (RNS), Complexified Podcast; The Mercy Pulpit & The Sermon Heard Around the World

"God and Trump collide

In a week of political and religious tension, sparks flare at the National Cathedral. Host Amanda Henderson and RNS Executive Editor Roxanne Stone delve into how this sermon—calling for mercy and justice—reshaped the national discourse and exposed the fractures between competing Christianities. From Trump’s invocation of divine authority to the shifting influence of evangelical power, they explore how faith and politics are shaping America’s identity and future."

Trump’s angry response to a viral sermon should worry all Christians; MSNBC, January 22, 2025

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, senior director of policy and advocacy at Interfaith Alliance , MSNBC; Trump’s angry response to a viral sermon should worry all Christians

"Neither Budde nor her church should apologize for following Jesus. Despite President Trump and his allies attacking Budde, it’s important to recognize that her compassionate sermon does not represent some left-wing fringe of American Christianity. Budde’s words reflect the values held by a majority of American Christians — a fact that Trump’s divisive rhetoric seeks to obscure.  

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country,” Budde proclaimed. “And we’re scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families — some who fear for their lives.”

Trump and Vance might have been surprised to hear such a strong embrace of LGBTQ rights by a bishop, because the far-right evangelical and Catholic leaders who surround them are the chief purveyors of anti-LGBTQ hate. Yet they’re far from the norm. A strong majority of U.S. Christians — including Catholics and evangelicals — support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

Bishop Budde’s Episcopal Church has been a leader within American Christianity and the worldwide Anglican Communion in advancing LGBTQ rights. Bishop Gene Robinson was elected the first openly gay bishop of a major U.S. denomination in 2003. Robinson’s election must not have rankled Trump too much, because in 2005 he married Melania in an Episcopal church in Palm Beach, and his son Barron attended a private Episcopal school during the first Trump administration. 

Bishop Budde also called attention to Trump’s executive actions targeting immigrants. 

“The people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals,” she said. “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues and temples.”...

Budde’s message was a reflection of Jesus’ call to love our neighbors, to care for the oppressed, and to seek justice for the marginalized. The fact that it’s gone viral across social media is proof that mainstream Christians are hungry for truth-telling, justice-seeking Christian leaders to step up at this critical moment for our democracy and our faith.

Followers of Jesus are going to have to endure the president labeling us the “Radical Left.” Denigrating and attacking the Gospel is necessary for him to push his authoritarian agenda forward. Yes, he will continue to surround himself with court clerics and wave the banner of Christian nationalism. But Trump’s outrage is evidence that, far from being a champion of “religious freedom,” he will treat any attempt to confront his policies in the name of Jesus as a challenge to his authority."

How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark; The New York Times, December 9, 2024

Margaret Renkl, The New York Times ; How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark

"At my lowest, I have never entirely given up my faith that good people working together can change the world for the better. When I have been downhearted in the past, I have always explained to myself that I am not alone in my efforts to cultivate change — by writing, by planting, by loving the living world in every way I can find to love it. Individual efforts gather momentum through the individual efforts of others.

Men in power did not wake up one morning and decide to give women the vote. White Southerners did not wake up one morning and decide to dismantle Jim Crow. Those things happened, if imperfectly and still incompletely, because hundreds of thousands of people worked together for years to make them happen...

So I am taking comfort from Wendell Berry, who has lived a life of ceaseless protest against the desecration of the earth and its creatures (most recently in an essay for The Christian Century called “Against Killing Children”). Even at 90, he is not asking himself what the point is...

In saving the leaves for the moths and the fireflies and the dark-eyed juncos, I am still trying. And in the trying perhaps I can save my own soul."

Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church; Religion News Service via AP, November 19, 2024

YONAT SHIMRON , Religion News Service via AP; Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church

How do you see the church in the next four years vis-à-vis the Trump administration?

I’m gonna continue to call the church to stand with the least of these. We have for many years had a significant ministry with refugees. We’re one of 13 federal agencies that resettles refugees. We will continue that work. We want to stand with those who are seeking refuge in this country and stand on our record of success, resettling asylum-seekers and refugees. We’re Christians who support the dignity, safety and equality of women and LGBTQ people. We understand that not as a political statement but as an expression of our faith. We may disagree about immigration policy in the pews. We’re largely united about our support of people who are seeking refuge and asylum and inclusion of all people.

Has the church taken a stand on Christian nationalism?

Our House of Bishops has at least a theological report on Christian nationalism, which I think is well done. We’re after creating an inclusive, welcoming church that helps to transform the world. Christian nationalism really has no place. We will bring forth an understanding of the kingdom of God that is entirely in opposition to those ways of thinking and the values of Christian nationalism.

You yourself were once an evangelical. You went to Grove City College, a conservative evangelical school. What happened?

I attended Grove City College but I did not learn Christian nationalism there. I learned about the rule of law as a core fundamental and that’s what I don’t see in a lot of the thinking that is there now. I always struggled with a lack of an expansive or inclusive worldview that did not account for the complexity of human nature and the world around me. It felt limiting and narrow to me. I had friends who came out as LGBTQ, I traveled to see how other cultures lived and thought. As my world expanded, I came back to new understandings. I’ve gone from being an evangelical Christian, as the term is understood today, to someone who understands God as much broader and the world as much more complex than I once thought."

A Message from Dean Hollerith: The Work We Have To Do; Washington National Cathedral, November 6, 2024

The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Washington National Cathedral ; A Message from Dean Hollerith: The Work We Have To Do

"Today, America woke up to a new President, a new Congress and a new understanding of who we are as a nation. For some, this was a long-sought victory after years of work and organizing; for others, this seismic shift feels disorienting and disheartening.  

Whether your preferred candidates won or lost, our work as Americans is just beginning. There is healing we must do, as individuals and as a people. Now is when we must listen to Abraham Lincoln and “bind up the nation’s wounds,” and we must follow his example to do it with “malice toward none and charity for all.”

This will not be easy work. We must start by showing grace to ourselves and to others. There are many among us who are hurt, fearful or angry, and they may have no desire to extend a hand, or give their neighbor the benefit of the doubt. Others among us may be tempted to write this next chapter with a sense of winner-take-all vengeance.      

We are weary of division and bitter politics; we have no need for more of that. Instead, let us aim for a better way to move forward together, as one people, one family of God. We may not agree, we may not understand each other, we may not even like each other. But we are tied together in our shared humanity, and as hard as it may be to hear, in the end there is no us and them; there is only us. 

If we can learn anew how we see each other, then maybe we can learn anew how to treat each other. In this moment, and in all the days to come, let us strive to embody the challenges and promises of our faith. As Jesus said: 

Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.
Do good and lend, expecting nothing in return.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it will be given to you.
For the measure you give will be the measure you receive. 

And the blessing of God Almighty — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — be with you this day and always. Amen."

New Gift Supports Research in AI, Ethics; Duquesne University, September 16, 2024

Duquesne University ; New Gift Supports Research in AI, Ethics

"Duquesne University’s Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law has received a $600,000 gift from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to support the center’s mission to research ethical issues confronting society in the intersected fields of science, technology and law.

The center leverages the university’s expertise and commitment to the study of ethics to promote partnerships with leading institutions in order to become a transformational force for both Duquesne and the evolving global community. 
 
"We are grateful to the Henry L. Hillman Foundation for this latest generous gift to the Grefenstette Center,” said Duquesne University President Ken Gormley. “This new funding will allow the center to ramp up its work as a pivotal player in the modern field of ethics at a time when technology is changing at a rapid pace and creating new societal challenges.”
 
The Grefenstette Center is the first in the world to bring Catholic, Spiritan values and ideals in an ecumenical framework to grapple with the growing challenges presented by science and technology in society. The center hosts an annual tech ethics symposium, a student-focused hackathon (hacking4humanity) and regularly supports and publishes new research at the intersection of ethics, technology, science, and faith. 

Led by Executive Director Dr. John Slattery, the center was recently named part of the National AI Safety Institute Consortium."