| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
13 Feb 2005 03:19:33 PM |
| Object: |
When it's personal, the right veers left |
From New York Newsday, 2/13/05:
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nyhen134144363feb13,0,298961.column?coll=ny-news-columnists
When it's personal, the right veers left
By Ellis Henican
Nancy Reagan supports stem-cell research after her Ronnie gets sick.
***** Cheney opposes the gay-marriage ban after his daughter comes out.
Rush Limbaugh is suddenly an advocate of treatment - not prison - for
people addicted to narcotics.
Oh, I almost forgot: The epiphany comes while Rush is being
investigated for drugs.
The list goes on and on: prominent conservative figures, forced to
question some sweeping social principle, after being rudely
interrupted by the messy realities of life.
Ain't personal experience just the worst?
There used to be a joke about liberals.
Q: What's a conservative?
A: A liberal who's been mugged.
Well, somebody probably ought to dream up a corollary or two.
Q: What's a liberal on stem-cell research?
A: A conservative with a family member who is ill.
Q: What's a liberal on homosexual rights?
A: A conservative with a gay kid.
There's no end to the potential variations.
I could easily give you a hundred more.
Instead, I'll introduce you to the Rev. Norman Kansfield, age 64, who
has just been ousted as president of the New Brunswick Theological
Seminary in New Jersey.
He too came face-to-face with life.
A self-described "conservative theologian," Reverend Kansfield is one
of the most prominent and respected figures in the Reformed Church in
America, which is itself one of the more conservative denominations in
the National Council of Churches.
But just like many of us, Reverend Kansfield has people he cares about
in life, including a lovely daughter named Anne.
Anne - there is no reason to get wobbly with the facts here - is gay.
And this past summer, she and her partner of many years, a woman named
Jennifer Aull, decided to marry in Massachusetts, the first state in
the nation where same-sex couples may legally wed.
But Anne Kansfield isn't just a gay woman.
She also is the daughter of a minister.
And she did what minister's daughters have done for centuries when
they are prepared to marry.
She asked her dad to officiate.
After some reflection, her father agreed.
"We're a family that talks over major issues," he told The Star-Ledger
of New Jersey.
"I really very much wanted to do this. Anne and Jennifer consented."
Reverend Kansfield has had close gay friends since high school and his
early days as a minister in Queens.
He was confident, he said, that he wasn't doing anything to hurt the
church he loved.
"People presume I have been on a crusade," he said.
"In point of fact, I'm a conservative theologian. I would not do
anything that goes against the church."
He mentioned his plans to the seminary board before the wedding.
He didn't seek their permission, exactly.
But he made certain not to hide.
Apparently, no one raised much of an objection at the time.
But obviously someone noticed.
When his contract came up for renewal, he was unceremoniously canned.
And what high principle did the seminary board act upon?
The high principle of nervous public perception, it seems.
"We decided that the president had put the seminary in an awkward
position," said the Rev. Larry Williams Sr., a seminary board member.
"It could have hurt the school if it divided people in our student
body, if it divided our faculty, if it divided other people who
support us."
And so New Brunswick Theological Seminary is soon to be without its
president.
The Rev. Norman Kansfield is soon to be without a job.
His daughter got a bride out of the bargain.
And American conservatives got another principled soldier who had
learned a lesson from life.
There's more trouble to come.
The Reformed Church in America, which traces its roots back 400 years
to the Dutch, will convene a General Synod in Schenectady in June.
The main order of business?
Formal charges against this conservative man of faith who loved his
daughter - and loved that she loved someone else.
Yes, life can be messy that way.
Deep in their hearts, I'll bet Nancy, ***** and Rush would understand.
_________________________________________________________
Harry
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| User: "Mitchell Holman" |
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| Title: Re: When it's personal, the right veers left |
15 Feb 2005 09:40:36 AM |
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Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote in
news:q2hv0197e8t6fasnakgt5t1npce5765qlu@4ax.com:
From New York Newsday, 2/13/05:
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nyhen134144363feb13,0,298961.co
lumn?coll=ny-news-columnists
When it's personal, the right veers left
By Ellis Henican
Nancy Reagan supports stem-cell research after her Ronnie gets sick.
***** Cheney opposes the gay-marriage ban after his daughter comes out.
Rush Limbaugh is suddenly an advocate of treatment - not prison - for
people addicted to narcotics.
Phyllis Schlafley quitting her homophobic rants after
her son came out of the closet.
Dr. Laura clamming up about adultery-as-moral-failure
after her own adultery comes to light.
Jeb Bush vetoing funds for drug rehab even as he sends
his own daughter into rehab after she is arrested in a
felony drug case.
Convervatives dropping all interest in their own Balanced
Budget Amendment once the "Deficits don't matter" administration
takes over.
States rights advocates now trying to force states to
rewrite their marriage laws.
The list of conservative double standards goes on
and on and on..........
Mitchell Holman
"We've got an energy crisis in America that we have
to deal with in a commonsense way".
George Bush, pushing for oil drilling in Alaska
vs.....
"I'm going to work with your governor on offshore
drilling here in Florida. We're both against it."
George Bush, opposing oil drilling in Florida, October 2000
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