While President Trump is enacting big, bold, audacious plans for America, it might be time to scrap all services at the activist-oriented National Cathedral and start a different tradition in a more welcoming, inclusive place.
It’s no secret that traditional religious denominations in America have long been on a downward spiral, closing their doors for good. It should also come as no surprise that the Episcopal church has been one of the hardest hit groups. One expert on the denomination even said that on its current course, the Episcopal church could disappear by 2050.
I can totally see that happening. It’s been twenty years since I visited an Episcopal cathedral for an Easter Sunday service, only to hear the self-proclaimed lesbian priest preach an entire sermon comparing Matthew Shepard to Jesus Christ. Granted, both were heinously murdered, but the similarity ends there.
It was 2009 when the Episcopal church approved two trendsetting resolutions: one for the consecration of openly gay and lesbian bishops, the second for bishops to bless same-sex unions. These steps signaled the beginning of the church’s burgeoning social justice crusade.
By 2024, the church had passed resolutions such as Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation, Divest from Fossil Fuels, and Resolution to Complete the Journey to Net Carbon Neutrality by 2030.
Concerning their stand on immigration, Episcopal Migration Ministries — not unlike Catholic Charities and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service — “provides resources, support, and care for asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, refugees, and other migrant communities.” Its official stand is for “full social and economic integration” for people “living here without legal status.” In short — open borders and citizenship.
In addition to the full-fledged woke agenda that dominates the National Cathedral, its “interfaith” services are a joke. These events supposedly represent the pinnacle of an enlightened nation appealing to its Supreme Being — in whatever form people perceive him to be — they instead leave us feeling as though we’ve just had a public bath in the Ganges instead of a solitary hot shower.
So why should a man who has just survived unprecedented libel, slander, lawfare, lies, and two assassination attempts be subjected to a public flogging at such a dishonorable place as the National Cathedral?
Coincidentally, on the same day as this public flogging, the Episcopal church’s public affairs office issued a “Letter from Episcopal Church leaders on Trump administration immigration executive orders.” The letter instructs “people of God in the Episcopal Church” to stand against mass deportation programs, to stand for “proportional and humane” border management, and to combat all “expressions of hatred and fear” that President Trump’s actions are bringing to the country. Because of Trump, they claim to “face new and heartbreaking challenges to their ministry.” In reality, this “letter from church leaders” is an affront to everything the majority of America just voted for.
Tuesday’s post-inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral saw the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde excoriate Trump in a vicious sermon couched in a monotonous tone.
She began by instructing him on the “foundations of unity.” She claimed that unity starts with honoring one another’s dignity by “refusing to mock or discount or demonize” those with whom we differ. Additionally, she said, we should remain true to our convictions without showing contempt for those with whom we disagree.
Next, she said, it was imperative to have “honesty in public and private conversations” because “if we’re not willing to be honest, there’s no use in praying for unity because our actions work against the prayers themselves.”
Last, she stressed the importance of humility, and that we are “most dangerous to ourselves and others when we are persuaded, without a doubt, that we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong.”
The trouble is that Ms. Budde’s rebukes were a day late: her soapbox lecture was, ironically, custom-made for the chastisement of President Biden and his administration. Sadly, Biden never received such a biting public rebuke, much less from a pulpit with the tacit conclusion that his soul would be damned.
Edgar Budde concluded with the lowest blow ever — invoking Trump’s publicly stated but personal belief that he was saved by God to make America great again. “You have felt the providential hand of a loving God,” she said before asking him to have mercy on “people in our community who are scared,” including “gay, lesbian, and transgender children.” She didn’t say what they were scared of, but her wording made it clear that President Trump was the monster in the room.
She claimed that other people are “in fear for their lives,” including illegals — whom she apparently prefers to keep around for picking crops in the fields and working on poultry farms.
As expected, headlines framed the bishop’s words in soft notes and warm colors. “Bishop asks Trump to show mercy to LGBT people and migrants.” But it was way more than that. And although she did use the word “mercy” twice, it was convenient camouflage for the attack.
Amazingly, President Trump sat there and took his beating quietly — likely out of respect for the history of the place and the institution. Later, he took to Truth Social, accurately reflecting on the bishops’ words: “She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA.”
For her part, the bishop flaunted her progressive politics by choosing to appear on The View the next morning as she received accolades from Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar.
I’ve always been taught that the “church” is the people — that’s why it makes no difference if Christians gather to worship in unattractive strip malls or informal living rooms. But sometimes a church is just a building, and that’s what our National Cathedral has become.
It’s long past time to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and we’re overdue in changing Denali back to Mount McKinley. We should probably make Canada the 51st state, snatch Greenland’s resources away from China, and take back the Panama Canal. And if we can do all that, we can abandon the National Cathedral and leave it to the rats who are already there. The people are the church, and our God is where we gather.
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