Danforth in the Cathedral

I just heard about the press Senator Father Danforth's speech Friday got in the Episcopal News Service. The article makes it sound as if Danforth was enthusiastically supported in his remarks cautioning the "religious left." I was there. I heard it slightly differently. Applause was loud when Father Danforth deplored the extremes associated with the "religious right" as we have come to understand it: claiming to know the mind of God and implying that those who disagree are enemies of God. No indeed, faithful Christians of both conservative and liberal bent do well to avoid such claims. The cathedral crowd that politely applauded his calls for reconciliation, though, seemed puzzled by his presence at a conference that had been enthusiastically applauding liberals and democrats all afternoon. Father Danforth appeared to be puzzled as well. He did not stay after he spoke to hear questions and critiques from the panel and the audience, not interested in trying to reconcile with anyone himself. I guess the ENS reporter did not stick around either.
They would have heard Harvard economics Professor Richard Parker deplore the way the administration has undermined the Millennium Development Goals in the UN and assert that there must be challenge before there can be reconciliation.
They would have heard UC Berkeley history Professor David Hollinger recall the historic reconciliation between white northerners and white southerners after the Civil War, and the resulting white supremacy movement; one must be cautious about who one reconciles with.
For those of us who notice how poorly this nation has cared for the poor lately, calling for reconcilitation with people who would ignore or persecute our poorest residents is like calling for a child to reconcile with an abusive adult. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, makes caring for the poor one of the greatest duties a faithful Christian has. This moral requirement is too important to continue to ignore.