1994 flashback: Why journalists love the Episcopal Church

Sex, politics, vestments, architecture, urban addresses -- PECUSA has it all

A brief prelude: This week’s “Crossroads” podcast and post — “Episcopalians own the cathedral of DC Culture” — have ignited quite a bit of discussion — in places where online discussion is allowed.

The post has been banned as “spam” on Facebook, even though I have previously posted dozens of links to Rational Sheep material. Most of the discussion has been on the Substack platform, attached to the post and in the notes platform’s own Notes pages. Some people have contacted me directly.

I still think that it would help if people listened to the podcast, where I offer quite a bit more material on the core themes of the post. But, so far, I have received zero comments reaction to the podcast’s discussion (to cite one issue) why I oppose the death penalty and how that links to my religious beliefs and, yes, politics.

But let me briefly make a few confessions, before I attach the 1994 essay — “Why Journalists Love the Episcopal Church” — quoted at the end of the podcast post.

Here goes. Yes, I am a third-party voter and, thus, in the recent election #NeverTrump #NeverBiden. I was a life-long Democrat until the Barack Obama administration, when battles over health care pretty much shut down the pro-life wing of that party.

Yes, the attached essay was written during the decade-plus in which my family was active in the Episcopal Church, part of a stream of folks on a pilgrimage from evangelicalism (Southern Baptist preacher’s kid, in my case) to ancient forms of Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy, in my case). For many, this includes via media time in Communion with Canterbury. For more info, please see this 1993 essay: “Liturgical Dances With Wolves — 10 Years As An Episcopalian: A Progress Report.”

But the attached essay was written, for an Anglican publication, in response to years of questions that I received as a mainstream-news reporter and syndicated columnist. These questions — variations on one theme — came from Episcopal bishops, priests and laypeople. Thus, that is where we will begin. Note that some facts, such as the membership of the denomination, have continued to evolve, in the 30-plus years since this was written.

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People phrase the question in many different ways.

Some do not mince words. "Why in the world,'' they say, "does the Episcopal Church get so much media coverage?''

In major media, the nation's 2 million or so Episcopalians often receive just as much, and sometimes much more, attention than the members of major denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church or the Assemblies of God.

I've heard a few leaders of other churches and religious groups ask variations on this question with a slightly anxious, or even jealous, sound in their voices. What they are really asking is this: Why doesn't my church get as much press coverage as those Episcopalians?

With good reason, many Episcopalians are amused by this question. It is difficult to conceive of a reason why any sane religious leader would welcome the media attention that is given, year after year, to the Episcopal Church. Who would covet someone else's root canal?

Thus, when many Episcopalians ask about the waves of coverage that the media give their church, the question that they are actually asking is: Why are the secular media always picking on us?