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Desmond Tutu Urges Trinity Church to Allow Occupy Protester Camp
South African archbishop enters row over Wall Street church's refusal to allow a winter encampment on its property
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has waded into an ecclesiastical row over a New York church's refusal to allow protesters from Occupy Wall Street to camp on a vacant lot it owns.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu called called the Occupy movement a 'voice for the world.' (Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters) The South African activist and retired church leader urged Trinity Church to heed the pleas of demonstrators to allow the camp and, failing that, at least to stop any violence or arrests at the site during a day of action this Saturday to mark its three month anniversary.
Tutu, the latest in a growing number of church leaders to align themselves with Occupy called the movement a "voice for the world."
A wave of evictions that has cleared encampments from cities and campuses across the United States has galvanised a clergy of different faiths to open their doors, and sometimes their homes, to protesters.
More than 1,400 church leaders, including the Rev Jesse Jackson have signed a pledge of support to OWS and on Wednesday, a coalition of prominent Afro-American pastors joined with the movement to launch a new series of actions that they consider part of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr's unfinished legacy.
But despite a cascade of support from these quarters, the protesters have failed to secure from their new allies the one thing they say they need to reignite the movement after having somewhat faded from the public radar – an outdoor space in which to gather, talk and plan.
The church has been steadfast it its refusal to allow a winter encampment. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP
Trinity is among the churches that have offered protesters some form of sanctuary, in their meeting rooms and offices and at their neighbourhood centre. However, despite weeks of negotiations, pressure from other church leaders and a hunger strike by four protesters, the church has been steadfast it its refusal to allow a winter encampment at its site at Duarte Square, at the corner of Canal Street and Sixth. Protesters have also criticised Trinity for not protecting them when they were arrested on the vacant lot on November 15.
Trinity Real Estate, the landowning arm of the church, has proposed a re-zoning plan to pave the way for up to 3,500 new housing units there, although it has yet to be approved by the community board. The plan also calls for a primary school.
In a letter to OWS, Tutu describes Trinity Church, on Wall Street, as an "esteemed and valued old friend" but said it caused him pain to hear of the impasse in negotiations between OWS and the church over the site.
"Sisters and Brothers, I greet you in the Name of Our Lord and in the bonds of common friendship and struggle from my homeland of South Africa. I know of your own challenges and of this appeal to Trinity Church for the shelter of a new home and I am with you! May God bless this appeal of yours and may the good people of that noble parish heed your plea, if not for ease of access, then at least for a stay on any violence or arrests."
He said: "I appeal to them to find a way to help you. I appeal to them to embrace the higher calling of Our Lord Jesus Christ – which they live so well in all other ways – but now to do so in this instance...can we not rearrange our affairs for justice sake?"
The matter is expected to come to a head on Saturday, during a day of action after a call to re-occupy former locations or find alternative camps.
Bishop George Packard, former chaplain for the armed services and decorated Vietnam veteran who has acted as the liaison in negotiations between the church and protesters, wrote on his blog this week that Duarte Square could be the new home for OWS "or not." He went on: "Trinity might mobilize platoons of police in riot gear and ring this sad little place with multiple barricades. No room at this Inn!"
Amin Husain, for OWS, has accused Trinity of putting "profit before God".
However, in a fresh posting on its website on December 9, the Right Rev John Cooper said that he believed that to allow a winter encampment would be "wrong unsafe, unhealthy and potentially injurious."
The rector stated:
"We want to be responsive, while also being responsible, to our residential and business neighbors, partners, visitors and tenants — our entire community. There are no facilities at the Canal St lot. Demanding access and vandalizing the property by a determined few OWS protesters won't alter the fact that there are no basic elements to sustain an encampment. The health, safety and security problems posed by an encampment here, compounded by winter weather, would dwarf those experienced at Zuccotti Park.
"Calling this an issue of 'political sanctuary' is manipulative and blind to reality. Equating the desire to seize this property with uprisings against tyranny is misguided, at best. Hyperbolic distortion drives up petition signatures, but doesn't make it right. Those arrested [on November 15 at Duarte Square] were not seeking sanctuary; they were seeking to be arrested. Trinity will continue our responsible outreach and pastoral services for all."
Rev John Metz, of the Episcopalian Church of the Ascension, in Brooklyn, who is part of the Occupy In Faith NYC group, said collaboration between churches and the Occupy movement was gathering momentum. Supporters include Bhikkhu Bodhi, from the Buddhist Global Relief, and the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, one of Amercia's largest protestant congregations.
"There's a natural relationship between the endeavours of the movement and of the church, both in terms of charity and looking at the source of societies ills," he said. "The dots are starting to be connected by the clergy and by lay people."
Metz, who has offered sanctuary to protesters in his own home as well as his church, said the Occupy movement was forcing church leaders to rethink their work.
"The Episcopalian diocese of Long Island, during its most recent convention, passed a resolution in support of Occupy Wall Street. What this means is that it becomes part of the Occupy Faith movement. Not only do you commit resources but you are re-occupying your own church by re-envisioning how it is we can live in ways that are committed to the Gospel mandate of social and economic justice. We are not asking people to 'like' this as on Facebook, but to work out the theology of occupation," he said.
He also called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to support the Occupy movement.
"It would be tremendously important if someone like the Archbishop of Canterbury were to step in with strong support of the Occupy movement. He understands the incarnated aspects of encampment. He understands that in terms of the Christmas story. We need his leadership here."
In a recent article in the Radio Times, a British magazine, Archbishop Rowan Williams posed the question "what would Jesus do" about the Occupy protesters at St Paul's. He suggested that Jesus would be there "sharing the risks, not just taking sides but steadily changing the entire atmosphere by the questions he asks of everybody involved, rich and poor, capitalist and protester and cleric" but he stopped short of coming out in support of the protesters.
The Rev Jackson also urged a stronger response from the Church of England to the Occupy movement on its doorstep. In front of St Paul's Cathedral in London on Wednesday, where he gave a speech hailing protesters as the direct descendants of the civil rights movement, Jackson said: "The church should be the headquarters for the Occupy movement. In a sense, the occupiers represent the conscience of the church."
While St Paul's reversed its initial decision to join action by the Corporation of London to evict protesters, relations between the camp and the church have been strained.
The Very Rev Jep Strait, from the Cathedral Church of St Paul in Boston, which has allowed demonstrators to hold general assemblies in the church since they were evicted, said: "This is very important to their central message about how society functions and who has access to power and resources and who doesn't which is also a part of the Gospel message."
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21 Comments so far
Show AllCapitalism versus Christianity. We know which side Trinity Church is on.
I'm glad to see some preachers and churches recognizing that Christ's teachings are in play here, that they need to support Occupy movement or be hypocrites.
All people who claim to be or wish to be moral beings should be supporting Occupy in whatever way they can.
Occupy is the continually brightening light from past struggles from whence will come - in time and with more struggles - a new, brighter light for the world: Real Democracy for Real People. .
And what makes you think they are all Liberals? Have you interviewed all these people to confirm that?
..............With the real unemployment/underemployment rate at 22+%, do you think there are no pissed-off Conservatives in this group?
Well, then, you must really be outraged at the hoodlums and thugs that brought down our economy, got bailed-out by taxpayers, gave themselves huge $bonuses, foreclosed on the homes of millions of people (because only banksters deserve bailouts), never went to jail for major fraud and encouraged job outsourcing.
The banksters didn't "commit any fraud." I get it. It's a joke. Gee. I guess I really got to keep up on irony and sarcasm sufficiency. I don't want to run low. Hep me!
Hey, while we're at it the capitalist system has always been a fraud and con servative needs to always be a two syllable word. It stands for conning us into being the privileged few's servants. Those who took power back a half dozen to a dozen millennia ago over others were con servatives "dividing all into owners and servants" as David Erdal much awarded British businessman and evolutionary psychologist puts it. We say no. "Don't want it and just ain't gonna have it" as the Guess Who would put it.
Arch Bishop Tutu is right on the mark. As far as who really turned on Martin Luther King Jr, it was the mainstream US media and big time. Not that this gang was really ever for him that much. But they wanted him to just be a "black leader" and put Dr King in a box. Dr King didn't have any intention of segregating his moral concerns as he pointed out that he'd spent too much time opposing segregation.
"In a letter to OWS, Tutu describes Trinity Church, on Wall Street, as an 'esteemed and valued old friend' but said it caused him pain to hear of the impasse in negotiations between OWS and the church over the site.
'Sisters and Brothers, I greet you in the Name of Our Lord and in the bonds of common friendship and struggle from my homeland of South Africa. I know of your own challenges and of this appeal to Trinity Church for the shelter of a new home and I am with you! May God bless this appeal of yours and may the good people of that noble parish heed your plea, if not for ease of access, then at least for a stay on any violence or arrests.'"
Whatever may be the case with matters at Trinity, one would think that Mr. Tutu would have sufficient concerns at home and not need to be telling his sisters and brothers in this country how they ought to comport themselves.
If there is a God, Tutu should be blessed.
And if there is not, we should follow his lead.
The "social gospel" is the only valid Christian perspective in Amerika...in my opinion... most recently manifested by Dr, King who was crucified.
And a real personal encounter...I was chatting with a Christian evangelical and when I mentioned American aggression in Iraq he replied..."How many Muslims are there in the world...3 Billion ?..can we kill them all."
The recent success of the Repugnant party is that they tapped into the ignorant white southern vote of those who still voting against the civil rights act. Those crackers and dumb northerners have been also deluded into thinking that the criminal Repugnant party is a "Christian" political party.
Amerika is sick and should be healed.
More psychotic realities created by the 1%.
"no basic elements to sustain an encampment"
What kind of "basic elements" did they have at Valley Forge, the Bonus Army on the Mall in 1932, Selma to Montgomery in 1965?
"The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups...and these rights may be exercised by marching [and camping], even along public highways." ~ Federal District Court Judge Frank Johnson
It is clear that organized adults can rise to any situation encountered. This church has exposed an agenda in contradiction to its core teachings.
The Lil' Brown Leprechaun continues to be a good example of the value of the aged in our midst. He won't shut up, he won't go away, he won't be bought off with the flattery of titles or awards and he has not been corrupted by obscene wealth. Good.
. . . but perhaps by the adulation he receives from those looking for someone to adulate.
"the movement after having somewhat faded from the public radar"
I think that's wishful thinking on the part of main stream media. Just because they aren't allowed to camp out doesn't mean they can't and don't regroup every morning. This isn't about tents and camps. It's about public outrage as to the crimes committed by our governments and the global financial system on the peoples of this nation and the world.
I wouldn't expect churches to sanction such a movement, they might lose their "faith based inniative funds" if they support it. Prostitutes are well aware of what they are being paid for. On the rare occassions when they are not, they are swiftly reminded by their "pimps". You can bet phone calls have been made and received.
typo: "who are still voting"
Most "Christian" organizations are complicit with American war crimes and economic injustice while they should be taking the high moral ground as "spiritual" and moral leaders.
I recently attended a Mennonite church service out of curiosity They have a history of opposing war. Yet, the pastor asked the congregation to pray for "our military and our government" without mentioning the people killed by our military and government. And he did not mean that the prayers for our military and government should be focused on them opening their hearts and minds and no longer participating in imperial wars.
Little has changed since the Vietnam era when nearly all Christian organizations turned on Dr. King when he went beyond civil rights and took a stand on Vietnam and economic injustice.
The "Christian" churches are in a position to bring about beneficial changes yet they do little or nothing. They are part of the problem.
Insightful, gonzonews.
Jimmy Breslin also observed, "The Church could have ended that war. Vietnam was a Catholic war--they couldn't have conducted the war in Vietnam without the Catholics' support. It would have ended if the Catholics backed away. They're the dominant religion here--forty million people in this country--and they could've stopped the war dead." From "Once a Catholic," Peter Ochiogrosso, 1987
It is weird how hooked on war are Christian churches, to this day.
Bill in Dubuque
"Whatever may be the case with matters at Trinity, one would think that Mr. Tutu would have sufficient concerns at home and not need to be telling his sisters and brothers in this country how they ought to comport themselves."
Wow...This comment implys American exceptionalism with a hint of racism and delusional Christian self-righteousness. Tutu's position is valid regardless of where he may be living. Unfortunately it takes someone from outside our so-called civilization to state the obvious.
The historic truth is that criminal "Christian" imperialists have killed more people on this earth than any other religious denomination. Only a Christian would drop an atomic weapon on civilians.
Where to begin -
1. From what do you draw your inferences of what the "comment implies"?
2. What, in particular, "implies a hint" of racism? Is it just a "hint"? What keeps you from seeing an implication of more than a mere "hint"?
3. Does your comment imply a hint of assuming that no one at Trinity is black? Or brown?
4. If you knew I was not a Christian, would you still have the insight to detect a "hint of . . . delusional Christian self-righteousness" in the comment?
5. In what way does "delusional Christian self-righteousness" express itself in criticism of a Christian bishop?
6. "The historic truth is that criminal 'Christian' imperialists have killed more people on this earth than any other religious denomination. Only a Christian would drop an atomic weapon on civilians." Well - two such weapons have been dropped - and is it from that n of 2 that you conclude that "only a Christian" would make the third? And are you certain that it was Christianity that prompted President Truman to order the two bombings that did occur?
7. I've made a fair number of postings on this website - do you find any "hints" of American exceptionalism in any of those postings?
8. More on the "implication" of "American exceptionalism" - of the postings to which I referred in No. 7, more than a few are highly critical of members of the current administration who whether from within this country or while parading around the world give lectures to others on how to behave. My perspective is not "exceptionalism" - it's localism.
9. With respect to exceptionalism and racism - I also criticized, on the same grounds as those on which I criticized Tutu in the post to which you object, the (white) archbishop of Canterbury and the (black) bishop of Nigeria for telling American Episcopalians how they were and were not to deal with gays and lesbians in, or seeking to be in, their midst.
P.S. And then there's the (black) South African nationalist Nelson Mandela's response to Tutu's chiding Mandela for wearing, in Tutu's view inappropriately, a dashiki: Mandela told Tutu that he would cease wearing a dashiki if and when Tutu "stopped wearing a dress". Maybe an implied hint of something there?
Re Occupy &Trinity Church: You don’t need to be religious to understand -and embrace- the idea that "Whatsoever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." But many of the 1%, in blind greed and endless schemes, have forgotten this. They have closed their eyes to what the word "society" should really mean, what it can mean. But due to Occupy Wall Street, we are finally talking less about CUTS and more about BLEEDING. Instead of demanding m-o-r-e budget cuts -to be borne by the middle class and poor- we are FINALLY focusing on the shameful bleeding that the poor and middle class has endured, for all too long. Instead of talking about even m-o-r-e cuts in the taxes of millionaires....we are now talking about fairness and justice - about an economy and a political system that is increasingly run for the rich, and by the rich. Instead of talking about LESS government, we are talking about a government that WORKS FOR ALL OF US, not just a favored few. Thank you OWS, for reminding us that people -ordinary working people- really DO matter, and for helping open our eyes to what’s going on in this country, and why. The attempt by OWS to occupy Duarte Square (the empty lot owned by Trinity Church) is much more than a plea for sanctuary. For like Zuccotti Park, it’s an attempt to carve out a protected space, a living conscience for the city, amid the repression. A refuge...in a city where control-freaks would sweep us under the rug, and out of the way. In a city where they would pen us in, and permit us to death. In a city that tells us to “move on, move on”..... you don’t belong, you don’t count, you don’t have a right to be here...don’t assemble, don’t block the street, don’t trespass, don’t EXIST! They would deny us, deny our lives, deny our very futures. IF WE LET THEM. But OWS responds, both in word and in DEED: it says we’ve had ENOUGH - we BELONG, we STAND our ground, and we DO matter! This IS our land, and we want it BACK! The word OCCUPY...says it all! That’s why OWS has captured our imagination. That’s why a living breathing OCCUPIED public space is important for OWS. Like Lady Liberty’s never extinguished torch that burns in our harbor, OWS needs to have a concrete, persistent in-your-face presence.. to continually remind us of what we’ve lost, of what we are, and what we can be ...to affirm, illuminate, defy...and inspire. Trinity Church, with its oft-proclaimed ideals (and its huge land holdings), should look deep into its collective soul, do the right thing, and help OWS secure a sanctuary, a space of refuge and hope. And dare I say: a space of love - both love of country, and love of your fellow man and woman. Can thoughtful Christians argue with these simple Christian/human values? For if Christ were physically with us today, as He was 2000 years ago, He would be among the FIRST to climb those fences, and occupy Trinity’s Duarte Square. Of this I am certain...