Documents for Congregation Meeting, August 16, 2021
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From: David Carpenter
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 8:39 PM
To: Shawn Wamsley, Doug Horner
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Letter from the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd
Dear Canon Horner and Canon Wamsley:
I have attached to this email a letter from me and other members of the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd, Philadelphia, PA, regarding the state of voting rights in Georgia, and what might be an appropriate response to these developments from the Christian community. We would be most grateful if you would read this letter.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
David Carpenter
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13 April 2021
The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd
3820 The Oak Road
Philadelphia, PA 19129
Canon Doug Horner and Canon Shawn Wamsley
Diocesan Council
The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
23 E. Airy Street
Norristown, PA 19401
Dear Canon Horner and Canon Wamsley:
We, as members of the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd, Philadelphia, PA, are calling upon the Council to make a public statement about recent developments concerning voting laws in the State of Georgia. As you are no doubt aware, the passage of S.B. 202 has profound implications for the rights of voters in that state, particularly those of African-Americans. When signing the bill last month, Governor Brian Kemp said that “[s]ignificant reforms to our state elections were needed. There’s no doubt there were many alarming issues with how the election was handled, and those problems, understandably, led to a crisis of confidence.” It has been proven beyond a doubt that there was no voter fraud in the 2020 Georgia elections; Kemp’s words are merely an attempt to disguise the true intention of the bill, which is to curtail the rights of minority voters. The bill’s provisions to further this intention include:
• Requiring voters to submit ID information with both an absentee ballot request and the ballot itself • Limiting the use of absentee ballot drop boxes
• Allowing unlimited challenges to a voter’s qualifications
• Cutting the runoff election period from nine to four weeks
• Significantly shortening the amount of time voters have to request an absentee ballot • Empowering the state legislature to appoint members to an election board that would have the ability to strip local election boards of their power
The outcry over this bill has been swift and sure, including denunciations from Christian clergy. Bishop Reginald T. Jackson of the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia, told Georgia’s lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan that “these bills were not only voter suppression, but they were in fact racist, and they are an attempt to turn back time to Jim Crow.” Recent threats of boycotts of Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, both based in Atlanta, have forced these companies to condemn these laws—we hope the Council will also consider supporting boycotts of companies in other states, such as Arizona and Florida, that are now introducing their own legislation to curtail voting rights.
As members of a Christian community that seeks to follow Jesus’ example in seeking out and lifting up the outcast and marginalized in our society, we feel it is imperative to take a stand against these laws that seek to disenfranchise voters. Such legislation strips away at both the dignity and humanity of our African-American brothers and sisters, who have fought for too long to be accorded equal rights as American citizens. This, in turn, does serious harm to the soul of this country, and indeed the Christian community as a whole. A statement from the Diocese of Pennsylvania unequivocally condemning the legislation in Georgia—particularly during the season of Easter—would demonstrate that the church not only proclaims, but indeed lives out our Christian values, as we seek to walk in the footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We thank you very much for your time and consideration of our request.
Sincerely,
David Carpenter
Signing also on behalf of:
Klancy Miller
Nancy Pontone Tina Smith-Brown
Ronald Woehr Susan Wright
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To various vestry members
Dear all —
I read with interest this article which nicely counters the letter signed by David, Tina and Nancy and sent to the diocese.
Gina and I are willing to send this with a statement that we as members of Good Shepherd do not agree with the letter sent by other members and in fact support voter integrity laws, as articulated in the attached article, We Black Leaders Support Voter ID laws. Please read at your convenience and let me know if you would like to sign the letter.
cheers,
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Why We Black Leaders Support Voter ID Laws
COMMENTARY
By Rep. Burgess Owens, Robert Woodson, Jennifer Carroll, Ken Blackwell, Raynard Jackson, George Farrell, James Wright & Michael Murphy
America is a country of over 300 million people. We are comprised of every shape, size, nationality, and opinion. This diversity has proven to be one of our greatest strengths.
However, if you listened to largely white liberal media personalities and elite CEOs, you wouldn’t know this. According to liberal orthodoxy, all Blacks think alike, and all Blacks support Black Lives Matter, and all Blacks oppose the recently enacted Georgia Election Integrity Act.
To the contrary, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that 69% of Blacks and 82% of nonwhite minorities support voter ID. Another poll taken even more recently by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that a full two-thirds of Blacks in Georgia support voter ID. The data seems clear: A majority of Black Americans support voter ID laws.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Blacks know the value of the right to vote. We struggled to win that right in a country that for too long treated us as second-class citizens. We shed our blood so we could partake in American elections just like every other American citizen. We want to make sure that sacred right to vote, and the integrity of those elections, are protected.
It’s clear that most Blacks support voter ID, and it’s obvious why we do so.
Why then do opportunistic activists like Stacey Abrams pretend the entire Black community stands behind them and the radical Democrat Party? Why do they pretend that Black people are either opposed to voter ID or, even more offensively, that Blacks are incapable of obtaining IDs? The answer is in part because the elites, most of whom are white, have enabled them, taking it upon themselves to determine who the “leaders” of the Black community are and ignoring anyone else who suggests differently.
These elites are totally oblivious to the real Black leaders, such as civil rights legend Robert Woodson and Richard Finley; younger leaders like Wall Street wizard John Burnett; National Black Chamber of Commerce founders Harry and Kay Alford; Michael Murphy, political operative extraordinaire from Georgia; business and football legend Herschel Walker; Texas state Rep. James White; 21-year-old West Virginia state Rep. Caleb Hanna; former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer S. Carroll; former ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission Ken Blackwell; and U.S. Congressmen Byron Donalds and Burgess Owens, to name a few.
What do all these people have in common? They are all Republican, therefore white liberal elites don’t deem them to be Black because they come from a conservative perspective.
If corporate America wants to be truly woke, they must wake up to the fact that activists like Stacey Abrams -- and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton before her -- absolutely do not represent the Black community; they represent the membership of their radical activist organizations and the interests of white elites, who are eager to open our borders wide and send more jobs overseas regardless of the effects these disastrous policies have on the Black community.
To add insult to this patronizing injury, the very same liberal elites who blast voter ID laws that most Blacks support run corporations that practice similar ID policies. If every other ethnicity is required to show an ID to vote, why is the Black race considered incapable of doing so. This notion is absolutely insulting.
You can’t board a plane without an ID. You can’t pick up a package from a UPS distribution center without an ID. You can’t buy alcohol without an ID. And you definitely can’t visit President Biden in the White House without an ID. Is that racist? Of course it isn’t.
We don’t need media-appointed Black leaders chosen for us. We definitely don’t need media-appointed Black leaders who care more about the Democrat Party and radical left-wing policy projects than they do the real needs and opinions of the Black community.
SIGNED,
Burgess Owens
U.S. Representative for Utah’s 4th Congressional District
Robert Woodson
Founder and President, Woodson Center and 1776 Unites
Jennifer S. Carroll
Florida’s 18th Lieutenant Governor
Ken Blackwell
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission
Raynard Jackson
Black Americans for a Better Future
George T. Farrell
Chair, BlakPAC
James Earl Wright
State Representative, Texas
Michael Murphy, GA
GOP political consultant
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From: VJ Pappas
Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 2:56 PM
To: Shawn Wamsley , Doug Horner
Cc: David Carpenter, "The Rev. Isaac Miller”, Phillip Fackler, virginiacpappas , Lawrence Swesey, Barbara Swesey , John Thain
Subject: Letter to Diocesan Council
Dear Canon Wamsley and Canon Horner,
David Carpenter's April 13 letter to the Diocesan Council has fostered debate and some discord within the congregation pertaining to politics and religion. We trust that our mutual faith and shared interests will permit the expression of opposing political perspectives and lead to a civil discussion within the congregation on these matters.
In that light we share our reaction to the letter in the attached file.
We write as individual members of Good Shepherd and speak only for ourselves.
Sincerely,
VJ Pappas
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May 4, 2021
Canon Doug Horner and Canon Shawn Wamsley Diocesan Council
The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
23 E. Airy Street
Norristown, PA 19401
Dear Canon Horner and Canon Wamsley:
We write to address the concern that we as other individual members of The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd have with David Carpenter’s April 13 letter to the Diocesan Council concerning Georgia law SB 202.
An initial concern has been satisfactorily addressed by David. We had objected to the name “Letter from The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd” and the church’s name and address at the top of the letter as inappropriate, since it was coming from individuals and not the congregation as a whole, as stated in the letter’s first sentence. Having this issue brought to his attention, David admitted to having second thoughts about it himself and stated it would have been better not to include the Good Shepherd name and address. We agree and there is no reason to bring it up other than to say we are in agreement.
What we do wish to assert is an opposing perspective on whether the law represents voter suppression or voter integrity and our disagreement with the letter’s assertion that the law is racist both in intent and effect. While we accept the sincerity and emotion behind David’s letter, we disagree with the tone, certitude, insinuations, characterization — and the request for Diocesan denouncement and call for a boycott.
If the alleged motivation for the Georgia Republican legislation and its presumed disparate impact on minority voters are the criteria for judgment and a call for denouncement and boycott, then under the same criteria the Diocese should be called to action on the following:
Abortion. Democrat party bedrock support for abortion and Planned Parenthood abortion service — where Black pregnancies are aborted four times more than White pregnancies, and Planned Parenthood’s inception by eugenics proponent Margaret Sanger.
Avoidable Covid deaths. New York’s deplorable Covid deaths attributable to Governor Cuomo’s policy of ordering Covid-infected seniors to nursing homes, and then delaying the reporting of the resulting spike in deaths to improve Democratic chances in November elections.
Covid vaccinations. Philadelphia’s disparities in Covid vaccination rates for minority and poor communities compared to richer and whiter counterparts — under the Biden federal administration and Philadelphia Democratic administration.
Political disagreements among parishioners are perfectly normal and acceptable to us. We believe our faith in Christ and our overwhelming shared values outweigh politics, or at least should. We believe that facing these differing perspectives with civility and honesty is a first step in the right direction.
Sincerely,
VJ Pappas Gina Pappas Lawrence Swesey Barbara Swesey John Thain