These divergent arguments have one thing in common — namely, an implicit suggestion that, at this particular point in the history of Anglicanism and Episcopalianism, it's a waste of time for conservatives and liberals to seek common ground. This same belief seems to be held by Brett Donham, the chair of EDS's board of trustees, who dismisses anti-Ragsdale animus as the work of a few retrograde malcontents.
"We don't pay a lot of attention, because it's a few people, and they're so off point as to where the Episcopal Church is headed," Donham tells the Phoenix. "The Episcopal Church and Episcopal Divinity School have a mission of justice, compassion, and reconciliation. The ability to walk with different groups, talk with them, live with them — even though we have some disagreements — is central to what the Episcopal Church is about. The rabid right simply isn't interested in engaging in conversation. So we don't."
All of which suggests that Ragsdale, far from being pressured to moderate her views or her rhetoric as she settles into her new post, will instead have free rein to speak as aggressively and provocatively as she did on that day in Alabama two years ago. And she seems to be planning accordingly.
"EDS is the place that has always led the [Episcopal] Church in the world," says Ragsdale. "It's always been a couple steps ahead in supporting the ordination of women, supporting the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people, before that, supporting racial equity. It's never been so far out that it's not part of the church — but it's always been there, pulling the rest of the church along."
"We're at a dangerous point right now," she adds, "where it's easy for people to say, 'We've elected a black president, so there's no more racism. A woman almost won, so there's no more sexism. Gays and lesbians can get married in Iowa — no more problems there.'
"In reality, none of those problems have been solved. It's wonderful that we've been able to do all those things, and that shows tremendous progress, but they haven't been solved — and they're all connected in some ways. There's still this interlocking desire not to celebrate the full humanity of all the people of God. And I think EDS is in a position to continue its role of pointing that out, and pushing the church not to be complacent."
Tiller's murder, meanwhile, only seems to have deepened Ragsdale's conviction that the battle for abortion rights is exactly that: a battle.
"I knew George Tiller; in fact, I was out to defend his clinic some time ago," Ragsdale told me on Monday, a few hours before she led a vigil in Tiller's memory at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. "He was an extraordinary man, deeply spiritual, who put his life on the line every day because this is what he felt called by God to do. Women needed him; there were so few places for them to get the necessary care. So the profound grief, and the fury and outrage, and the question of how women get the care they need now . . . these things are at war with one another as I try to find words to express them all.
