Posted on Writing

Moratorium

In light of the current ongoing argument about the IRD, its merits or lack thereof, its tactics, intentions and so on, I am going to declare a personal moratorium on talking about it at all.

I don’t think this is going anywhere good for anyone involved, so I’m going to talk about other things.

I also publicly apologize to anyone I have recently offended. That isn’t what I want to be about, or what I want to spend my time doing.

This is such a bad medium for conversations to occur fruitfully. Or maybe I’m just bad at it myself.

11 thoughts on “Moratorium”

  1. Doug, I very much appreciate your public declaration of moratorium, and perhaps I will have more to say about it later, and about your Christlike spirit of reconciliation, on my own blog.

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  2. I’m sorry, but I must be completely ignorant. I have no idea what IRD is. I looked it up on an online acronym dictionary, but couldn’t figure out, from that long list of possibilities and your cryptic words, what it might be. I even scanned quickly through your recent posts for clues, but found nothing.Would it be a breach of your moratorium to shed light on this benighted soul by telling me what the letters “IRD” stand for?-Mark

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  3. Okay, so I’ve done a little more digging and came up with a possibility. Is it the Institute on Religion and Democracy? A simple “yes” or “no” will suffice. I won’t engage you in any further conversation about it on this blog.-Mark

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  4. Doug – Think this is a wise, faithful, helpful, compassionate, effective move. I do think at some point there is a point where the exchanges do not help anyone and grace-filled disengagement is the best alternative. Be well. And Mark – Yep, that;s the group.

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  5. Mark:Yeah, sorry, I was in class (actually I’m not sorry, its a great class!). I was indeed talking about the Institute of Religion and Democracy.Debbie:I’ve had more than my normal number of opportunities to learn how to apologize lately. Its good to hear I’m developing my skills!

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  6. Doug, That’s fine. We all have our limits.Since I have been talking about the IRD on my blog, I will declare a moratorium when the IRD declares a moratorium on its attacks on our denomination.I know it gets icky and stomachs turn into knots. But there comes a time when shepherds don’t simply say, “Can’t we all just get along” and instead actually work to protect our denomination from outside predators who will rip it apart. Candidates for moderator of the PC(USA)certainly must have the skill to listen to all points of view.However, a moderator will need a more important skill. That will be the skill of discernment. The moderator will need to know what is really taking place and address it. I don’t know where you are with this Bruce, but if you really think it is about two equal sides who need to tone down rhetoric, be nice, and everything will be fine, you may be less discerning than I thought.

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  7. John – Good push back. Discernment for me also means knowing that everyone is called to take on particular parts of any struggle or movement. Very much agree that we all need to be wise discerners for ourselves and the communities that we hope to be part of and/or lead. I also believe that there is not just ONE way to achieve one’s goals towards fighting injustice, attacks etc. A good example is that the ways in which you engage with folks like IRD is just not the way I think could. Just would not be who I am. BUT I appreciate your role in keeping the issues front and center. Like you said to Doug, we all have our limits. I think the same can be said for our gifts, abilities, personalities, calling, passions, etc. Hope that helps. In fact you have given me a great idea for a post! Laters.

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  8. Bruce,I read over my post and I was harsh and assuming. Sorry about that. Thanks for not taking offense.“Discernment for me also means knowing that everyone is called to take on particular parts of any struggle or movement. Very much agree that we all need to be wise discerners for ourselves and the communities that we hope to be part of and/or lead. I also believe that there is not just ONE way to achieve one’s goals towards fighting injustice, attacks etc.”Well said. We do all have our roles to play. I know being or even running (or standing or whatever the posture is) could never be mine! Peace to you and to all,john

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  10. It’s a shame that when peace loving Christians take the high ground, it appears they are leaving the ground.The IRD will not stop attacking the Church (and I mean Church with a capital C, not just three denominations) until it either wins or loses. I would suggest that ignoring them is wrong, but that instead of fighting them, use them as a guide to decide what subjects should not be discussed. We should discuss the questions the Holy Spirit puts before us. But the questions the IRD asks us to fight about do not come from God’s Spirit. So we can use them in our discernment process in a kind of reverse psychology way.As a line from a movie I watched many years ago went: “Silly game. The only reasonable move is not to play”

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