Telling the Truth

Reconciliation, healing, and new life require telling the truth about The Episcopal Church’s racial composition and complicity in systems of racial justice and injustice – past and present.

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Baptismal Promise

We will persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.

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Core Questions

Who are we?
What have we done and left undone, regarding racial justice and healing?

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Church-Wide Initiatives

Census of the Church
Racial Justice Audit of Episcopal Structures
and Systems

Telling the Truth About Racial Injustice

When Jesus says to his disciples “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn. 8:32), he is speaking about the way that continuing in his word will lead them to the truth about their own sinfulness. Only by telling the truth about their sins can they be set free from those sins. Telling the truth is, in many ways, the foundation of Becoming Beloved Community. If we do not acknowledge at least some of the truth—both about the history of racial injustice and about the racial injustice currently at work in our world—then our efforts to practice the way of love, proclaim the dream and repair the breach will seem empty and pointless. For this reason, people often start walking the labyrinth of Becoming Beloved Community in this truth-telling quadrant.

That being said, telling the truth is complicated, and it takes time. We may, therefore, focus on a particular piece of truth-telling and then venture into other parts of the labyrinth before returning to focus on a different piece of the truth. When we find the truth difficult to acknowledge, we may need to spend some time practicing the way of love. When the truth is weighing us down, we may need to spend some time proclaiming the dream. When the truth inspires us to action, we may need to Some resources in this section may assume that some of that work has already taken place, while others start at the beginning.

Latest

Timeline of The Episcopal Church’s Response to Race + Racism

Feb 24, 2022 | Telling the Truth

Why Beloved Community?