Supposedly, it was Anglicans in Virginia who celebrated the
First Thanksgiving rather than Puritan Congregationalists in
Massachusetts.
Steadfast Virginians believe that the first celebratory autumn
feast was held at Berkeley Plantation in 1619, where 38 men just
arrived from England knelt on the banks of the James River. They
declared: “Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the
place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be
yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to
Almighty God.”
They probably did not eat as well as the Pilgrims at the
Plymouth feast two years later. Instead of turkey, the new
Virginians may have only had only bacon and peas, washed down by
cinnamon water.
These English Anglicans had demographic goals somewhat similar
to the Calvinist Pilgrims, though. They were going to settle and
populate a whole continent, creating a nation and spreading the
Christian faith.
In the mythology of the Religious Left, of course, these
earliest of Americans were not only defrauders of the original
tribes, they were also despoilers of the environment. Like good
“fundamentalists,” these hearty Protestants took the Bible too
literally about being fruitful and multiplying. They also took too
seriously the ostensible divine mandate placing the earth under
man’s dominion.
The spiritual descendants of those early English/Virginia
Anglican pioneers are now correcting the divine record. New
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori
recently told the New York Times that her fellow
Episcopalians are proudly not procreating so as to spare
the environment.
The Presiding Bishop was asked how many Episcopalians there are
in the U.S. “About 2.2 million,” Schiori responded. “It used to be
larger percentagewise, but Episcopalians tend to be better-educated
and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations.
Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for
producing lots of children.”
“Aren’t Episcopalians interested in replenishing their ranks by
having children,” the New York Times asked.
“No,” Schori replied. “It’s probably the opposite. We encourage
people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use
more than their portion.”
True to Schori’s boast, the Episcopalians have done
magnificently in reducing their numbers and, purportedly, sparing
the earth the ravages of an enlarged Episcopalian presence. Forty
years ago, the Episcopal Church was over 50 percent larger than
today, even while the U.S. population was 40 percent smaller.
Had the Episcopalians maintained the same ravenous membership
pace of Roman Catholics, or Mormons, or Southern Baptists, over the
last 40 years, there would now be somewhere between six and 8
million Episcopalians in the U.S., rather than the current 2
million.
Undoubtedly, the 2003 election of the Episcopal Church’s first
openly homosexual bishop has accelerated that denomination’s
decline, with increasing numbers of conservative church members
giving up and walking out. Perhaps those Episcopalians who become
Catholic or Baptist will soon thereafter become more
procreative.
But the remnant Episcopalians under the pastorship of Presiding
Bishop Schori no doubt will hold fast to their noble environmental
stewardship and maintain a steady, and eco-friendly, downward
membership spiral. A good model for the Episcopalians might be the
Shakers, the early American sect that foreswore all procreation.
Like Episcopalians, the Shakers lived in tasteful and tidy
villages, ate plain food, wore all natural fibers, and had nice
furniture. The Shakers also had a female leader, “Mother” Ann Lee.
Like Bishop Schori, Mother Lee took a dim view of heterosexual
couples marrying and having children.
Unlike the Episcopalians, the Shakers worshipped by shouting,
dancing, and shaking in fits of ecstasy for hours. In stark
contrast, Episcopalians sit quietly or sleep through 50-minute
worship services occasionally interrupted by soft organ music. Also
unlike the Episcopalians, the Shakers made converts to their faith
and inducted orphans into their communities.
But eventually, the Shakers aversion to procreation caught up
with them and they were dying out by the end of the 19th century.
Today, most Shaker villages are museums or private homes, just as
many venerable old Episcopal churches have become restaurants or
condominiums for yuppies. A few eccentric Shakers still survive,
making baskets and furniture, and keeping the old ways alive. Some
day in future decades, if Bishop Schori is completely successful,
the Episcopal Church similarly will have reduced to a dozen or so
well-heeled adherents. They too will be objects of pleasant
curiosity, attracting tourists to their tidy, ivy-covered tudor
homes and well-stocked wine closets.
Like the Episcopalians, the Shakers were great conservationists.
They depopulated and left behind only their tracks, along with
quaint relics. Both Shakers and Episcopalians must find distasteful
the more fecund religious movements around the world, whose members
continue to marry, birth multiple children, and take up space.
There are now nearly 80 million Anglicans around the world, for
example, and their numbers are increasing exponentially, especially
in Africa. Forty years ago, for example, the number of Anglicans in
Nigeria was somewhat smaller than the number of Episcopalians in
the U.S. Today, there are 20 million Nigerian Anglicans, all of
them no doubt polluting and contributing mightily to global
warming. Bishop Schori must be aghast.
But the growing Anglican communion, like nearly all growing
religious groups, view people as gifts from God, not as parasites
on an exploited planet earth. And like the hearty Anglicans and
Puritans who celebrated America’s first Thanksgivings almost four
centuries ago, they see the world as still an unexplored adventure,
waiting to be unwrapped, enjoyed, and meriting thanks to a God in
whose image all people were made.
