The Episcopal Church is an institution that has amassed enormous resources to support the thriving of a small number of people. As an institution we potentially have enormous power to work for social change in our local communities, in our local and national government, and in the Anglican Communion. We have often chosen to exercise that power by supporting the status quo.
Power can be exercised in multiple arenas personally and institutionally. There is the power of a government and its military, police, and courts to work for or against justice. There is also a more intangible power: the power to control cultural assumptions regarding who is good and who is bad, who is smart and who is diminished, who is presumed to be innocent and who is presumed guilty. You see power in the structures that decide who can be murdered with impunity, and whose life is treated as precious.
Power can be shared, as when disparate groups finally sit at the same table. But in the work of justice, power cannot be ignored. Although you and I may sit at a table, talk about things we hold in common, and explore what makes us different, when we walk away from the table and back into the wider society, some of us are more safe, have more opportunity, and exercise fuller citizenship, while others of us are perpetually labeled criminal, suspicious, or overall problematic.
Power can be difficult to talk about, because most of us feel powerless over many things: death, illness, and injustice. In the context of a conversation about justice, acknowledging power does not assume that one feels powerful, or that one is powerful over all things. Power in a social analysis is acknowledging how one is perceived in society, and the power or privilege that comes with perceived identity. This is not a comment on intentions. It is a comment on the systems within which we function.
Power is a societal force, like gravity is a physical force. It privileges some, whether they want it or not, and disadvantages others. Race, class, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and physical ability are some of the categories within which a social power differential operates. As individuals, we can align ourselves with powerful institutions in how we pursue our education, where we work, or where we worship. All that power comes into play when we talk about justice, faith, and reconciliation.
//Winnie Varghese, 2016, "Church Meets World"
Power can be exercised in multiple arenas personally and institutionally. There is the power of a government and its military, police, and courts to work for or against justice. There is also a more intangible power: the power to control cultural assumptions regarding who is good and who is bad, who is smart and who is diminished, who is presumed to be innocent and who is presumed guilty. You see power in the structures that decide who can be murdered with impunity, and whose life is treated as precious.
Power can be shared, as when disparate groups finally sit at the same table. But in the work of justice, power cannot be ignored. Although you and I may sit at a table, talk about things we hold in common, and explore what makes us different, when we walk away from the table and back into the wider society, some of us are more safe, have more opportunity, and exercise fuller citizenship, while others of us are perpetually labeled criminal, suspicious, or overall problematic.
Power can be difficult to talk about, because most of us feel powerless over many things: death, illness, and injustice. In the context of a conversation about justice, acknowledging power does not assume that one feels powerful, or that one is powerful over all things. Power in a social analysis is acknowledging how one is perceived in society, and the power or privilege that comes with perceived identity. This is not a comment on intentions. It is a comment on the systems within which we function.
Power is a societal force, like gravity is a physical force. It privileges some, whether they want it or not, and disadvantages others. Race, class, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and physical ability are some of the categories within which a social power differential operates. As individuals, we can align ourselves with powerful institutions in how we pursue our education, where we work, or where we worship. All that power comes into play when we talk about justice, faith, and reconciliation.
//Winnie Varghese, 2016, "Church Meets World"
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