Local Author's New Book Is a Message for the World. Now.
Carter Heyward introduces "The 7 Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism: A Call to Action" -- Tues., Oct. 4, 7:00 p.m. at Brevard College
I don’t know of a more timely book to help settle our hearts and minds during this time of chaos in America. The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward has just published The 7 Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism: A Call To Action. You are invited to hear her speak at Dunham Hall, Brevard College, Tuesday, October 4th from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Everything she says comes from a lifetime of work toward social acceptance of differences among people. Traditional expectations have never been enough for Carter Heyward.
Carter was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1945 as World War II was ending. Her father was still overseas on Okinawa, and didn’t see his new daughter for six months. When she was two years old, her family moved to Hendersonville to escape the polio epidemic.
She recently told an interviewer that she was an only child for her first six years and she spent most of her time outdoors. Their small house was surrounded by woods, a creek, an apple orchard and a field of flowers.
Around this time she became aware she lived in a society divided by race. When she questioned her parents, they said this was not God’s will (which impressed Carter deeply) but there was nothing they could do about it, “except we can pray and we can be kind to everybody”.
As a teenager with conventional parents of that time, she felt confused about sexuality. Later, when she came out as a lesbian, she said, “It [had] never crossed my mind that I would be rejected by my parents. … I had no idea what would happen if I did tell my parents, teachers, anybody.”
Just as Carter describes, I, too, learned little more than that sex (whatever that was) “was something that came after marriage”. I would like to think this veiled education for girls has changed.
A short published biography sums up the early formation of what would become a large part of Carter’s lifetime activism for human equality:
The key for her, as both theologian and lesbian, was in realizing the fundamental theological, political, historical, and psychological connections between gender and sexual oppressions and justice movements.
The subtitle of her recently published book is, “A Call to Action”. This is what I associate with Rev. Carter Heyward. Responsive action.
The first thing I learned about Carter after I moved to Brevard in 1994 was that she had been one of the “Philadelphia Eleven” twenty years before. I didn’t know the details, but the feminist achievement of these first ordained Episcopal women was clear to me me immediately. Carter has said,
Our [most effective] power is in our collectivity and not as individuals.
In 1974, shortly after the Philadelphia Eleven became the first ordained women in the Episcopal Church,
the House of Bishops held an emergency meeting to invalidate these ordinations and sanction the bishops participating. At the General Convention of 1976, [however,] the Episcopal Church officially approved the ordination of women into the priesthood.
Carter has said that The Eleven hoped they had at least started the process for future women to be ordained in their church. They were surprised and heartened by their complete success. In her own words:
Well, we were really quite privileged to be able to take that step. Somebody had to take it and it was our time, I guess. We came along and we were ready in every way other than the fact that the church wasn’t ready, but we were.
Rev. Heyward’s new book is part of her lifelong devotion to helping others create ways for society “to overcome today’s culture of hate and bring healing and hope into our life together”.
The next two quotes are from The 7 Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism.
I write to encourage study and action among Christians and other Americans who know that something is wrong and has been for a very long time. … I know that if we dare to exercise our moral courage and good common sense, we can begin to re-form our democracy into a union more perfect than anything Abraham Lincoln could have imagined. I know that, for the sake of God and this country, we must try.
The 7 Deadly Sins in this book are followed by 7 Calls to Action. To me, this is what makes Carter’s message so important at this time of national crisis.
Her book is not a mental exercise. She speaks from personal experience.
One of the first steps we can take, she says, is to speak out about our values. This means breaking the tradition of silence about our own upsetting experiences. By keeping secrets, we allow the lies of certain power-seekers to flourish.
How can we strengthen the moral resistance to this authoritarian movement in our midst before it’s too late? … To respond to this call, we must wrestle with two sets of questions. The first set is about Christian theology and the second is about American politics. …
But any violence against the Republican Party and its white conservative, gun-loving, Christian male leadership would be foolish … [It] would be the wrong thing to do morally and spiritually as well as socially, psychologically, and politically … because, until they are broken, spirals of violence only intensify. …
There are hundreds of … associations and movements devoted to nonviolent direct action in countless realms of justice making. Some of the better known are listed in the resources at the back of this book.
Sam and I are familiar with Carter’s active role in our local NAACP, which invites the public to join in their Moral Mondays. Demonstrators may bring signs, speak, or just be present, in support of human equality in society and before the law. Come to the Courthouse in downtown Brevard each Monday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m..
Moral Mondays were part of a movement begun in 2013 in response to controversial NC state legislation. The Rev. William Barber expanded Moral Mondays into local demonstrations after he retired as head of the North Carolina NAACP in 2017. He visited our county in 2016.
I’m still learning about the opportunities Carter has helped create for the people of our county. I knew of her great love for horses, and I know she has written about the spirituality in such care, but recently I learned she founded Free Rein in 2000.
Free Rein is a mainly volunteer-staffed non-profit that offers equine therapy at free or reduced rates to individuals with developmental, physical and emotional challenges. It is an example of how sharing a personal interest can open doors to well-being for others, that might otherwise have remained closed for a lifetime.
Thank you, Carter Heyward, for sharing your hope for a healthier, more peaceful world, and especially for saying,
This is what is,
this is how it happened,
and this is what we have to do to change it,
together.
Wonderful...proud and privileged to have you both in the area! Looking forward to hearing/reading more from both of you! Linda Martinson
We love her! Thanks for this postcard. I treasure hearing about and from wonderful people like Carter when voices of exclusion are so often so loud. I was raised in the Episcopal Church and was aware of the first ordinations of women; so glad to be reminded of the courageous people who made it happen. Thanks for helping to let her voice be heard.