Official Sacred Worth Response to Rev. Eddie Fox Distinguished Alumni Award

October 22, 2013

Sacred Worth
Candler School of Theology Emory University 1531 Dickey Dr. Atlanta, GA 30322

Dr. Jan Love
Dean and Professor of Christianity and World Politics Candler School of Theology
Emory University
1531 Dickey Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30322

Dear Dean Love,
On Thursday, October 10, 2013 Candler School of Theology awarded Rev. H. Eddie Fox with a Distinguished Alumni Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award is Candler’s highest lifetime achievement award which “annually recognizes an alumnus or alumna whose service to God, the church, and his or her community has been made with distinction.” As members and friends of the Candler community, we are appalled and heartbroken that your administration, in conjunction with the Candler alumni board, chose to distinguish and celebrate the career of Rev. Fox.

Rev. Fox has spent 30 years using his position as the Executive Director of the World Methodist Evangelism Institute to grandstand his own narrow and exclusive opinions of homosexuality within The United Methodist Church. Recently, Rev. Fox was the spokesman for the minority report at the 2008 General Conference that regrettably succeeded in ensuring that The United Methodist Church would continue to actively discipline, silence, and oppress lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) persons. In his remarks he claimed that The United Methodist Church must make sure that its stance on homosexuality is, “clear, concise and faithful to biblical teaching.” Which, he argued, meant upholding the position that, “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Unfortunately, Rev. Fox has so far succeeded in his efforts at evangelizing ignorance and hate. The bitter fruits of his work are littered across the church. We taste them each time a United Methodist clergy member is defrocked for falling in love. We taste them each time a seminarian is kept silent for fear of retribution for speaking her mind and heart. And we taste them most especially each time an LGBTQ adult or youth commits suicide because of the “clear, concise, and faithful” teachings with which they have been indoctrinated.

Regrettably, your administration decided against retracting the award to Rev. Fox after we petitioned you to do so. We remain firmly against the administration using “theological diversity” as a cover and excuse for perpetuating harmful systems of injustice. Since its inception, Sacred Worth has always fielded dialogue between people across the theological spectrum; however, elevating a proponent of such oppressive legislation effectively delegitimizes any sense of safe space within Candler for LGBTQ students and their allies.

At this point we cannot erase history, and Rev. Eddie Fox will forever be a “Distinguished Alumni” of Candler School of Theology. After considerable dialogue with students and faculty, we have settled on two primary goals for Candler to help counteract the exclusive teachings espoused by Rev. Fox and the unsettling message sent by our celebration of his career. They are:

• Become a Reconciling Seminary. Reconciling Ministries Network “mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.” By becoming a Reconciling Seminary, Candler School of Theology will undertake a thoughtful and thorough process that educates, reforms, and aligns the seminary with a growing movement of United Methodist individuals, congregations, campus ministries, and other groups working for the full participation of all people in The United Methodist Church.
  
• Include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the Candler Commitments statement. Candler School of Theology currently states its commitment to “a community of faith and learning inclusive of women and men who are diverse in ethnic, economic, social, and national background.” In order to ensure the safety and support of Candler’s LGBTQ community, including a statement of commitment to them is necessary.
  While the awarding of Rev. Fox cannot be undone, we feel that these reparations will be a healthy step in reconciling the LGBTQ and allied community at Candler to the administration. We understand that moving Candler towards achieving these goals will not be easy, and so we pledge to you our service and support for the journey. It is our greatest hope and desire that by working together, we can bring some good fruit to bear out of this unfortunate situation.
  We look forward to working together for a better and more inclusive Candler.
  
  Sincerely,
  Candler Sacred Worth
  John Boyd, President
  Anna Flowers, Vice President & Treasurer Zebulun Treloar, Chaplain & C3 Representative Karen Stephenson Slappey, Secretary
  Katelyn Bland-Clark, Secretary
  Jake Miles Joseph, Outreach Coordinator
  CC: James W. Wagner, President, Emory University