38 / CHRONICLESnbecause of her public display of hernbeliefs, she is no longer welcome at St.nAgnes School.nShe appeared on TV in January in andemonstration against proposed Ohionlegislation that would mandate notificationnof a minor girl’s parents beforenshe received an abortion. She alsonsigned her name to a newspaper adncelebrating the anniversary of Roe v.nWade.nThe spokesman for the RomannCatholic Diocese of Toledo puts itnnicely: “Clearly, one removes oneselfnfrom the Catholic and Christian communitynwhen one advocates, finances,nsupports, or encourages another personnto participate in abortion.”nSarabeth has attended parochialnschools since kindergarten but will gonelsewhere for the sixth grade this fall,nsaying she refuses to pledge to keep hernviews on abortion private or to write anletter to her principal saying she doesnnot believe in aborhon, as St. Agnes’nadministrator asked her to do.n”It will give them the idea they haventhe right to take away my freedom ofnwanting to believe in abortion or not,”nshe told the AP in typically confusedn11-year-old language, “and makenthem feel they could do that to othernchildren, which they shouldn’t be ablento do.”nAll this in a child whose friendsnsnarf down Fruit Roll-Ups and wouldndie for a date with Prince.nConcepcion Eason says, “We’renangry and disappointed with thenChurch. I believe in freedom ofnchoice, freedom of speech. They can’tntell us what we cannot say in public. Inam teaching my daughter to be whatnshe wants to be and fight for whateverncauses she wants to.”nHere’s what I would have askednConcepcion (o unlikely, unhappynname!): “As a member of NOW”n— I’m guessing here — “would yountolerate another member who advocatednlower pay for women than for men?nAs a gay rights activist”—again, anguess—“would you put up with anmember who held that homosexualitynis a sin? No? Then why are you surprisednthat the Catholic Church, onenof whose oldest, deepest, and mostnself-evident tenets is the prohibition ofnabortion, looks askance at your daughter’snpro-abortion views? Why do younwant to be a Catholic? Why do younthink you are a Catholic? Why do younwant your daughter to attend a Catholicnschool? And what would happen tonSarabeth’s ‘freedom of choice, freedomnof speech’ if she switched horsesnand signed an antiabortion ad?”nAnd to the Church: “If Sarabeth, anchild, and obviously her mother’snmouthpiece, has, as you say, removednherself from the Catholic and Christianncommunity, what of Concepcionnand all the others? Are we talkingn’excommunication’ here?”nThis is what I would have asked.nJane Greer edits Plains Poetry Journalnand is the author of Bathsheba onnthe Third Day (The CummingtonnPress).nLetter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednWhy I Am an EpiscopaliannA friend of mine was having a theologicalndiscussion with his cleaning ladynone day (people do that sort of thing innthe South), and the subject of the Endnof Time came up. They agreed thatnthe signs are all in place, and that itnmust be coming soon, if the Bible is tonbe believed.n”You know, Mr. Ferrell,” she said,n”I believe that. I really do. But if younthink about it too much, it will drivenyou crazy.”nSome of us feel that way aboutnreligion in general, but I see where thenChronicles readership survey says younall want more on the subject, and Inaim to please. So here goes.nMy friend Tim lives in Chicago.nNow in his 40’s, he recently felt thenstirrings of a long-dormant religiousnimpulse. Raised in a Scotch-Irishnhousehold of stern Presbyterian persuasion,nhe naturally sought out thennearest franchise of that denomination.nWhen its minister suggested thatnperhaps a refresher course would be innorder after a 25-year absence, Timnenrolled in a program for prospectivennew members.nAfter several meetings, Tim grewnincreasingly restive and finally askednthe question that was on his mind:nnn”What about sin?” he said. “Younhaven’t mentioned sin.” The ministernhemmed and hawed, Tim reports, andnreplied, in effect, that modern churchmenndon’t believe in that any more.nNow, when it comes to sin, Tim isnlike the man who was asked if henbelieved in infant baptism: He notnonly believes in it, he’s seen it with hisnown eyes. So he decided that thenchurch of his childhood was no longernfor him, and he was recently confirmednas an Episcopalian. He saysnEpiscopalians will let you believe innanything you want to. Even sin.nProbably the best face that can benput on what’s happening to the AmericannEpiscopal Church is to say that it’snretracing its steps to the 18th-centurynChurch of England from which itnemerged. After Elizabeth I declined tonput windows into men’s souls, Anglicansncould believe pretty much whatnthey chose, so long as they maintainedna decent regard for appearances. Andnonce the Church of England got out ofnthe religion business, it found all sortsnof other interesting things to do. ThenAmerican church seems to be doingnthe same.nUnlike its Established mothernchurch, for instance, the Americannchurch doesn’t have its bishops sittingnin the House of Lords, but it does itsnbest to share in the task of government,nif only by passing embarrassing resolutionsnon all sorts of matters beyond itsncompetence.nI Have In My Hand (for example) anpamphlet called Policy for Action 11:nThe Social Policies of the EpiscopalnChurch. Among the dozens of items,ntouching every aspect of foreign andndomestic policy, probably the onlynones that wouldn’t make it through anconference of the Nonaligned Nationsnare calls for the USSR to allow greaternemigration and to get out of Afghanistan.nSince anti-Semitism seems to benincreasingly a left-wing phenomenonnthese days—Daniel Ortega’s record,nfor example, is none too good —nmaybe we can give the EpiscopalnChurch a few points for coming downnagainst that, too. But if Ortega couldnfind anything else to disagree with, it’snbecause Episcopalians have him outflankednon the left. (If he’s followingnFidel’s lead in the matter of civil rightsnfor homosexuals, for instance, he risksnthe disapproval of the American Epis-n