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A Nantucket pastor is defending her church’s decision to cancel its annual Fourth of July reading of America’s founding documents, using her sermon to explain why the long-running tradition was axed on the exclusive Massachusetts island favored by former President Joe Biden.
“After two and a half centuries why are our founding documents still celebrated as mainly aspirational? 250 years later aspirational –– not being there yet –– celebrating the promise of those documents –– and our country –– just doesn’t cut it,” Rev. Erin Splaine of the Second Congregational Meeting House Society said in a sermon excerpt she provided to Fox News Digital.
The historic Nantucket Unitarian Meeting House has hosted a public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in downtown Nantucket each Fourth of July holiday for the past 25 years before the church decided to cancel it in May as part of an ongoing effort to understand its “own whiteness.”
“What should unify all of us is not to continue to assume –– or hide behind –– aspirational only –– rather to commit to the work of change –– to be brave enough to be uncomfortable –– unsettled –– unaccepting of an incomplete narrative,” the sermon continued.
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The decision to cancel the annual reading was announced in a letter published by the Nantucket Current, which discussed ongoing conversations within the congregation about race, privilege and the historical application of constitutional rights.
The cancelation sparked a wave of social media backlash, with critics arguing the decision reflected broader discomfort on the left with traditional celebrations of America’s founding.
The letter stated that Splaine would not “engage” with anyone concerned with the cancelation on social media, saying those concerned could make an “appointment” to speak with her. “Social media is not the place for important, tender conversations,” the letter read.
Fox News Digital reached out to Splaine for comment last week, after the Nantucket Current published her letter announcing the event was canceled. She responded with an excerpt from her recent sermon defending the decision.
“While a few people have taken up the invitation to connect – the overwhelming majority who disagree have not. It is disappointing because there is so much to talk about and absolutely no worth in yelling at each other,” Splaine told Fox News Digital.
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Local leaders and the island’s chamber of commerce had promoted the event in prior years on social media platforms for all to celebrate the holiday.
“There are also those who have said the event should continue because it is important to bring people together. The crucial question is what people? Who is missing? What story is being celebrated? Whose experience is part of that story –– whose experience is not?” preached Splaine in her sermon.
Nantucket, a famed summer retreat off the Massachusetts coast, attracts celebrities, millionaires — and billionaires. Biden and his family head up to the island almost every year to celebrate Thanksgiving with family for decades.
Critics were quick to flood social media with reactions, pointing to the island’s exclusivity and arguing that some on the left appear increasingly uncomfortable celebrating America’s founding ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday.
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“Just another organization with leaders having a hidden agenda. I doubt a poll of all members would show a majority wanting the reading cancelled,” commented one person.
“So many churches have been infiltrated by people that don’t believe the word of God in any way shape or form. They’re like a virus that had taken over the host,” commented another person.
“I was hoping we were past this – naive of me,” shared an X user.
“The left can’t have anything that might encourage patriotism,” added one person.
PROTECTING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN OUR 250TH YEAR
To salvage the annual event, another church on the island, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, announced it would read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, the Nantucket Current reported.
“We may not be there yet but we felt it was important to gather together and try to live up to the promises our country has made,” said St. Paul’s Rev. Max Wolf. “Those documents are aspirational.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Nantucket Unitarian Meeting House for additional comment, as well as Biden’s office.
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