Gay bishop-to-be will take on evangelicals

Canon Gene Robinson, the man who may become the first openly gay diocesan bishop in the worldwide Anglican communion, has told the Guardian that he has no intention of backing down as his English counterpart Jeffrey John was forced to do.

In the only interview he has given to the British press, Canon Robinson, who has been elected by the parishioners and clergy of the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire, said he saw no reason why his consecration - due to be voted on by his church next month - should split the Anglican communion.

He said: "I have come to understand that homosexuality is not a sin. The Bible was not speaking of monogamous relationships between two people of the same sex. The Bible just does not address that issue, it was written for a different time."

Evangelical opponents of homosexuality are preparing to turn their fire on Canon Robinson after the resignation of Canon John, at the behest of the Archbishop of Canterbury, from the lesser post of suffragan bishop of Reading two weeks ago. They view Canon Robinson's election as a much more serious threat and have warned that it could split the church in America. Some African bishops, led by Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, whose 17.5 million congregants make up the largest single church in the Anglican communion, have warned they will sever their links with the US church.

Canon Robinson, 56, an ordained minister for more than 30 years with a ministry in New Hampshire since 1975, said he was sanguine about his appointment.

"I do believe that Archbishop Akinola is following his call from God as faithfully as he can to the best of his knowledge and I want him to know that I am following my call from God as best I can. It seems to me that we can stay in communion, acknowledging we are both walking with God in our own way. I would welcome meeting him, getting together, getting to know one another and sharing our love of God. We can find our unity in our common belief in Jesus. I still want to be in communion with him."

The case of Canon Robinson differs from that of Canon John in several respects. Not only has he been elected by the 15,000 members of the church in New Hampshire - so there is no question of his being imposed on the diocese - but he was chosen from a field of 150 candidates, whittled down to four, of whom two were women. In itself that is not an option available within the Church of England, which has yet to decide whether women may become bishops.

More crucially from the evangelicals' viewpoint, unlike Canon John, Canon Robinson admits that he is in a sexually active relationship with his partner of more than 14 years, Mark Andrew, who works for the state health department. Canon John's assertion that, although in a same-sex partnership for 27 years, he had been celibate for more than a decade was not enough to save him.

Canon Robinson would not, of course, be the first gay bishop: there are several of those already. But he would be the first to have acknowledged his sexuality. He was married for a number of years and has two daughters now in their 20s, sharing their upbringing with his former wife, Isabella. Both daughters, Jamee and Ella, were present at the service celebrating his election in Concord last month. Canon Robinson said: "I guess I became aware of my sexual orientation from about seventh grade at junior high school in Kentucky. It was very difficult then and very different, growing up in the South.

"I met the woman who became my wife at the University of Vermont and I told her about my sexual orientation before we ever married. We had our daughters and we went through therapy together, but we separated in May 1986, were divorced in August 1987 and she remarried the following month. When we got divorced we had our parish priest as a witness and we all went to his church afterwards for a service where we asked each other's forgiveness, gave each other our wedding rings back and pledged ourselves to the joint bringing-up of our daughters."

Canon Robinson has made no secret of his sexual orientation, but he has not flaunted it either. "I did not come out for quite some time but I did not experience a lot of negativity. A few clergy were troubled but we discussed it and they hung in there with me. I have never made a big deal of it but I promised myself and I promised God that I would be honest because I know that what makes families crazy is when there is a secret in the house.

"New Hampshire is a very conservative state, with a conservative culture, but the other side of that is that it is libertarian. People believe you should be allowed to live your life as you choose."

The Episcopal church is bracing itself for its triennial convention in Minneapolis in a fortnight's time, at which Canon Robinson's election and that of nine other bishops is due to be ratified. Evangelical opponents are organising to block the appointment, which needs a majority in all three houses: bishops, clergy and lay.

A delegation from England is planning to attend and there may well be other bishops from across the worldwide communion lobbying the meeting. If the election goes through there are likely to be walkouts with much weeping and gnashing of teeth, and plans are well advanced to greet opponents with the setting up of a new alternative church structure.

Canon Robinson said: "My election is not assured and if there is not a majority in any one house it will be rendered null and void. It is very difficult to guess the outcome - 44% of the clergy and lay delegates have never attended before.

"I am very hopeful but there are people who are adamantly opposed to me. One of the wonderful things though is that the Holy Spirit often moves people to vote differently from what they had planned."

And what of being the cause of schism? "I do not believe there is any reason why we should come apart over this issue. If someone chooses to leave the communion, or declare themselves out of communion, that will be their doing not mine. "I care about it, I pray about it, but I can't take responsibility for every province of the Anglican communion. We did not come apart over the ordination of women. Not many years hence, homosexuality will be accepted within the church too.

"The thing I am most eager to be is a good bishop, not a gay bishop. If I do this ministry well and serve God well and the people of New Hampshire well, that will do more than anything to help gay and lesbian people across the church. That's why I was elected. The people here don't have a gay agenda but they chose me because they have known me for 28 years and believed I would be the best bishop."

'If the Bible is very clear - as I think it is - that a heterosexual indulging in homosexual activity for the sake of variety and gratification is not following the will of God, does that automatically say that that is the only sort of homosexual activity there could ever be? My personal conclusion is that I can see a case for acknowledging faithful same-sex relationships.'

'I believe the mystery of covenanted love actually can work for two people of the same sex just as much as it can work for a married couple. Love between persons who are individual and yet given completely to the other is a mystery that reflects God's own nature'

'I cannot think of how a man in his senses would be having a sexual relationship with another man. Even in the world of animals - dogs, cows, lions - we don't hear of such things'

"I have come to understand that homosexuality is not a sin. The Bible was not speaking of monogamous relationships between two people of the same sex. The Bible just does not address that issue, it was written for a different time."

What this Bible stuff?

Thank you very much!

That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me.

It isn't every day

good fortune comes me way!

I never thought the future would be fun for me!

And if I had a bugle

I would blow it to add a sort

o' how's your father's touch.

But since I left me bugle at home

I simply have to say

Thank you very, very, very much!

Thank you for your donation!

These are the same folks who give sermons from the pulpit telling their members the Bible is just a good book of stories to learn from.

I just wish they would change the name of their professed faith - to something like "The Politcally Correct Church of the Buggery"

I haven't read the rest of the article yet. This man is a fiend. And I mean that literally. The people who attend a church run or operated by people like this would be better off worshipping in their own homes or under a tree in the woods.

I just wish that they would go off somewhere and start their own churches. Homosexuals are constantly wanting to nose in on stuff concerning heterosexuals, then, they want a special day set aside for homosexuals. They want marriages, they want to adopt children, they want to redefine Christianity, they want to be spiritual leaders, they want to lead the Boy Scouts.

I can understand politicians schmoozing up to homosexuals, but what I cannot understand is why ordinary everyday people do it. Do they live vacariously through them? Or, is it they want to appear "with it?" I've read articles on FR about parents who will leave their sons in the care of known homosexual men.

Not many years hence, homosexuality will be accepted within the church too.

In that case, the woods and peoples' houses better be filled with people worshipping God, since the churches (if this happens) will be filled with people worshipping their own perverted desires.

What? Homosexuality cropped up just in the last few years and was virtually unknown before then? Doesn't this pervert deny his own argument that "The Bible does not address that issue" (it does) when he then says in the same sentence "it was written for a different time." Why would he conclude his thought with that lie unless he knew that his premise was also a lie?

I've read articles on FR about parents who will leave their sons in the care of known homosexual men.

Parents also buy beer for their children so that they will be popular.

Parents allow their impressionable youth to watch hour after hour of MTV

Parents also let their children hang out with druggies and other losers.

Parents also purchase their sons brand-new Ford Mustangs on their sixteenth birthday.

Parents want to be their children's best friends, and friends don't boss their friends around.

I can understand politicians schmoozing up to homosexuals, but what I cannot understand is why ordinary everyday people do it.

People are not taught the basics - right and wrong. Light and darkness. God and emptiness. It hasn't been cool for a long time to believe that there is an absolute truth. But that in itself is an absolute; there is no getting away from it.

The faithful people of the world need to start cooperating more against the darkness of atheism and moral relativism. Out and out atheism is easier to deal with. The sort of atheism cloaked in false piety is trickier.

Speaking and living the truth are very powerful weapons, and inside prayerfulness give one strength to continue in a world filled with darkness.

The fear of looking like a fool motivates a lot of foolish and dangerous choices. Better to look like a fool to foolish people than join their ranks!

He just wants to take something that is expressly stated and say that it doesn't mean what it says.

I've heard that tactic used before...

Gen 3:3-4 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

Ah, the demise of the Anglican church.... It will be fun to watch. So, do Homo-Nazis realize that even the Soviet Union could destroy true spiritual religion??? I guess they'll just make some kind of gay-church-club with secret handshakes and grab-ass.

Thou shall not sleep with the opposite sex
Thou shall be flamboyant and destroy, destroy, destroy!!
Thou shall not wear white after Labor Day
Thou shall pay homage to our mighty Saints Barbara Streisand and Cher
Thou shall steal the rainbow from all other culture, effectively removing the symbol of Gods covenant with Noah from mankind
Thou shall recruit
Thou shall drive a VW bug or a CJ-7
Thou shall refer to the straits as “breeders”
Thou shall show how gay you are in public as obscenely as possible, especially around children
Thou shall call everyone who disagrees with your “born behavior” a bigot

This guy seems to me to be very selfish to not care that he may be the cause of splitting the church. Of course the ECUSA has been dying on the vine for years because of political correctness instead of staunchly upholding Biblical teachings. Most conservatives have already left ofr the Anglican Mission (sponsored by Nigeria) or the Orthodox or Roman Church. This will leave the church to the faithless, as was the gay agenda all along. I have loved this church for a long time, but I have had the priviledge of worshiping in a conservative (outcast) parish for many hyears. There are not many left within the US and it's very sad.

"I have come to understand that homosexuality is not a sin.

Rom 1:24-27 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator...For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful...

" ... it was written for a different time."

With that attitude, what about murder? OK now? Rape? Robbery? Is the gospel message "for a different time"? How about the "Golden Rule"? What is the new criteria for determining what law from God hasn't changed. Where did this Pervert Demon Borrowed From Hell find the sunset language in Scripture that put an expiration date on Truth?

The bottom line issue is the Authority of Scripture. The Canon has violated the qualifications of an overseer (Grk: "episcopos") - 1 Tim 3; Titus, etc; he flaunts a lifestyle condemned in Romans 1, and he lives in a style that is contrary to God's blueprint: Gen 2. And in many other ways, he denigrates the authority of Scripture. It is late, and I will not go on, except to say: Shame on you Canon, and shame on the people of New Hampshire who elected him!

"The Bible just does not address that issue, it was written for a different time."

In speaking for the liberal majority of his fellow unelected superlegislators on the SCOTUS I believe Justice Kennedy uttered something just as inane about the Constitution.

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