Posted on 06/19/2006 1:10:35 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly elected leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on Monday she believed homosexuality was no sin and homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender.
Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, was elected on Sunday as the first woman leader of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church. the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. She will formally take office later this year.
Interviewed on CNN, Jefferts Schori was asked if it was a sin to be homosexual.
"I don't believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us," she said.
"Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender."
Jefferts Schori's election seemed certain to exacerbate splits within a Episcopal Church that is already deeply divided over homosexuality with several dioceses and parishes threatening to break away.
It could also widen divisions with other Anglican communities, including the Church of England, which do not allow women bishops. In the worldwide Anglican church women are bishops only in Canada, the United States and New Zealand.
Three years ago when the Church last met in convention, a majority of U.S. bishops backed the consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican history.
The Robinson issue has been particularly criticized in Africa where the church has a growing membership and where homosexuality is often taboo.
Jefferts Schori, who was raised a Roman Catholic and graduated in marine biology with a doctorate specialization in squids and oysters, supported the consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican history.
The 52-year-old bishop is married to Richard Schori, a retired theoretical mathematician. They have one daughter, Katharine Johanna, 24, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and a pilot like her mother.
Asked how she reconciled her position on homosexuality with specific passages in the Bible declaring sexual relations between men an abomination, Jefferts Schori said the Bible was written in a very different historical context by people asking different questions.
"The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today," she said.
"The Bible tells us about how to treat other human beings, and that's certainly the great message of Jesus -- to include the unincluded."
What a twisted logic this woman is using. Why would God create someone homosexual to condemn them for an act He deems an abomination? That would make God a pretty cruel entity.
I'm pretty tired of hearing liberal Christians spout the mantra "I believe that homosexuality is not a sin. I believe that God created them that way.. blah.. blah.. blah.. Who cares what you believe. It's what God says that is most important.
Speaking of which, looks like she's also ignoring Scripture that says she isn't to be a Bishop.
Asked how she reconciled her position on homosexuality with specific passages in the Bible declaring sexual relations between men an abomination, Jefferts Schori said the Bible was written in a very different historical context by people asking different questions.
"The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today," she said.
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Boy, I could post a bunch of scripture but it was written in a "a very different historical context by people asking different questions" so I won't belabor ya with it.
There is nothing new under the sun.. yada yada..
Methinks she is in for a big surprise when the fat lady sings.. jmho
Using the same reasoning that Schiori is using bestiality is not a sin because the primitive authors of the Bible were living in another less enlightened age. (sarcasm)
Leonard Ravenhill?
Ooooooo...now that takes me back
And, heterosexual sodomy is no less an abomination than homosexual sodomy - so if you're guilty of sexually abusing a woman in such a fashion...
KNOCK IT THE HELL OFF!!
No, you're on the money...He describes this in the Gospels when speaking of adultery...same concept for the homosexual lust as a heterosexual lust...
Amen to your statement...My jaw dropped when I read the article...What can one say to this? So sad to see the souls of many being pulled in the absolute wrong direction...
What Church? The Church of Satan?
Well, it's either God makes mistakes by putting male psyches in female bodies and vice-versa or some folks are whistling past the graveyard as hard as they can.
Not to sound too judgemental, the Liberal Christian have wrecked the Episcopal Chuch in America,this is no longer a Church in the strictest sense of the word.
I'm reminded of when The Gay Gene (Robinson) said that he felt that penile-anal contact with his "partner" was tantamount to a sacrament.
Pending schism not withstanding--this denomination in reality is already split between goats and sheep.
There are still plenty of good people in the church that, in my opinion, have their heads in the sand. I had to go where I could worship honestly.
Quite right. It is no longer a church. Anglicans & Episcopalians prayed for some clarity to come out of this General Convention. As the old saying goes...you have to be careful what you pray for. Sometimes God answers our prayers in ways we never could imagine &, although He always works for good, it doesn't always relieve our personal suffering.
Schori's election provides an important bit of clarity, not necessarily to the rest of the Anglican world, but to every Episcopalian who continues to sit on the fence...if they will only have ears to hear. By Schori's own words, the Episcopal Church USA has moved beyond heresy to apostasy. It is no longer a Christian "church" fulfilling its commision to spread The Gospel - it is, rather, a fully secularized institution whose "first priority" is to effect temporal socio-political change. Schori makes that clear in her statements to the press....
"Jefferts Schori told members of the press on Sunday, "One of the great actions of this General Convention has been to name 'Justice and Peace' as the first priority of this church." "Justice and Peace" includes promotion of the eight Millennial Development Goals of the United Nations, yet its prioritization makes evangelism a low priority for the already shrinking mainline church."
There it is, folks. The ECUSA has become nothing more than a political action group cloaked in the trappings of pseudo-Christian ritual - sort of a cross between the National Organization of Women & the Masonic Lodge! Sadly...tragically...most of the poor slobs warming the pews in their ECUSA "churches" haven't a clue that they have been co-opted by the radical left, who don't give a tinker's damn about their spiritual health in this life or their eternal salvation for the next. Is it any wonder that the Anglican Primates in Africa are now sending missionaries to the United States?
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Why would a Christian belong to the Episcopal Church?
Well, we were warned in 2 Timothy 3(the Apostasy Predicted) that would happen during this age. Accepting homosexuality is just part of the whole stage of the so-called "Christian" church. Unfortunately, it will only get worse.
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