In sharp contrast to the insufferable Cardinal Egan who I discussed in a prior post, there is Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson who has never enabled sexual predators or covered up their crimes against minors but whose homosexuality has split the Anglican Church. It certainly makes one question the values and priorities of "Godly Christians" in both churches that Egan continues to have Kool-Aid drinkers kissing his wide ass while Robinson continues to catch Hell from many directions and receives threats of physical violence aginst him - naturally from good Christians. In the UK's Daily Telegraph, Robinson recently shared his views and feelings on the treatment he has received. I applaud his motives, especially his feeling that he has an obligation to provide a role model for the younger generations of gays. Having watched the movie, For the Bible Tells Me So, Robinson has an amazing witness that more alleged Christians need to know about. Here are some interview highlights (note the reference to Archbishop Peter Akinola who may have been involved in the massacre of hundreds of Muslims):*
The storm is set to intensify in July when the world's Anglican bishops meet for their once-a-decade gathering at Lambeth Palace and debate what to do about the "problem" of Bishop Robinson. However, when the host, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, sent out invitations to the Lambeth Conference, Gene Robinson's was the one name missing from the list. It was, Robinson believes, an "unstrategic" attempt to appease the conservative Anglican primates from Africa, Asia and Latin America, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who have described the installation of a gay bishop as the work of Satan.
*Robinson is in London to promote his new book, In The Eye of the Storm. It is a spiritual memoir aimed, he says, at showing that he is more than "a one issue guy". The last of its five sections, however, sets a course for the Lambeth Conference and beyond. It is, in one way, Robinson having his say, even though he's not going to be at the event itself. He won't, as many Anglicans seem to hope, be allowing the whole issue to go away. It is in this refusal to be silent that I finally begin to see in this otherwise gentle and genial prelate that flash of steely resolve that drives all implacable dissenters forward.
*
Jesus never says anything about homosexuality," he says, the light tone in his nasal voice suddenly darkening, "but he says a lot about treating every person with dignity and respect. All the biblical appeals for a particular attitude to homosexuality can never quote Jesus." What, though, of Old Testament condemnations of "men who lay with men"? "The Church isn't the same yesterday, today and tomorrow," he says. "Only God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Church has always been changing. The Holy Spirit is leading us into truth. And I believe we have learnt that about people of colour, about women, about those who are disabled and now about lesbian and gay people."
*
"Occasionally I don't like the probing and the questioning. But I put up with it because I grew up in a time when there were no role models. "To be gay and lesbian was to be a failure. The good gay people killed themselves. And the others were drug addicts and bums. There was no possibility for a life of integrity or respect. So I feel called to be as open as I can be about my life so that young lesbians and gay men will understand that they can have wonderful relationships, be mothers and fathers and make a real distinction for themselves in their careers. I owe it to those who come after me."
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