Episcopal Church Leaders in Los Angeles Nominate Gay and Lesbian Bishops

Personally, I applaud the nomination yesterday of openly gay and lesbian priests as bishops. It is most refreshing to see a denomination accept modern knowledge and move beyond a few passages in the Bible written by uneducated and by today's standards, extremely ignorant authors. However, it will likely cause the anti-gay Neanderthals within the Anglican Communion to go berserk - you know, godly folks like Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola who may have been involved in the massacre of 600 Muslims. What the spineless Archbishop of Canterbury will do remains to be seen. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

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Episcopal Church leaders in Los Angeles today nominated an openly gay priest and an openly lesbian priest as bishops, becoming one of the first dioceses in the national church to test a controversial new policy that lifted a de facto ban on gays and lesbians in the ordained hierarchy.

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The nominations of the Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco and the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool of a Baltimore-based diocese are likely to further inflame theological conservatives in the U.S. church and their global partners in the Anglican Communion, who have repeatedly warned about the repercussions of such action.

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The Diocese of Los Angeles, which represents 70,000 Episcopalians in six counties, is widely regarded as one of the most liberal in the U.S. church of 2.1 million members. Its bishop, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, is an outspoken advocate of gays rights in the church.

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The action in Los Angeles followed a similar decision Saturday by leaders in the Diocese of Minnesota, who nominated a partnered lesbian as bishop. The Rev. Bonnie Perry is rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Chicago and an adjunct professor at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. Her longtime partner is a priest in the church.

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I continue to keep my fingers crossed that the ELCA will show the courage and willingness to do what is right like these Episcopal dioceses when it holds it Churchwide Assembly later this month. If not, the boyfriend and I may seriously consider switching to an Episcopal parish. As much as I like the ECLA, another rejection of full acceptance of LGBT Lutherans at the Churchwide Assembly may make the decision for us.

L.A. Episcopal Diocese Condones Blessing Gay Unions

I write often about anti-gay denominations and endeavor to point out their lies, hypocrisy and hateful conduct towards LGBT citizens. It is important to remember that not all denominations are homophobic. A case in point is the Episcopal Church and certain dioceses in particular such as the Episcopal Church Diocese of Los Angeles. I truly believe that time is on the side of LGBT equality and acceptance by all but the most reactionary and ignorant denominations. Like it or not, advances in medical and mental health knowledge not to mention the acceptance of gays by the younger generations will force denominations to either join the modern world or eventually wither and perish. Here are highlights from the Los Angeles Times concerning the LA Diocese's position on gay unions:

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The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has announced that church leaders can bless the unions of same-sex couples as a matter of policy. The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, whose diocese encompasses Los Angeles County and five other Southern California counties, made the announcement Friday during a diocesan convention in Riverside.

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Bruno's declaration is not expected to have a major effect on Episcopal churches in Southern California. Many have been blessing gay unions for years. But he has now made it official. "The practice has not changed. The policy has. . . . It's sort of like 'coming out,' " said the Rev. Susan Russell, a lesbian priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. Russell also is president of Integrity USA, a group representing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the Episcopal Church.

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The rite endorsed by Bruno also allows the blessing of other relationships, such as those between two senior citizens who do not wish to legally marry because they might lose health insurance or Social Security benefits.

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Diocese representatives also passed a resolution at their convention calling on the Episcopal Church to let gays and lesbians become bishops. The L.A. diocese is expected to elect two suffragan, or assisting, bishops in 2010, and some say it is possible a gay or lesbian bishop could be nominated from among qualified candidates around the world.

Archbishop of Canterbury About to Throw Gays Under the Bus?

Stories out of the UK suggest that before it's all over, gays will be "thrown under the bus" in order to maintain "unity" within the Anglican Communion. As is all too typical in my opinion, the good Christians such as Archbishop Rowan Williams lack the guts to stand up against what is wrong so as to maintain false unity with bigots and false Christians. If anyone has come out looking good throughout the Lambeth Conference, I think it is Gene Robinson, the only bishop who has consistently preached a message of love and acceptance of all. I find it repugnant that Roland Williams would rather kiss the hypocritical asses of the likes of Peter Akinola (who is suggested to have had a hand in the massacre of women and children) rather than denounce them and support gay Christians. I predict that time will show that by appeasing the intolerant bigots within the Anglican Communion, Williams will be only encouraging them to make further demands. Are women priests and bishops the next targets of the homophobic male chauvinists that predominate the ranks of the "conservative" bishops. Williams is the religious equivalent of Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler. Here are some highlights from the BBC:

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The announcement came on the last day of the Lambeth Conference, which has been overshadowed by the issue of gay clergy and same-sex unions. About 200 bishops boycotted the once-a-decade forum over the row. Dr Rowan Williams said there was a recognition, "though still with many questions", that a Covenant was needed. The BBC's Robert Pigott says this would be "some sort of statement of shared beliefs and a more-or-less binding agreement to stick to them".

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"It seems that a number of groups of clergy have voted for a ban on gay bishops and church blessings for homosexual couples, as part of a long-term plan to preserve at least the core of the Communion," he said. One suggestion from the group working on a potential Covenant has been for churches departing from tradition to have "diminished status" within the Communion. Such an arrangement would result in a two-tier Communion but no church would be expelled.

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Gene Robinson - told Radio 4's Sunday programme that some traditionalists were actively working towards schism. "Bullies always come back for more. And the one thing that I think the archbishop is blind to is the fact that nothing short of total victory will satisfy these guys."

German Lutheran Church May Elect Gay Bishop

Depending upon how the final vote turns out, Yahoo News is reporting that the Lutheran Church in Germany may soon elect a gay bishop. Sadly, the un-Christian far right faction within the Church is whining and protesting about that prospect. Obviously, as a Lutheran myself, the more sister churches to the ELCA adopt gay accepting policies, the more pressure there will be on the ELCA to official grant full acceptance to gays as members of all levels of the clergy and as committed couples. Personally, I find it amazing that an allegedly well educated denomination like the ELCA - a few weeks ago I did a post that compared the inverse correlation between the education level of various denominations with their acceptance of biblical literalism where the Lutherans ranked high on education and low on biblical literalism - continues to have an element that refuses to accept modern advances in medical and mental health knowledge. These Neanderthals prefer to cling to the medically and scientifcally ignorant writings of more than 2000 years ago as a basis for hating and denigrating other human beings. Are they so lacking in self-esteem that they need to cling to a sense of being superior or what? Here are some story highlights:

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany could elect its first openly gay Lutheran bishop next month, a move conservatives say would alienate many Christians and open divisions in the Church. The July 12 election brings to Germany the question of gay clergy and same-sex unions which has caused rifts in several countries and faiths, including the Anglican community.

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Horst Gorski, a senior cleric from Hamburg, is standing for the post of bishop of Schleswig in northern Germany against Gerhard Ulrich, a senior cleric from the Schleswig area. The incumbent bishop is retiring in September. Gorski is a widely respected theologian and he helped set up a centre for gay and lesbian Lutheran pastors. His open homosexuality angers some Lutheran conservatives who argue his election as bishop would leave many Christians with no spiritual home.

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The election committee is standing by its choice of candidates. "After careful consultation, we have nominated two experienced provosts as candidates who have excelled in their localities and in the region in a variety of ways," said election committee member Bishop Maria Jepsen, the world's first woman Lutheran bishop.

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The Lutheran World Federation, which represents nearly 69 million Christians, says it will not get involved as it has no common line on the question of homosexuality. "This is a pastoral issue that each church individually must deal with," LWF General Secretary Reverend Ishmael Noko told Reuters. "We have no position on this issue at the moment," he said, adding the body, which has 140 churches in 78 countries, has commissioned a study on marriage, family and sexuality.

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Last year the largest U.S. Lutheran body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said it would allow homosexual clergy in sexual relationships to serve as pastors.