Sitting in the sun-kissed grounds of a London church, U.S.Bishop Gene Robinson reflected in sombre mood on what it meant to be the first openly gay bishop in the 450-year history of the Anglican church.
Robinson, a divorced father of two, has received death threats and wore a bulletproof vest at his consecration back in 2003. Two uniformed police officers stood guard last month as he entered into a civil partnership with his longtime partner. He was heckled when preaching in London over the weekend.
“I take the threats very seriously, I have to,” he said. “But I am not interested in being a martyr, I just want to be a bishop.”
Robinson’s visit to Britain concides with the Lambeth Conference, the ten-yearly meeting of bishops from the worldwide Anglican Communion, but he has not been invited to attend. So he has several speaking engagements outside of the conference, including a sermon at Saint Mary’s Church in the Putney section of London on Sunday where he urged Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to show firmer leadership and get conservative foes to tone down homophobic taunts.
In an interview with Reuters, there was no hiding the disappointment in his voice when talking about Williams’ decision not to invite him. And he repeated that he felt it was high time Williams took a stand against Conservative opponents who taunted him with homophobic mockery.
“There is no place in the Christian Church for someone to say Satan has entered the church with my consecration or that gay people are lower than dogs,” the 61-year-old bishop said.
“You cannot say those kind of things about gays and lesbians people and then be shocked when there is violence against them,” he said.
Clearly exasperated with a navel-gazing church obsessed with its own internal problems, he said human sexuality was an important issue but added “I would agree with many Africans that there are so many more important things to be dealing with.”
But he was clearly proud of what he had achieved in trying to sweep hypocrisy away, saying: “I would like to think I have raised the issue of how destructive ‘Don’t ask, Don’t tell’ can be.”
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Science shows that same sex sexual orientation is not something you are born with. Despite the frantic efforts of Gay men who want to believe that, there is no serious scientist yet that will say it is so because there is zero proof. It is obvious a number of factors come together to make someone attracted to the same sex. Pedophiles are attracted to children and can’t seem to stop being attracted to having sex with children. Should we then say its OK they can’t help it let them perform sexual acts on kids! No! The fact remains you can control your urges God gave you something called self control. I am attracted to other men all the time but I don’t act on it. If Gene Robinson was any kind of Christian he would have made those sacrifices for the sake of his wife and kids but he is too selfish to do this. His loins speak louder to him than God! Gene Robinson has injured his daughters and he has sinned. The Bible makes it very clear. Many many Priests have been celibate as they consider their marriage to be to the Church. Gene is married to himself.
- Posted by Mrs. BoyeMrs. Boyle persists in mis-characterizing all gay people based upon her own biased, subjective views. Knowing absolutely nothing about Bish his op Robinson, she rails against him and slanders his entire family.
Bishop Robinson never lied to his former wife about his sexuality. He share the fact of his same-sex attractions with her long before they were married. She was (and still is) amazingly supportive of him during all the years of therapy and prayer when he mistakenly believed that being gay was something that could be changed. They mutually came to the decision to divorce years later when they both realized that it wouldn’t change. They didn’t ‘break’ their vows, as Mrs. Boyle so spitefully believes. Instead, they both felt so strongly about their marriage vows that they stood at an altar, in front of friends and family and lovingly released each other from the vows they had taken.
All of this they both have stated publicly. Yet small-minded people, threatened by the truth, must have their scapegoat.
Mrs. Boyle seems determined to blame gay men for marital infidelity, divorce, pedophilia, and heterosexual women’s pain. She also claims the gay people are not happy. What utter BS.
Some gay people (certainly not representative of most gay people) do enter into marriage believing that it will somehow make the straight. Frequently they make that choice at the insistent urging of family, or upon the advice of professional therapists. Perhaps they make their tragic choices because they are so confused from believing the fallacious Mrs. Bigots of the world.
Some cannot accept the truth of their own God-given sexuality, and hurt themselves and others in the process. Some cannot accept the truth of others, and lash out in biased blame and willful ignorance. Mrs. Boyle certainly seems to fit into the latter category, proudly proclaiming that she believes what she believes, no matter what. While people like her are free and entitled to delude herself without challenge, she’s not free to slander and mislead others without objection. At least not in this thread.
Don’t claim authority as a social worker, in support of your arguments, Mrs. Boyle. The profession you claim hardly does not support your prejudice. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW): “Social workers are guided by the NASW Code of Ethics which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. NASW believes that non- judgmental attitudes toward sexual orientation allow social workers to offer optimal support and services to lesbian and gay people. NASW affirms its commitment to work toward full social and legal acceptance of lesbian and gay people. The profession must also act to eliminate and prevent discriminatory statutes, policies, and actions that diminish the quality of life for lesbian and gay people and that force many to live their lives in the closet.” The British Association of Social Workers endorses a similar position. Now I’m sure Mrs. Boyle will find some way to blame these official association positions on gay people as well, since they seem to be her repository for all sorts of blaming. But she’ll still be deluded.
- Posted by Scott SmithI am no hater let me make that clear, I really feel for Gay and Lesbian people. Life is complicated enough without having gender issues. I can tell you when I look around I see almost only very unhappy people who are Gay and Lesbians. If being free to follow a path to same sex relationships is their right that is a legal and social issue of the culture but it does it bring happiness. I am not seeing it does and I don’t think that is just because tradition resists this type of sex. I think lust not love pervades our cultures and I am deeply concerned that many young people have no idea what is right or wrong. The main reason I do not care for Gene Robinson as a role model and as a church leader is because he broke his marriage vows and he seems to think that is OK because he is somehow some kind of victim of traditional society and therefore what he has done to his daughters is just fine. Well as a social worker and teacher I can tell its not just fine. He has broken God’s law and he has not shown any signs of repenting. Just because his ex-wife has now excepted the situation and has found a new life does not mean she has not suffered greatly because of her husbands actions. Now she has to hear about her life talked about globally in the media every day. I don’t know how this poor women is not insane. It’s really so wrong and so perverted what is happening today. Gene Robinson is no victim and no hero. He is a run of the mill adulterer blaming his short comings on someone else.
- Posted by Mrs. BoyeAl, there is no possibility of redemption without repentance. Sorry if I did not make that explicit for you; it is such a given in my mind. I am sorry for not making that clear.
The rest of your comment I find confusing; I’m not sure what you mean. To restate what I said in an earlier comment, I believe that both heterosexuality and homosexuality are morally equivalent and that homosexuality is no more innately sinful than heterosexuality.
I can argue that HOW a person expresses their sexuality, whether they are gay or straight, is where sin enters. To build on Mrs. Boyle’s tragic examples, I do believe that infidelity to a marriage covenant is sinful, though that sin is certainly not limited or common to gay men, who likely do not enter into marriage with a heterosexual women as much as heterosexual men do. Nearly all of the instances of marriage infidelity that I’ve known have been among heterosexuals. I see infidelity as a sadly all too common human failing, irrespective of sexual orientation.
I find your use of the term “embrace” to be problematic, since to me it implies that an individual has a conscious choice about which gender they are attracted to, something that is not borne out by any objective evidence I have been able to find, nor have I found that to be the subjective experience of the gay and lesbian people who have sought pastoral care from me.
The concept of embracing an orientation makes no sense to me. Do I ‘embrace’ left-handedness or right handedness? Of course not. Most people are right handed, some are left handed. I embrace people regardless of their handedness. I also encourage fellow Christians to see Christ in every neighbor and to embrace their neighbor, regardless of that neighbor’s sexual orientation.
Not being Roman Catholic, my opinion of the prevalence of homosexuality in their church likely does not carry much weight, except to me.
- Posted by Father TedYes Al, still another big time Priest in NYC taken from his church due to accusations of fondling boys. It was in the New York Times yesterday. This one has a twist its a Black leader. The very same Pastor who set up the visit Church in the US all these Gay priests and gave the invocation at Gov. Patterson’s inauguration recently. The Gay culture within the Church is going to destroy it. Gay culture pushes all the boundaries from gender bending to underage sex. The day my Church excepts homosexuals in its leadership I am gone. Father Ted how does Jesus look on Clergy preying on little boys? in NY for the Pope, Rev. Monsignor Wallace Harris. It threatens to bring down the whole Roman Catholic Church. It’s ripping the Episcopalian Church apart. Such selfishness. The whole world church may fall because a minority selfishly wants to impose their will on the greater Church body. It would not surprise me that by mid century the Church only survives in places like Africa and Asia.
- Posted by Mrs. BoyleHey, Ted,
Repent seems to be missing from the equation, here. Turn
away from….
It’s one thing to admit sin. To keep on with it is quite
another. If homosexuality is not a sin, then so be it.
Is that why is it so rampant in the catholic church and why you would like others to embrace it?
Tell me why you can’t go to church without all this in our faces-shoved-down-our-throats-love me? That’s not
very nice.
I am guilty as charged for my (missing the mark) sin. It
- Posted by alis time to aim again for the hope of hitting the mark.
I know God is the judge of sin but His word is clear in the Bible and what He says is the truth. As far as judging someone. That is not my right but if someone murders or steals something do we all not know that is bad and don’t we all react to the sin? Of course we do. We all know when someone cheats on the spouse its wrong and we all see the damage it does. I don’t want to punish or humiliate sinners. I want no vengeance or wish to hurt them. I love people and I have Gay and straight friends. I never say anything to my Gay friends to make them feel bad but that doesn’t mean I agree with their life choices. Here is one of many stories from my life on how homosexuality is destructive and sinful. When I was in my very early teens my neighbors oldest daughter got married. Barbara was a lovely young women but shy. She Married a man who was a tall handsome guy from Warren, Pennsylvania. They looked to be very happy and very well matched. We all felt joy for them. A few years latter I was shocked to hear the marriage was in trouble. A few years latter I heard Barbara had been in therapy because her husband would not sleep with her and never came home at night. She was distraught and felt terrible about herself and had with drawn from her family her social life.This couple had been living in NYC since they wed. Latter when they split for good I found out she came home to find her husband on the couch with another man one day having sex. She had been blaming herself for years that Keith no longer loved her. So please don’t tell me how Gay people have had it so bad and how much they are persecuted. Once more women suffer at the hands of men who are slaves to their animal urges and no one cares. All these TV shows and articles go on and on about these hidden lives of Gay men in agony but I am not seeing that in my travels through life. I am seeing women hurt by the selfish acts of Gay men like Gene Robinson and like this man who married my neighbor. I can tell you dozens of stories about how Gay men have wrecked the lives of women I know and they care nothing about what they have done the their wives and children. The children suffer the most. You can’t make me believe that Gene Robinsons daughters have not been damaged for life by their father’s actions. I know Christ will be the judge of him and I know he will have allot to answer for too.
- Posted by Mrs. BoyleDear lady, God is the judge of sin, and His angels will separate the weeds from the wheat at His command. That is their job, not ours. Christ commanded each of us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Why then do we still devote some of our soul/heart/mind/strength away from God to condemn the neighbor whom Christ also commanded us to love?
What burden compels our recurrent need to marginalize and scapegoat those whom God has created, just as He created us? Mrs. Boyle, i pray that someday you are granted the grace to experience Christ through the eyes and hands of someone like Bishop Robinson.
- Posted by Father Ted-Except that the Bible says it is a sin to perform Homosexual acts. Father Ted, you know better than I that you can’t pick and choose parts of the Bible you like and throw the rest out. Just because western pop culture has changed position on homoseulaity since the 70s does not mean God has. It was a sin in Christ’s time and its still a sin to have relations with the same sex. Sorry it don’t fly. I don’t care what the liberal media pushes and prints its not normal and its a sin.
- Posted by Mrs. BoyleBeing homosexual is no more a sin than being heterosexual. It’s morally neutral.
While true that as sinners we all fall short, it’s also true that we cannot earn our redemption. It’s freely given, through the death and resurrection of the Christ.
Our commission from Christ was not to point out the specks in others’ eyes, but to love our neighbors and to love our God. Christ did not make the love we bear our neighbors conditional upon our neighbors’ sharing our opinions about what constitutes sin. We are to love them, not judge them.
- Posted by Father TedAll churches except that we are all sinners but they expect the sinner to acknowledge they have sinned and try to do better. Forgiveness is the most profound part of Christ’s Church. Read- John 8:1-11 . It is truly beautiful. Love is not about ignoring peoples sins its about looking past them and loving that person despite their sins. But to be redeemed one must acknowledge they are a sinner and turn away from sin. We all make mistakes and backslide but through Christ there is always hope. On this Sabbath I wish you peace.
- Posted by Mrs. Boyle“The Gospel according to Ms. half-Boiled”
- Posted by Scott SmithGrace and respect means you marry someone for life and you stay at home and raise the kids you fathered, Scotty
- Posted by Mrs. BoyleAgain, someone who knows next to nothing about Bishop Robinson has to bleat their judgmental tripe. The true story of Bishop Robinson and his former wife is an amazing one full of grace, respect and love for each other and for their children. It’s an example of two adults behaving very honorably to each other, and keeping their concern for their children foremost. ‘Boo’, his former wife, was among the first to receive the Eucharist from Bishop Robinson at his consecration, a choice she made (she has said publicly) to clearly demonstrate her continuing support for Gene.
Yet with little to no knowledge of the real story of these loving parents, who though divorced shared the responsibility and upbringing of their two daughters, Mrs. Boyle feels justified in slinging her slimy bilge at their entire family. How very unlike Christ’s example. Shame on you, madam.
- Posted by Scott SmithLeaving your wife and kids to go hump men is not really too Christian so my guess is maybe Mr. Robinson should excuse himself from the ministry and become a masseuse or something and not be in the pulpit at all. Just my thoughts you understand.
- Posted by Mrs. BoyleIn my previous post, it would have been more accurate for me to have said “present in the surrounding society” instead of “common to the surrounding society.” I don’t believe that anyone can say just how prevalent the behaviors prohibited in the holiness codes were at that time in history. But the fact that the behaviors are listed reasonably indicates that the behaviors were not unheard of during that time. Sorry for the poor choice of words in my previous post!
- Posted by Scott SmithRegarding prisca’s reference to the Leviticus holiness codes, in Hebrew, “abominations” (TO’EBAH) are behaviors
that people in a certain time and place consider tasteless or offensive. To the Jews of that time an abomination was not the same as a law, it was not something evil like rape or murder forbidden by the Ten Commandments. It was a behavior (common to the surrounding society) by non-Jews that Jews thought was displeasing to God.
Both Jesus and Paul said the holiness code in Leviticus does not pertain to Christian believers. Nevertheless, there are obviously still people who pull the two verses about men sleeping together from this ancient holiness code to say that the Bible seems to condemn homosexuality.
Yet these same people appear completely willing to ignore other requirements of the holiness code in the surrounding text. For example, have you ever said grace over a meal and then eaten leftovers from that meal two days later? Then you’ve committed an abomination according to a plain reading of Leviticus. Ever worn clothing made of two different materials, say, like a poly/cotton blend? Guys, have you ever shaved your beard? Ever eaten shellfish? Then you’ve violated the holiness codes.
Do we stone those guilty of adultery? When a son is rebellious and refuses to obey his parents, do they bring him to the outskirts of town so that we can all stone him to death? Of course not. To do either would be unthinkable. Yet the holiness codes require those actions.
When someone cites Leviticus as a justification for their prejudice, it’s either done out of hypocrisy or ignorance. But it’s also understandable, since many don’t actually study the Bible, and only gather their understandings from what others have told them.
- Posted by Scott Smithprisca, Nope. That’s a mistranslation. Lev. 18:22 refers to temple prostitution in connection with the verse before.
So, again, no it doesn’t.
- Posted by Matt AlgrenDear Matt–Yes it does so characterize it- Leviticus 18:6-23–verse 22 to be exact–and in other books as well.
- Posted by priscaIt’s clear that some who comment here know next to nothing about Bishop Robinson. And yet they are so quick to jump to conclusions and judgments of this fellow child of God. That in itself is opposed to the example of Christ.
Regarding the blatant falsehood that says the threats on Bishop Robinson’s life are contrived or overstated - upon what evidence do some base their claims that the threats are not real? No evidence at all; yet they apparently feel entitled (and sometimes even gleeful) to bear false witness against a neighbor. Their actions seem only to be rooted in preconceived bias and ill will. The truth is that law enforcement (including the FBI) have at times considered the death threats against Bishop Robinson credible enough to advise protective measures and in some cases directly provide said protection.
- Posted by Scott Smith