Change at a glacial pace.
There are times that being an Episcopalian gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
One such time was March of 2004 when a gay man was installed as Bishop of New Hampshire.
This action set off a minor firestorm within the Episcopal Church and a full scale conflagration withing the Anglican Communion (a grouping of all the spawn of the Church of England around the world).
There are other times when I want to dope slap the bishops and tell them to get on the stick.
It has been five years since Gene Robinson's installation and the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church is only now formally debating allowing the consecration of same-sex marriages where they are legal!
In my opinion this is unconscionable hypocrisy ,if a gay man can be a Bishop why can't the church afford the same rights to a gay couple that they afford a straight one?
Answer: Because it would piss off the Anglican communion again and the House of Bishops hasn't got the guts to tell them that we will not perpetuate injustice and if they wish to try and stop us we'll just walk out on them.
There are times and places where what foriegn policy wonks call Realpolitik, meaning take what you can get even if it's not ideal, is appropriate. I do not believe that this is one of them. I believe that the church should fully recognize and support human rights, and the sub-grouping gay rights, and refuse to formally associate with groups that would deny them.
Many consider this a harsh position. Perhaps it is but it is my position and it is a position I could not deviate from and consider myself a christian.
One such time was March of 2004 when a gay man was installed as Bishop of New Hampshire.
This action set off a minor firestorm within the Episcopal Church and a full scale conflagration withing the Anglican Communion (a grouping of all the spawn of the Church of England around the world).
There are other times when I want to dope slap the bishops and tell them to get on the stick.
It has been five years since Gene Robinson's installation and the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church is only now formally debating allowing the consecration of same-sex marriages where they are legal!
In my opinion this is unconscionable hypocrisy ,if a gay man can be a Bishop why can't the church afford the same rights to a gay couple that they afford a straight one?
Answer: Because it would piss off the Anglican communion again and the House of Bishops hasn't got the guts to tell them that we will not perpetuate injustice and if they wish to try and stop us we'll just walk out on them.
There are times and places where what foriegn policy wonks call Realpolitik, meaning take what you can get even if it's not ideal, is appropriate. I do not believe that this is one of them. I believe that the church should fully recognize and support human rights, and the sub-grouping gay rights, and refuse to formally associate with groups that would deny them.
Many consider this a harsh position. Perhaps it is but it is my position and it is a position I could not deviate from and consider myself a christian.