[TERRY] GROSS: Now, you use the expression that you were doing this on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, and you refer to that as a] group, you know, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, throughout your new book, “In the Eye of the Storm.” And in a way, a lot of people probably think you’re making your case even more difficult by including transgendered people, because even a lot of people who accept homosexuality would draw the line at transgendered. That would just be too much for them. And so I think it’s interesting that you’ve been inclusive of them, too, in your statements about sexual orientation and gender. And I’d like you to explain why.
Bishop ROBINSON: You know, in Jesus’ day, people would’ve made the argument that, `Well, you know, all of this is nice words, Jesus, but, you know, we have to draw the line at lepers.’ Or, `You know, I really like the way you deal with everyone, and you’re so kind, but, you know, we just have to draw the line at prostitutes.’ Jesus was always in trouble for including everyone in God’s love. And he spent most of his time with people at the margins, people who were oppressed, people who had been told for countless generations that they were not loved by God. And almost everything he did was related to bringing that good news to them, which, by the way, didn’t sound like good news to the religious authorities of his time, but it did sound good to those who were marginalized.
I’m doing everything I can to model my own life after that of Jesus, which I believe we as Christians are called to do. And the fact of the matter is that gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are among those who have been marginalized, both in the culture and in the church. You know, we’ve got a lot further to go, frankly, around issues of bisexuality and transgender folks simply because they are less known to us. And so I’m not willing to jettison those two more perhaps controversial, or certainly less known, categories of people just because it would keep me out of trouble. Jesus was always getting into trouble. He said, `Expect to get into trouble if you follow me,’ and so I think I’m in pretty good company.
GROSS: Now, you point out in your book that many of the moral issues we face today involve sexuality, including abortion, fertility therapies, alternate measures of reproduction, the role of women and men, divorce. You know, I’m really curious, I don’t think I have a clue where you stand on abortion. And I’m really curious to hear how you’ve decided where you stand on that, like, how you use your theological knowledge and thinking to answer that question for yourself. And again, I have no idea what your answer’s going to be.
Bishop ROBINSON: I like to say that the Episcopal Church is advanced placement religion. That is to say, it’s a religion that values our minds and encourages us to use them, and it values individual choice and discernment. And the official stance of the Episcopal Church, which is really what I believe, asks us to hold in tension two truths and then make a decision somewhere in between. One of those truths is that all life is sacred. We may not know exactly when it begins, but we know that all of life is sacred and cherished by God. And on the other side, that such a decision ought to rest with the individual and that there are many, many factors that relate to that, how one would care for a child and what kind of resources there are to offer that child the kind of life he or she might deserve. So we say both of those things are true and consider both of them. Talk to your priest about those. Pray about it. And then make a choice.
And so the Episcopal Church has always stood for the legal right for women to choose, that government should not be dictating how they choose, and at the same time hold up this notion of life as sacred. And then, as we do with so many ethical decisions, we make our choice in fear and trembling, trusting in a loving God. And if we get it wrong, you know, that’s the great thing about being forgiven; we’re already forgiven in the ways that we fall short.
I will consider posting comments on this interview submitted first by email to Kendall’s E-mail: KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.
Yes Mr Robinson it all sounds very good- the arrgument seems strong, Jesus did indeed reach out to the marginalised and oppressed and it did indeed enrage the religious leaders of his day, BUT HE THEN CHALLENGED THEM, calling them to repentacne and lives of humble obedience…. hence his words to the woman accused of adultery – go AND SIN NO MORE…which is the crucial message missing from this article, your preaching and public life. And I am sorry to say it but it is kind of crucial to real and living faith.
I say this as a terrible and often unrepentent sinner myself. But just meeting people and then leaving them as they are is a pretty shallow salvation to offer.
Jesus wept
Jesus confronted the culture of His day in a way that was considered so dangerous that he had to be killed. Our culture encourages the following of the dictates of the flesh…our schools are busily revamping to promote everything but traditional familes and abstinence from sex outside of marriage. Following Jesus is STILL counter cultural as it involves a DENIAL OF SELF and a taking up of the cross.
the “go and sin no more” component of the woman at the well story has been airbrushed by the reappraisers much the way Stalin used to do the same with certain people in photographs. Rewriting history:(
Well, like most ‘progressives’ he almost has it right. It is true that Jesus loved the marginalized and outcast. He was compassionate. But where this crowd has it wrong is that Jesus didn’t stop with just his loving attitude toward the marginalized. He called people to a new life. He healed those lepers. He bade the prostitutes to go and sin no more. Surely Jesus didn’t tell the tax collectors “go ahead and continue to extort people”. He ate with sinners not to bless them in their sin, but to show them the way to the Father. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
Is simply not true. It’s an error. Factually incorrect. Say it loud and proud. The Bishop is plain wrong.
” I can to model my own life after that of Jesus”
Who, as we all know, voted to depose Bps. Schofield and Cox.
Yes, ‘go and sin no more’. Several here beat me to it!
I think his church ought to quit/be expelled from the Anglican Communion (only fair: most in it don’t agree with the Episcopalians) and he should stay home and get on with the business of being its bishop in New Hampshire.
http://aconservativesiteforpeace.info
[blockquote]I like to say that the Episcopal Church is advanced placement religion. That is to say, it’s a religion that values our minds and encourages us to use them, and it values individual choice and discernment.[/blockquote]
That is to say, all of you other religions out there are knuckle-dragging simpletons who have not yet advanced to our higher state of theological consciousness.
My individual choice and discernment was to embrace the cross, to embrace the sacrifice, to embrace the self-denial that the love of God requires. It meant that I had to leave the AP class for the apparent boobs and neanderthals across the street in the Vatican. I couldn’t be happier.
#9: Yes, I have, unfortunately, heard Episcopalians say, “We are the ‘thinking man’s religion’!”, and “the reason we have so few and small churches is that we require more than other denominations…you know, in the liturgy and in dealing with the Bible”.
That sort of thing prolongs the cliched image of TEC as the American Left’s aristocracy at prayer.
Bishop Robinson merely states what many bishops (and priests and laity as well) leave un-said: “We are a cut above all the rest”. I believe Jesus had a rather hard word toward us in one of His letters to the churches in Revelation, didn’t He!?!
Jesus values our minds – that is a true statement. He wants our minds and hearts to be transformed by His love and grace so that we desire what God desires. The reappraisers are often found saying “Jesus came to take away your sins, not your mind.” That is a partially true statement. Jesus didn’t come to take away our minds, he came to [b]kill[/b] them – along with everything else about us. Jesus came to kill our old natures so that they could be raised to resurrection life. Jesus came to free our minds, not keep them in thrall to the thinking of this world.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Yes, they’re snobs.
It’s rather like a bright sixth-former trying to teach a German professor (a professor for 50 years in the case of the reigning Pope).
The argument on behalf of gay marriage or SSU’ is that loving monogamous relationships should be honored. How does that apply to bisexuals, who are by definition not monagamous? Just curious.