Little noted in the history behind the California Supreme Court decision that gives the “right to marry” to same-sex couples are the bold steps taken over four decades by onetime Pentecostal minister Troy Perry in trying to establish legal and religious rights for gays and lesbians.
Perry, who founded a church 40 years ago that became an international denomination for Christian homosexuals, filed the initial lawsuit with his spouse and a lesbian couple in February 2004 that led to last month’s ruling making California the second state, after Massachusetts, to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
The 4-3 decision by the high court””though endangered by an expected state initiative in November to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage””marked another milestone for the homosexual-oriented Metropolitan Community Churches, started by Perry in 1968 in Los Angeles County.
In 1969, Perry performed the first public same-sex “holy union” ceremony in the U.S., and in January 1970 he filed the first-ever lawsuit seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage. It was dismissed before coming to trial.
Marching towards GC 2009 the article includes these lovely thoughts:
[blockquote]Episcopal priest Susan Russell, the national president of the gay-advocacy group Integrity, indicated that supporters for gay union rites should raise these issues at the 2009 triennial Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, California. She told Episcopal News Service that it is time for the church to “be as prophetic as the state of California has been.”
Bishop Jon Bruno, who heads the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese, said the court decision resonates with the church’s baptismal vows to strive for justice and respect for all. “To paraphrase St. Paul,” Bruno said in a May 15 statement, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, gay nor straight in Jesus Christ our Lord.”[/blockquote]
I don’t think that “prophetic” means what these shills think it does. In any event, they had better steer well clear of Mount Carmel, lest a latter-day Elijah confront them there.
Well, there really is no surprise here. This is exactly the sort of one-sided hogwash I’d expect from a liberal journal like the Christian Century. It’s notable that there are no nice, juicy quotes from a conservative leader/reasserter to offset the ones by notorious reappraisers like Susan Russell+ and +Jon Bruno.
John Dart’s laudatory article clearly extolls Troy Perry as a prophetic pioneer, a brave forerunner and advocate of social justice who was several decades ahead of his time. He is even held up as being relatively moderate (sic!) since he supposedly “supports” two conservative institutions so many gays and lesbians disdain, namely the church and marriage. Well, if Troy Perry (or Mel White etc.) is a “friend” of marriage and the Christian Church, who needs enemies?
This lamentable but typical liberal article reminds of how Paul ends the section of Romans 1 where he uses homosexual behavior as a graphic illustration of fallen humanity’s sinful rebellion against God’s ways. That is, in his scathing indictment of Gentile or pagan idolatry and rebellion (Rom. 1:18-32), the great Apostle to the Gentiles excoriates lost humanity in general, decrying the depravity and perversion of homosexual behavior as “contrary to nature” (Rom. 1:24-27), and concluding that this corruption of human understanding is reflected not only in those who engage in such lewd behavior but in how others “applaud” those who practice that abomination (Rom. 1:32).
As usual, the author, along with Susan Russell+, the integrity-less leader of Integrity, and +Bruno the Brute, is doing just what Paul describes, applauding those in sinful rebellion against God the Creator and his natural law. Such are the times in which we live.
David Handy+
That Bruno quote (“To paraphrase St. Paul,†Bruno said in a May 15 statement, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, gay nor straight in Jesus Christ our Lord.â€) is really galling, isn’t it?
Let’s try some other paraphrases of St. Paul: “There is neither Christian nor Muslim, Bishop nor Axe Murderer, Nurse nor Slum Lord, Spong nor Benedict XVI, Pol Pot nor Mother Teresa in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Perhaps, Bp. Bruno, when we get to heaven, we’ll discover that Kurt Vonnegut was right and that there will be fan clubs for those who sent them to heaven and the mass murderers will have the largest fan clubs. (Vonnegut envisioned Jesus being a member of the Pontius Pilate fan club.) Yes, Bp. Bruno, you may believe, as does Bp. Bennison (we wrote the Bible, we can re-write it), that you can re-write the Scriptures to say whatever you want, but that doesn’t alter the reality.
For Bishops like Bruno the Christian faith is a farce. I’m sure he reads the statements of the Bishop of Stafford, Gordon Mursell, that because of our failure to act on Global Warming we’re all as guilty as Josef Fritzl, the Austrian child torturer, and he’s vigorously nodding his head in agreement. http://tinyurl.com/5bmlmj
What utter lunatics these bishops are!