In the work that bears his name, Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s wonderfully imagined Mikado purports \u201cTo let the punishment fit the crime, the punishment fit the crime.\u201d\u009d In their guest opinion column in the Anglican Journal (May 2010, p. 5), Catherine Sider-Hamilton and Dean Mercer have, on the other hand, already decided the punishment\u201d\u201c \u201ca second-tier status in the larger Anglican Communion.\u201d\u009d It remains only to conjure up the requisite crime….<\/p>\n
…the writers imply that the current conflict pits those who love and faithfully receive scripture against those who despise it, who find its teaching \u201coppressive and outdated.\u201d\u009d But we know that those who support the blessing of committed monogamous same-sex relationships include many who know and love the Bible as living witness to the living God. And we know that as we receive and interpret scripture, the truth that emerges is often contested truth\u201d\u201cas for example, we come to divergent conclusions about the response that the God revealed in scripture invites to a question of sexual ethics and Kingdom ethos in the 21st century. Conflict and contested truth are not unfamiliar to Jesus\u2019 disciples, and need not tear apart the foundational covenant of our common baptism into one body. We could renew a healthier and more faithful discourse by acknowledging contested truth and engaging in honest and charitable conversation about the practices, values and contextual realities that shape our reception and interpretation of scripture.<\/p>\n