Letters
received during the week of 7 September 2003
Truth,
billboards, and Corinthians.
I
NOTE THAT YOU DON'T NORMALLY PUBLISH letters in
response to other letters, but I was very struck by the church billboard
that
Warren
Phillips saw ('Society has replaced Truth with Tolerance'). Surely,
Christ's second commandment, that we love one another, has done
that for us. Those still in doubt need to (re)read 1 Corinthians
13.
Edward
Bunting
Saint Vedast-alias-Foster, London
London, England, UNITED KINGDOM
8 September 2003
Not
a chance.
IS
THERE ANY CHANCE THAT Brian and Cynthia could sit in on
the extraordinary meeting of the Primates of the Communion in October?
In
my opinion,
the meeting could use their balanced, rational, Christian presence!
One
of your correspondents suggested that the Primates in opposition
to Gene Robinson's elevation to the episcopacy are reacting out
of fear. I agree. I also believe that they are treating the scriptures
as 'carved in stone' truth, rather than living, dynamic teachings
to be interpreted anew, as new information comes to light.
The
writers of the gospels and all other books of the canon had no
knowledge of DNA, chromosomes, schizophrenia, jet propulsion,
gravity, evolution, astrophysics, cathode ray tubes, radio or
light waves, or any of the other 'wonders' that we take for granted!
How, then, can we use scripture except interpretively?
God
didn't stop speaking to us when the writer of Revelation put
down his pen! There have been prophets through the last 2,000
years (Meister Eckhart, John Wesley, William Wilberforce, William
Temple, Archbishop Tutu, Sister Joan Chittister are just a few!)
and as our knowledge of the physical increases, then our understanding
of the spiritual should exponentially increase, too. That old,
tired 'God
said it, I believe it, that settles it!' approach to scriptural
exigesis just doesn't work. We're faced with many more dilemmas
than the people of Biblical times.
And
I'm sorry, but why is ordaining gays any more against the will
of God than allowing polygamists in African dioceses to keep
their multiple wives?
Thank
you again for your great ministry at Anglicans Online!
Rene
Jamieson
St. John's Cathedral
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
8 September 2003
We trust the
outcome of the primates meeting to be balanced, rational, and Christian,
and what takes place there is almost certainly private.
Canon
Robinson
and divorce: The problem is not the chronology.
I
NOTED THAT AFTER MY PUBLISHED LETTER you
published a form of a rebuttal regarding Bishop-Elect Robinson's marital
and homosexual
chronology. My letter did not discuss chronology and was not
intended to attribute any particular rationale for divorce, remarriage
and homosexual partnering. A chronology does not provide a reason
for behavior and action.
The
chronology, however, leaves no doubt that the Robinsons did divorce
after a decade and a half of marriage and that two children were
the innocent victims of that divorce. Further, such a divorce
and the subsequent homosexual circumstances begs the question
about when homosexual feelings and then behavior first occurred
— and whether that was the reason for marital failure.
After
having done an extensive study of marriage and its importance
to civilization, I am convinced that marriage has to a sacred
life-long commitment that involves individual sacrifice for the
long term benefit of family. It should not be treated as life-style
choice to be discarded because of circumstantial inconvenience.
Bob
Warren
Bruton Parish
Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
9 September 2003
Canon
Robinson and divorce: The problem is that it's not a one-night
lapse.
I
AM A BIT SURPRISED BY THE EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE to Bob Warren's letter. You appear
to be answering an allegation which
Mr
Warren
does not make — of a connection between Canon Robinson's divorce
and his present relationship.
What
Mr Warren says is true:
1.
Canon Robinson left his wife and children and is divorced.
2.
Canon Robinson now lives in an open and notorious homosexual
relationship.
Either
of these two unconnected facts must raise doubts about his appointment
as a bishop. The second is particularly difficult, in that Presiding
Bishop Griswold has said frankly that he could not envisage a
heterosexual priest living openly with his mistress being similarly
preferred. (Yes, the straight priest could marry the mistress,
but this would not solve the problem if, like Canon Robinson,
he had a wife still living.)
I
have every sympathy with priests, whatever their sexuality, who
struggle to remain obedient to Christian teaching regarding sexual
morality, and sometimes fail. If Canon Robinson lapsed with a
nice young man or woman when he had had a few pints on a Saturday
night, that would be one thing, but persisting in a sinful relationship
is quite another.
Alan
Harrison
S. Mary's, Hayes, Middlesex
Uxbridge, Middlesex
10 September 2003
Earlier
letters
We launched our 'Letters
to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All of our letters are in our
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