Religious Left

The links to the series of articles will open in a new window. Part I: What does the Bible really say about homosexuality? Reading "texts of terror" Part II: Homosexuality in Leviticus Part III: Homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah Part IV: What did Jesus say about homosexuality? www.QueerPublicRadio.com a 24/7 LGBTQIA Licensed Independent Internet Radio Station. Visit, Listen, Support and become involved.

1/19/2009 - 1 hr 30 min GayTalk at 9 AM (PST). Call in during the live show (347) 237-5246 otherwise call voicemail at (360) 283-5052 or send me email tom@2015Place.com . Today I'll play Martin Luther King Jr.s "I Have a Dream" speech, talk about Obama's opening inauguration events yesterday, Bishop Gene Robinson, Tom Hanks recent comments about the Mormons involvement in Prop 8 and more. Click here to listen. I have started a new project to create a dedicated LGBT Channel/Station. To hear more about this, click here . Donations and or sponsors are welcome. Please click here to donate. All the best to you and yours.

1/17/2009 - 2 hrs GayTalk at 9 AM (PST). Call in during the live show (347) 237-5246 otherwise call voicemail at (360) 283-5052 or send me email tom@2015Place.com . Today we talk about the news presented in the previous 5 days. A summary/review of the weeks news. Oprah (homosexuality a gift from God), Bishop Gene Robinson to speak where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a Dream Speech" in 1963. Click here to listen. I have started a new project to create a dedicated LGBT Channel/Station. To hear more about this, click here . Donations and or sponsors are welcome. Please click here to donate. All the best to you and yours.

A recent In The Life TV episode discusses homosexuality and religion. IN THE LIFE explores the power of religion to shape our lives, worldview, and our political convictions... providing spiritual guidance and comfort, but often used to promote intolerance and hatred of LGBT people. Looking at the intersection of religion and sexuality, we see how gays and lesbians reconcile their faith within their religious communities. Click here to visit the site and then click on Watch Episode .

Friday I discovered President elect Barack Obama has setup a new transition website. You can find it at http://www.change.gov/ . The site outlines some of the changes the Obama/Biden team are going to address. Although the words gay, glbt, gay marriage or civil unions do not appear anywhere on the site there is one instance of the term “sexual orientation”. There were two points in the civil rights section which affect out community and I was pleased to see them and the wording used. 1. They will pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. 2. Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section. My next stop was the immigration section. I had hoped to see mention of binationals but sadly, nothing of the kind was available there. I took the tim...

By John Wright The Dallas Voice Bishop V. Gene Robinson says he believes that far from condemning gay people, the Bible can be a source of liberation for LGBT people, just as it was for African-Americans.V. Gene Robinson, who became the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church in 2003, will be at Dallas’ Black Tie Dinner in November to accept the 2008 Elizabeth Birch Award. Robinson sat down with Dallas Voice recently to talk in a telephone interview about his upcoming visit and other issues. DV : You mentioned St. Thomas. Does it surprise you that even in a conservative diocese like this, that we have an openly gay rector, Father Steven Waller? V.G.R. : No, it actually doesn’t surprise me. After all, what we say — which is, “We’re everywhere” — is true, and of course I don’t need to tell you, but Dallas has a vibrant and wonderful gay community. And, you know, the fact of the matter is the gospel talks about God’s love for all of God’s children, and there are going to be peopl...

By Rev. Gene Robinson Okay, it’s time to get serious. As LGBT voters, it’s time to put our differences and disappointments aside, and get behind the one candidate who has our interests at heart. If you’re still stinging over the unsuccessful bid for nomination by Hillary Clinton, it’s time to look forward, even if the disappointment still hurts. We are faced with the most stark choice in recent memory, with ramifications for our community like no other. If nothing else convinces you to vote for Barack Obama, surely the likelihood of the next president appointing one, two, or possibly even three Supreme Court justices should do it. With John McCain, we will see the conservative near-majority on the Court shift to a solid majority – with devastating results when the “full faith and credit clause” of the Constitution is challenged in the recognition of gay marriages. With Barack Obama, we have someone who is utterly sympathetic to our full and equal rights as citizens. I know, he won’t sa...

by Fiona MacGregor The Scotsman Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop, came to Scotland this week to debate homosexuality and religion. He has maintained his dignity in the face of hostility from the Church, but tells Fiona MacGregor his patience may be running out. "I am losing my patience. I have tried to play by the rules and be respectful and sometimes it would be nice to be shown a little respect back. I try to keep my sympathy (for Williams] and I do worry and pray for him. I don't believe this (refusal to recognise homosexual relationships can have a place within the church) is what's in his heart – unless he's changed very much since he became Archbishop of Canterbury." "As more and more Christians make themselves known to us as gay or lesbian, the more we realise they are not outside the embrace of God – I think that will prove itself over time. But I caution people all the time to be very careful of anyone who says they know what God...

By MARTYN McLAUGHLIN The Scotsman Gene Robinson, the openly gay American bishop barred from attending the Lambeth Conference, yesterday praised the "inclusive" outlook of Scots clergy as he spoke of his belief that worldwide Anglican Communion would eventually recognise "all God's people". "I think the Communion will survive. It will change, but the Church has changed many times in its history. We should not be fearful of that," he said. In Glasgow yesterday to deliver a sermon, he said Scotland represented a "very appropriate" location for his return to the altar, given it was the Scottish Church that consecrated a bishop for Connecticut in the 18th century, effectively planting the foundations for the Anglican communion in the country. full article

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent Times UK A new pastoral forum is to be set up to bring rebel provinces into line in the Anglican Communion. The 650 bishops meeting at the Lambeth Conference in Kent debated proposals yesterday for a body headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that would prevent any more consecrations of gay bishops or same-sex blessings. The forum will also clamp down on "cross-border interventions" such as those where conservative bishops from Africa have consecrated bishops to pastor congregations in the United States. The document says the forum is needed because repeated requests for moratoria on gay consecrations, same-sex blessings and cross-border interventions have not been heeded. The document says the moratoria asked for on a number of previous occasions are to be understood as "retrospective". The strong implication of this is that the openly-gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, must resign if the Anglican...

by Hans Zeiger with David W. Virtue Virtue Online CANTERBURY-The Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan today declared that Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, "should resign for the sake of the church." In a press conference at the decennial Lambeth Conference, the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul said that homosexual ordination "is not what is found in the Bible" and that it is "not the norm of the Anglican world." Archbishop Bul, who serves as Bishop of Juba as well as primate of the church in Sudan, represents some of the most persecuted Christian minorities in the world. The Episcopal Church of Sudan has grown from eleven dioceses, fifteen years ago, to twenty-four dioceses today. Dr. Bul rose to the archbishopric at the end of 2007. full article

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent The Times UK The Bishop of New Hampshire, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, is to defy the Archbishop of Canterbury by turning up uninvited at Canterbury for the Lambeth conference this week. The Times has learnt that the crisis is likely to worsen, whatever is decided at the conference, because the Episcopal Church of the US plans to overturn its pledge not to consecrate any more openly gay or lesbian bishops. The US church, which will dominate the conference with 125 bishops attending, is expected then to elect rapidly and consecrate a further five or six such bishops. Bishop Robinson, speaking to The Times at St Mary's Church, Putney, before preaching there last night, said “When young men are knifing each other on the streets of London and a billion or more people are living on less than $1 a day, why is the Anglican Communion tearing itself apart over two men wanting to make a Christian family together?” Adding that he was totally orthodox on d...

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones Telegraph.co.uk The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told The Sunday Telegraph that practising homosexuals should not be barred from becoming bishops. He accused conservative Anglicans of being “exclusive” and narrow-minded in their opposition to gay clerics. full article

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent guardian.co.uk Sir Ian McKellen today waded into the row over gay clergy that has engulfed the Anglican communion, accusing the church of homophobia. The actor, a founding member of the gay rights group Stonewall, claimed that religious leaders shared the same attitude as the armed forces and schools, whose authorities he said had also expressed a problem with homosexuals, fearing they would cause chaos and disintegration of discipline. He said institutions shared a problem with homophobia and "having [that problem], they root around in the Bible for the passages that seem to be relevant". McKellen made the comments during an appearance on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show alongside Gene Robinson, the gay bishop from New Hampshire whose consecration in 2003 and non-celibate relationship with another man, Mark Andrews, has pushed the Anglican communion to the brink of schism. view BBC1 Andrew Marr video read The Guardian article

Greenville News SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- An Upstate church is going through a split over the topic of homosexuality. St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Spartanburg lost half of its 300 members. Truth Ministry, a group that partnered with the departing members, claimed that Gray was fired and the building seized by the Episcopal Church. But the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina said that claim is not true. The Right Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr. said, "It was his resignation that prompted my action, which was not to seize any property. All property is held in trust in the Episcopal Church for the diocese." full article

From Times Online The gay bishop of New Hampshire, the Right Rev Gene Robinson says no progress on the issue of homosexual clergy will be made during the Lambeth Conference this summer. “We won’t move forwards or backwards in terms of any official stand. There are to be no decisions made, no statements issued,” said Bishop Robinson, who in 2003, became the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion. Speaking at the Hay Festival on Sunday, Bishop Robinson said: “The way it’s designed [the conference] is simply about conversations; deepening relationships.” Were a statement to be published, he added, it would mean that “a coup has taken place and that the Archbishop of Canterbury has not had the courage to rule it out of order”. full article

from MSNBC Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson knows he is inviting death threats by entering into a civil union with his gay partner on the eve of his church’s biggest ecclesiastical conference. And he says it is worth it, because he is doing what God asks of him. Full article and video

Wayne Besen over at TruthWinsOut.org posted an article stating Bishop Gene Robinson has pulled out of a controversial symposium at the APA’s 2008 convention. We are pleased that Bishop Robinson has not lent his credibility to a political right wing platform disguised as a scientific symposium,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen . full article

Religion has not been an active part of my life since I was a toddler. On several occasions I’ve seen: “Where is the Martin Luther King Jr. for the gay community?” It’s just my personal opinion but I’m leaning towards Bishop Gene Robinson. As I stated I’m not religious. In my mind religion tossed us [gays] aside many years ago. I realize there are translation issues with the bible. I also realize it contains some fiction. But the “general mindset” of most religions is against homosexuality. Throughout life I’ve experienced anti-gay encounters. Some have said I’m one of the lucky ones because most people can’t tell I’m gay. I didn’t get beat up for being gay. Although there was the time a yell from across the courtyard at school was rather alarming. As always, I’d try my best to avoid such negatives’. Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I thank my parents for giving me the pride to stand up for who I am, refusing to allow others (including religion) to tell me I am a...

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent The Times UK The Bishop of New Hampshire in the US, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, who is divorced and lives openly in partnership with a gay man, said that he found it mystifying that the mother Church of the Anglican Communion was unable to be honest about the number of gay clergy in its ranks. He said that many of the English Church’s clergy lived openly in their rectories with gay partners, with the full knowledge of their bishops. But he criticised the stance of bishops who threaten the clergy with enmity should their relationships become public. Speaking in an interview in London, Bishop Robinson said: “I have met so many gay-partnered clergy here and it is so troubling to hear them tell me that their bishop comes to their house for dinner, knows fully about their relationship, is wonderfully supportive but has also said, ‘If this ever becomes public then I’m your worst enemy.’ “It’s a terrible way to live your life and I think it’s a...