JUNE 3. 2011
-I
AREA I SIGN
ERECTORS/MAKERS
Apprenticeship Program
(Non Union)
Accepts Applications
Bridging an Ancient Divide
On the eve of his retirement, and a Portland visit,
Bishop Gene Robinson talks faith and sexuality
Wednesdays only year round.
1:30 PM - 4 PM
15800 SW Boones Ferry Rd. Suite B3,
Lake Oswego.
R equirem ents-m in 18 yrs old, H igh
School D ip lo m a /G E D & transcript
w /o n e year o f H igh School pre-algebra
o r higher w ith a passing grade o f “C ”
o r better, o r equivalent c o m m u n ity
college placem ent test.
Minorities and women encouraged to apply.
www.areaonejatc.com
Apprenticeship Program
(Non Union)
Will be accepting applications
June 6-July 20
M o n d a y -T h u rs d a y (c lo s e d F rid a y s )
10 AM - 4 PM
15800 SW Boones Ferry Rd. Suite B3,
Lake Oswego.
R equirem ents-m in 18 yrs old, H igh
School D ip lo m a /G E D an d transcript
w/1 yr. H igh School algebra or higher
w /passing grade o r equivalent c o m m u
n ity college placem ent test.
Minorities and women encouraged to apply.
www.areaonejatc.com
profile
WWW.JUSTOUT.COM
BY GLENN SCOFIELD WILLIAMS
Almost every Pride celebration, they’re
there, a small but very loud gaggle o f C hris
tians, carrying placards that read “God Hates
Fags” and “Thank God for A ID S.” And each
one o f these sentiments is followed by a ref
erence to scripture: Romans 1:27, Leviticus
20:13, etc. I t’s hard to understand why they
would travel thousands of miles to show us
just how hard the church has turned its back
on us.
W hat makes it even more difficult is that
some o f us cheering the parade on the side
lines, or marching row by row down SW
Broadway, are also people o f deep religious
conviction— torn by the teachings o f a church
that has brought us this age-old condemna
tion while struggling to believe in a God of
compassion and understanding.
And every time, standing there on the pa
rade route, we have to ask, How is it possible to
reconcile our fa ith with our sexuality? Can the
2,000-year-old divide between Christianity
and queerness ever be bridged?
“I think religion is enormously important,
even for non-religious people,” Bishop V.
Gene Robinson, 64, told Just Out recently,
“because o f having been steeped in Judeo-
Christian culture. Those passages, and the
attitudes about homosexuality that come
from them, are in the very air we breathe.”
In 2003, Robinson, a priest of the Episco
pal Church, was voted the new diocesan
Bishop of New Hampshire, prompting a tor
rent of controversy and conversation among
those in the Christian community. This up
roar, because he is a proudly, openly, unabash
edly gay man and the first to be so voted
bishop. A small section of the church split
away in disgust with the appointment and
with the movement of the church toward
recognizing LG B T people as equal members
of the fold. Robinson, a priest more interested
in preaching the gospel than in becoming a
political icon, found himself thrust into the
midst of a firestorm where, like it or not, he
bravely and articulately became the spokes
person for LG B T issues in the Christian
community.
Eight years, a No. 7 ranking on Out Maga
zine's 2009 Power 50 List and an invocation
at President Obam a’s inaugural ceremonies
later, Robinson prepares to retire the bishop
ric— having become a fiercely vocal symbol
of reconciliation, confronting the church he
loves and asking it to admit.the errors o f its
ways and to move into a new era o f
compassion.
“Generally speaking, love trumps the histori
cal teaching,” Robinson re
minds the church.
The fact is a vast number
o f LG B T individuals con
sider themselves persons of
faith, and a vast number o f
faiths are beginning to come
around. Robinson, in his
book In the Eye o f the Storm,
points to a study that seems
to indicate that nearly 40-60
percent o f Catholic priests
worldwide may be gay. The
Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against
Defamation
(G LA A D ) proclaims on its
“Religion, Faith &. Values”
website that “more than
three-quarters o f American
Jews and Buddhists believe
society should accept gay
people, as well as more than
half o f mainline Protestants
and Catholics and almost
one-third o f Muslims."There
is a sea change occurring in
faith communities around the globe and
prejudices concerning religion and spiritual
ity are starting to crumble.
As recently reported on blogout.justout.
com, Oregon’s own Episcopal bishop, the
Right Reverend Michael J. Hanley, stated, “I
strongly believe in the inclusion o f all persons
in the life o f the church. O ur gay and lesbian
brothers and sisters in Christ deserve all the
rights and privileges, including the right to
marry and raise a family.”
In the years 2000
So after two millennia o f being called
“abom inations,” how do we reconcile his
torical scriptural teachings with our sexual
ity? “You can talk to a biblical literalist all
day and get nowhere,” Robinson said, “when
the real question is, ‘How are we going to
understand this book?’”
Robinson— along with millions o f other
Christians— points away from a literalist
approach to the Bible. The Scriptures, he
insists, must be approached within the
bounds o f the context in which it was w rit
ten and the people to whom the authors
wrote. W hen speaking to a literalist about
the Bible, Robinson said, “Until you come
to some sort o f agreement as to how you are
going to regard that book, you’re going to be
speaking from two different platforms.”
Does this make the Bible irrelevant then?
FILE PHOTO
fl 14
“I think it’s im p o rta n t to h ave
religious lead ers say, ‘You kn o w
w h a t? T h e church g o t it w ro n g a b o u t
slavery, using th e s ys tem to justify
slavery. W e ’ve g o tte n it w ro n g a b o u t
w o m e n . A nd n o w it’s tim e to a d m it
w e g o t it w rong a b o u t this, to o .’ Just
having s o m e b o d y in a le ad ers h ip
po sition say th a t is e n o rm o u s ly
freein g an d helpful to p e o p le .”
-B IS H O P G E N E R O B IN S O N
Do we simply ignore the text? By no means,
said Robinson: “M y understanding o f that
book is that it’s a marvelous record o f people
who’ve had an experience o f the living G od
and have sat down and tried to describe
that. A nd the reason it’s so im portant is that
it gives us the best clues about how to en
counter the living G od in our own lives.”
The church leadership, in the meantime,
has an important step to take— and it may be
the hardest one of all. “I think,” Robinson said,
“it’s important to have religious leaders say,
‘You know what? The church got it wrong
about slavery, using the system to justify slav
ery. W e’ve gotten it wrong about women. And