Editorial


Choice of Robinson a blow against bigotry




For the Monitor

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January 13, 2009 - 6:59 am



For weeks, President-elect Barack Obama has been under heavy criticism from gay and lesbian groups angered over his choice of minister for the traditional Inauguration Day prayer. Rick Warren, the pastor of a California mega-church who has impressed Obama with his good works, has also made despicable remarks about homosexuality and gay marriage.

Yesterday, Monitor reporter Annmarie Timmins reported that one of the nation's most prominent gay rights advocates, New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, will also have a role: offering a prayer at a pre-inauguration event scheduled for Sunday.

Does a prayer by Robinson cancel out the objections to Warren? Will Warren's presence calm the expected howls from social conservatives, including some Episcopalians, who can't abide Robinson? That sort of facile political calculation seems unlikely to work in the world of religious belief and morality.

We're not fans of all this praying at the premier event in American secular life. The inauguration of a new president is not a religious moment, after all, but the manifestation of the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next, in this case from one political party to the other.

Nonetheless, Obama's willingness to stand with Robinson is heartening.

Robinson's elevation to New Hampshire bishop in 2003 was met with much euphoria here, but he quickly became the symbol of a growing fissure in the Anglican Church. Those who object most vigorously to the church's liberalization in recent years (gay clergy and female priests, for example) have made Robinson's ordination a final straw of sorts. He has been threatened with violence. Numerous conservative congregations have split from the church or aligned themselves with sympathetic bishops overseas. At a meeting of Anglican officialdom in England last summer, Robinson was pointedly excluded.

All of which, Obama seems to be saying, is less important than showing Americans that his administration will have room for all voices. That Obama - who knows well the risk of associating with controversial clergy - admires Robinson's own courage and compassion and is willing to prove it before the nation and the world.

Wow 'em, Bishop Robinson.





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Comments
False Prophet? Not a True Bishop?
By bob31 on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 13:11
20090113/OPINION/901130349
901130349
article_title:
Choice of Robinson a blow against bigotry
article_pubdate:
20090113
Sounds more like opinion and more than likely religious others have a different opinion. Even if he were a True Prophet and Not a False Bishop in your opinion has nothing to do with whether he speaks or not in my opinion. Of course, I being a mere mortal, won't be casting stones at him, as we have sinned ourselves, haven't we? Is the "Very Word Of God" confined to the Bible? Don't we hear from God in other ways, too. I really don't see what the fuss is about. Try to hear what he says. Might be thoughtful. And I doubt America is going to Hell just because he speaks. And I don't think you are going to Hell just for listening. If so, by all means, don't listen. God gave you two fingers to put in your ears.