SOUTHERN VIRGINIA: DIOCESE WON'T REJECT GAY BISHOP

Episcopal group upholds national church's decision.

By Michael D. Wamble

Daily Press

2/8/2004

NORFOLK -- Delegates of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia soundly defeated a resolution Saturday to reject the national church's confirmation of an openly gay bishop.

At its annual meeting in Norfolk, delegates voted to acknowledge "profound differences" over homosexuality and Scripture interpretation.

It created a yearlong Reconciliation Commission to discuss differences.

Opinions vary on whether this could dissuade some parishes from leaving the diocese to join a national network of conservative churches likely to form by October.

Bishop David C. Bane Jr. said Saturday's vote - a 3-to-1 margin among clergy delegates - showed that "the vast majority want to stay together to serve Christ together."

The Rev. Coleman Tyler of Galilee Church in Virginia Beach supported the resolution.

Tyler said a new commission "prolongs the agony of this discussion."

Church members may already have, Tyler said, "irreconcilable differences."

The vote Saturday on Resolution No. 4 ended months of uncertainty over how people in the pews felt about having an openly gay bishop in their denomination.

But tension over this issue didn't begin last year.

Since the mid-'90s, the broader issue of homosexuality has sparked debate in several mainline Protestant denominations, including the United Methodist Church and Episcopal Church.

Most of the discussion concerns the status of gay clergy and same-sex unions.

In 1996 conservative Episcopalians formed the American Anglican Council, a network to "affirm Biblical authority and Anglican orthodoxy within the Episcopal Church."

In August 2003, the issues of Biblical authority and homosexuality inched the Episcopal Church closer to a possible rift.

A big issue at the General Convention in August was the confirmation of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

Robinson is the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.

A majority of the lay people, clergy and bishops at the convention confirmed his election.

Three of the eight Southern Virginia deputies who voted on Robinson's fate represented churches in Newport News and Hampton.

All eight of the diocese's lay and clergy deputies voted to confirm Robinson.

Bishop Bane was one of 43 bishops who voted against Robinson's confirmation.

The other 64 bishops voted for confirmation.

Two bishops who abstained from the vote were counted as "No" votes.

Local Episcopalians remain divided on the issue.

A meeting in September to discuss votes by deputies and the bishop packed the hall at Bruton Episcopal Church in Williamsburg.

In November, Robinson was ordained as the denomination's first openly gay bishop.

Since his ordination, the Diocese of Southern Virginia has lost some members and has weathered a budget shortfall of nearly $200,000.

Nine of its 123 congregations have joined the American Anglican Council in hopes of becoming part of a new network of churches that reflects their beliefs.

Clergy and parishioners affiliated with the American Anglican Council submitted Resolution No. 4 to the annual diocesan council.

AS LONG AS WE ALL GET ALONG (SELLING TRUTH FOR UNITY)

Selling Truth for Unity.

BreakPoint with Charles Colson.

February 5, 2004

Peter James Lee was one of the sixty Episcopal bishops who voted to approve the appointment of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Since the vote, Lee has faced stiff opposition from conservative evangelical churches in his diocese.

In his speech to the annual meeting of his diocese, Bishop Lee said this, “If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy.”

I can think of nothing more dangerous.

What Lee is basically saying is that we can tolerate anything within the Church just to keep the Church together.

What would cause someone to think this way?

In part there is much at stake economically in keeping things the way they are.

Schism is the enemy because pastors’ retirements and church properties get threatened if you break away from a denomination—as do bishops’ reputations.

But putting personal interest ahead of truth, sacrificing truth on the altar of what we call unity?

No.

And it’s not real unity; it’s expediency.

The second reason for putting unity over truth is that American Christians of all stripes—evangelical, as well as liberal—no longer take truth seriously.

David Brooks in a recent New York Times column made the point that Americans believe that, “In the final days, the distinctions will fade away, and we will all be united in God’s embrace.”

This happy assumption has meant that millions feel free to try on different denominations at different points in their lives, and many Americans have had trouble taking religious doctrines altogether seriously.

As a result, says Brooks, we tend to think that all people of good will are “basically on the same side,” we practice religion that is easygoing and experiential rather than rigorous and intellectual, and we “have trouble sustaining culture wars.”

The result is that, like Bishop Lee, we’ve fallen into this mushy ecumenism, believing that doctrines and distinctions make little or no difference.

But our forebears, particularly in the Reformation tradition, didn’t shed their blood for retirement plans, for buildings, or for a cozy sense that everybody is okay.

They shed their blood for truth.

All other considerations, whether we’re seeker-sensitive or liturgical, whether we’re taking care of our retirement plans or building new additions, everything is secondary to the preservation and defense of truth.

This applies to every church, not just the Episcopal church.

In my experience, Bible-believing churches can sometimes be as unwilling to apply church discipline over matters of truth and morality as Bishop Lee.

One politician I know boasts about his faith while voting for gay rights and against the partial-birth abortion ban.

Not only is he not disciplined by his church in the name of truth, but he gets time and again to speak in the pulpit.

Anything else, of course, might cause disunity.

As Pogo said, “We have just met the enemy, and he is us.”

It’s all well and good for evangelicals to sit around and say “those crazy Episcopalians.”

But they’re just reflecting what all of us do in lesser degrees.

And Lee’s words ought to be a sobering wake-up call to us all.