THE GAY DIVORCÉE: ROBERT HART ON THE REAL ROBINSON AFFAIR

By Robert Hart

Critics of Gene Robinson's consecration have focused almost exclusively on his homosexuality—missing the deeper scandal.

"They ought to have been furious that he was not defrocked simply for leaving his family."

Robinson divorced his wife and abandoned his children—yet remained in active ministry. Only later did he enter a same-sex relationship.

Hart argues:

Homosexuality is just one part of a broader failure—the collapse of chastity and holy matrimony.

By reacting only to the "gay" label, conservatives have played into the hands of activists framing this as a civil rights issue.

"The homosexualists are attempting to sell their status as a matter of equality and rights. It helps their cause if opponents react out of prejudice, not principle."

He contrasts today's Episcopalians with Anglicans in 1936—when King Edward VIII abdicated rather than violate Church teaching on marriage to a divorced woman.

"The conservative Episcopalians of today do not measure up."

Their silence on divorced and remarried bishops, priests who left their families, and the devaluation of fatherhood has paved the way for Robinson's elevation.

True opposition must be consistent:

Oppose Robinson not because he's gay, but because he is unrepentant in public sin—whether heterosexual or homosexual.

Demand the resignation of all clergy living in notorious immorality.

"Mr. Robinson ought to have been defrocked—not for his orientation, but for being an unrepentant, notorious sinner."

"Otherwise, how can the seriousness of sin and potential damnation be taken seriously?"

The alternative is Pharisaism: "I thank thee, God, I am not as other men…" (Luke 18:11)