Bishop Robinson.

For the viewpoint of someone who's "been there and back" on the issue of the ordination of the active homosexual Gene Robinson as Bishop in the Episcopalian Church, check out David Morrison's blog.

Incidentally, in reading his past posts I've formed the view that Morrison speaks to more than gays. He speaks to anyone who anyone in our society who cares to listen to what reason sharpened by faith requires from humans with respect to the virtue of chastity. The goals of Courage could be a credo for anyone living outside of marriage.

Another point, watching the poor man's Blaise Pascal - Bill O'Reilly - last night, I saw a "debate" between Episcopalian clerics on the issue of Robinson's ordination. The precis of the debate was essentially "how would Jesus feel about the ordination." The pro-ordination cleric kept asserting the general notion of Jesus's tolerance and that his mission was to the outcast and marginal, thereby establishing his reading of more trendy Christological sociological deconstruction of Jesus. The "anti" cleric stressed Jesus' own statement that He had come to fulfill the law, not overturn it.

The split in the debate says a lot about conventional theology. I can't help but think that the "pros" read their own desires and agenda into Christ. They believe in tolerance - well, maybe not for racists or people who want lower taxes - and they fashion their view of Christ accordingly. Jesus said a lot of things that were not warm and fuzzy. For example, He said "no divorce." He said "go and sin no more" to a woman caught in an act of adultery. How does one honestly factor those sayings into this 21st Century worldview. Was He wrong? Is He the God who Failed?

Needless to say, I think that the "pros" are wrong and that the Piskies are on their way to being nothing more than a social arm of secular liberal politics. I think that that the ECUSA disappears in a merger with the other liberal denominations as a move to protect pensions during my lifetime because there simply is no reason to choose to donate to the ECUSA when you can donate to the Sierra Club or GreenPeace just as easily.

Update: Amy Welborn has a nice reflection that manifests the distinction I was subconsciously discerning from the O'Reilly "debate." She writes:

You probably learned that Christianity is good because practicing it and following Jesus can ake you a better person and make a better world. You might have learned that in Catholicism, you have a beautiful heritage that says many wonderful things about the human condition and aspirations. You probably heard that Christianity is one of the paths through which people get to know God.

But did you once, ever, learn that Christianity deserves serious attention because it’s true?

Ah, but what is truth? Can we be certain that our bedrock belief today won't be overturned by some scientific or archeological finding tomorrow? Perhaps it is safer to retreat to the unassaible truth of feelings. Was Jesus married? - as was the hot discussion at last night's Communio group between the 70 year old theologically liberal reader of America and our early 20s fire-eating conservative. Well, what's the data? Can we be sure that aliens didn't videotape the whole thing and are waiting to spring pictures of a domestic Jesus on us? And besides isn't there something reassuring and inviting in the image of a Jesus who was married and had children?

Perhaps, but that approach amounts to myth-making. There's nothing necessarily wrong with myth-making, but the orthodox approach has been to say that reality is better because it's true. The Western approach has been to prefer the Real and the True because we trust that we will not be deceived.