wfn.org | ACNS3468 Statement by the Bishop of Oklahoma

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3468     |     USA     |	  11 JUNE 2003

Statement by the Bishop of Oklahoma

The election of the Revd Gene Robinson to be the next Bishop of New
Hampshire has caused several people in this diocese to call and inquire as
to my reaction to his election. Will I support his election when it comes
before the House of Bishops at the General Convention?

My reaction is one of respect for the people of the Diocese of New
Hampshire. They did a bold thing in electing the Revd Gene Robinson.
Homosexuals are modern outcasts, like lepers in Jesus' day. In many people,
they engender fear and loathing. In my ministry I have seen good people
become filled with hate and disgust when the subject was homosexuality. At a
vestry meeting I once attended, one man said, "If my son said he was gay, I
would disown him." The Episcopal Church in New Hampshire has obviously moved
beyond that stage of fear and prejudice. They have seen the humanity in a
gay man and they have decided that his humanity is more important than his
gayness.

I do plan to support his election. The Diocese of New Hampshire elected him
after knowing him and observing his ministry for many years. They have
confidence that he will be a good bishop. New Hampshire is known as a
conservative State and yet the clergy and people elected a man they knew was
gay and living with another man in a committed relationship.

The Church has spent a great deal of time studying and debating the place of
homosexual men and women in its life. It is a subject that elicits great
passion and it has the potential to split apart the Body of Christ. So did
the inclusion of Gentiles in the first century! So did the breaking down of
slavery in the nineteenth century! So did Civil Rights! So did the
ordination of women! I follow Christ as my Lord and Saviour and Christ keeps
breaking down barriers that religious people once thought were sacred. I
think that our Lord is doing the same thing today with our attitudes towards
homosexual men and women, gays and lesbians. Thus, I will vote to support
the election in New Hampshire and welcome Bishop-elect Robinson as a brother
bishop in the Episcopal Church.

God bless this Church.

+Robert M Moody
Bishop of Oklahoma

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