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View Full Version : Gay Bishop Is Asked to Say Prayer at Inaugural Event



-Cp
01-13-2009, 03:23 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13prayer.html?_r=1

President-elect Barack Obama has asked V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, to deliver the invocation at an inaugural event on Sunday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Gay rights advocates saw the move as a way to compensate for Mr. Obama’s decision to give the Rev. Rick Warren, a prominent megachurch pastor from California who opposes same-sex marriage, the high-profile role of delivering the invocation at the inauguration next week.

Bishop Robinson advised Mr. Obama on gay rights issues during the campaign. He is the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, and his consecration in 2003 set off a growing rift in that church’s parent body, the Anglican Communion. Since then, Bishop Robinson has become an internationally known spokesman for gay rights — a hero to some and an object of scorn to others.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Bishop Robinson said that he believed his inclusion in inaugural events had been under consideration before the controversy erupted over Mr. Warren but that Mr. Obama and his team were also seeking to heal the pain that Mr. Warren’s selection had caused among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates.

“They called up and said this has actually been in the works for a long time,” Bishop Robinson said, “and at the same time, we understand that people in the L.G.B.T. community have been somewhat wounded by this choice, and it’s our hope that your selection will go a long way to heal those divides.”

“In many ways,” he added, “it just proves that Barack Obama is exactly who he says he was and would be as president, which is someone who is casting a wide net that will include all Americans.”

Bishop Robinson said that he had learned of the invitation about two and a half weeks ago but that he and the transition team had agreed to break the news on Monday in The Concord Monitor, his local newspaper in New Hampshire.

The event Bishop Robinson will participate in is on the first day of formal inaugural festivities in Washington. It will feature a lineup that includes the musicians Beyoncé, Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder.

The pay cable network HBO will broadcast the event and provide a free signal so that nonsubscribers can also watch, said Linda Douglass, the chief spokeswoman for the inaugural committee.

Bishop Robinson said he had been reading inaugural prayers through history and was “horrified” at how “specifically and aggressively Christian they were.”

“I am very clear,” he said, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.”

Bishop Robinson said he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings,” language that he said he learned from the 12-step program he attended for his alcohol addiction.

Bishop Robinson said that his partner of more than 20 years, Mark Andrew, would accept the Obama team’s invitation to join him in attending several inaugural events. The two had a civil union ceremony last summer in a New Hampshire church.

Evan Wolfson, executive director of the gay rights group Freedom to Marry, said the choice of Bishop Robinson to deliver the invocation at an inaugural event was “a very powerful statement.” But, Mr. Wolfson added, “at the end of the day, policy is more important than who stands at the inauguration.”

darin
01-13-2009, 04:07 PM
Bishop Robinson is a fraud. He's anit-Christ and should feel ashamed. May GOD have mercy on his very soul - Lord knows I wouldn't.

:(

PS

One more thing that gets me - Why the hell does everyone in political/social douchedom demand or expect 'a voice'? Seriously pisses me off that ANY group the liberals stamp as 'okay!' become offended when/until their viewpoint is embraced. (sigh).

namvet
01-13-2009, 04:35 PM
wow. this flipped. at first it was an anti gay preacher. guess the libbys showed him the back door.

LiberalNation
01-13-2009, 04:58 PM
I think the anti gay preacher is still on. This one was just added. Obama said he would be inclusive and token speakers/appointments ect. are how you do it.

namvet
01-13-2009, 05:02 PM
this could really be something. roll the tape............:lol:

Abbey Marie
01-13-2009, 05:07 PM
One more indication that Obama is the kind of guy who stands for nothing, and thereby falls for everything. If true, he is going to age rapidly in the next 4 years.

As for the fraud they call "Bishop", dmp said it all.

LiberalNation
01-13-2009, 05:10 PM
he stands for inclusion, sorry you don't want to put aside difference.

As for a fruad, everyone interprets that book differently, why do you think there are so many churches. Are you one who believs only your church is right and it's members going to heaven.

Abbey Marie
01-13-2009, 05:15 PM
he stands for inclusion, sorry you don't want to put aside difference.

As for a fruad, everyone interprets that book differently, why do you think there are so many churches. Are you one who believs only your church is right and it's members going to heaven.

He is by his own mouth, anti-Christian. No matter how different Christian denominations choose to interpet secondary parts of the Bible, that is fundamental fraud for a so-called Christian minister, plain and simple.

As I said, Obama needs to decide what it is he stands for. So far, with the "Bishop" and Rev. Wright, he has a track record of supporting two blatant frauds at the pulpit, and with Warren, one guy who preaches the love of Christ.

darin
01-13-2009, 05:39 PM
Rick Warren is NOT anti-Gay. It's intellectual Idiocy to claim otherwise. Rick is a Christian Pastor, and by default, anti-SIN. Homosexuality is an expressed SIN in the bible (for a myriad of reasons, same as most other self-destructive behaviours such as lying, fornicating, materialism, etc). Therefore he's PRO People by helping them realize their Sinful (Harmful) behaviour.

Warren speaks about homosexuality out of LOVE for the participants. "Bishop" Robinson must NOT have love for people to the point he refuses to tell them of their bad behaviour/conditions.

A VERY good example is this - Children. Because I LOVE my kids, I tell them when their behavior is harmful and/or bad. It hurts the kids' feelings of course. Yet I discipline them and point out their trouble spots BECAUSE of the love I have for them.

Think of the Bible as a Baby's shots. The truths in the bible pierce our hearts and cause instant pain - the truths are contrary to our nature - our self-preservation kicks in because of the pain. Yet, like immunizations, the Truths in the bible are sorely needed. While my kids cried and screamed when I held them still for the Doctor's shots, those who practice sinful and harmful behavior often scream and cry when THEY are 'injected' with truth. Because that truth hurts like the doctor's needle, they flee the truth. They say "HEY! Ouch! That truth HURTS! Don't HURT me!" VERY much like infants/toddlers when they get their shots.


God and Truth are insuperable. There is no other prayer that works. Only Prayers to God matter. ANY Christian who feels otherwise is a liar in title, (they are NOT christian) or a liar to the world (They secretly know prayers to "Whomever it may concern" are a joke).

Make sense?

Does that explain, LN why Christians would be a little frustrated at "Bishop" Robinson's position/comments?


Take Heart, fellow believers:


The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24For the Son of Man in his day[c] will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

26"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

30"It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32Remember Lot's wife! 33Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."[d]

37"Where, Lord?" they asked.
He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."


It will get worse before it gets better.

DannyR
01-15-2009, 05:41 PM
He is by his own mouth, anti-Christian.

Because he doesn't want to say a Christian prayer at the inauguration, an event intended for the nation at large, not just his own private congregation?

Sorry, by his own mouth he's only just aware that he'll be saying a prayer in front of Jews, Hindu's, Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and who knows what else. He is perfectly within his rights to comment that previous prayers have been "aggressively Christian" and choosing not to take that approach.

darin
01-15-2009, 06:35 PM
He is by his own mouth, anti-Christian.

Because he doesn't want to say a Christian prayer at the inauguration, an event intended for the nation at large, not just his own private congregation?

Sorry, by his own mouth he's only just aware that he'll be saying a prayer in front of Jews, Hindu's, Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and who knows what else. He is perfectly within his rights to comment that previous prayers have been "aggressively Christian" and choosing not to take that approach.

Absolutely he is. For a Christian there IS no prayer but to God/Jesus. He's not accountable for Jews and Hindus and the like - he's accountable to and for HIS faith. Because he cowers and tries to make Christianity ALL-INCLUSIVE, he shows he doesn't know Christ - and in fact, HURTS the very idea of Holiness (never mind he's blatantly giving God a hearty FUCK You! by his very lifestyle....)

DannyR
01-15-2009, 06:38 PM
Because he cowers and tries to make Christianity ALL-INCLUSIVE, he shows he doesn't know Christ - and in fact, HURTS the very idea of Holiness (never mind he's blatantly giving God a hearty FUCK You! by his very lifestyle....)

I seem to recall a certain son of God being rather inclusive in his preaching, unlike the clergy of the day.

5stringJeff
01-17-2009, 09:24 AM
Because he cowers and tries to make Christianity ALL-INCLUSIVE, he shows he doesn't know Christ - and in fact, HURTS the very idea of Holiness (never mind he's blatantly giving God a hearty FUCK You! by his very lifestyle....)

I seem to recall a certain son of God being rather inclusive in his preaching, unlike the clergy of the day.

Actually, although Christ was as inclusive as one could be regarding the availability of salvation (i.e. available to everyone, not just the Jews), He was extremely EXCLUSIVE as to the means of salvation: "No one comes to the Father except through Me."

"Bishop" Robinson denies Christ by blatantly sinning. The only hope for him - or any other blatant sinner - is repentance and obedience to God's word.