Tom Ely, the Bishop of Vermont, was interviewed about Lambeth on our CBS affiliate in Burlington, Vermont.

Here is the link to the story

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8662554&nav=4QcRaEf4

"Some people think that you can read the Bible without understanding the original context and simply take literally what you read. We will interpret—and it's an important part of faithful living," Jefferts Schori said. "To assume there is only one way of reading is hubris."

It is also crass stupidity. One of the saddest things is the self-stupefying effects of the rhetoric of the FOCA bishops, and the worse effects this will have on their flocks. The use of Romans 1 (also cited uncritically in Vatican documents, though they have long learned to treat I Corinthians 11 with caution) is particularly egregious. Paul talks of people being punished for idolatrous blindness and their punishment takes the form of deserting the natural use of sex to burn with same-sex lust. This has no relationship whatever to gayness, except for NARTH freaks who still want to claim that homosexual orientation is somehow a chosen perversion that can be reversed through spiritual orthopedics. Self-blinding, self-stupification is the forte of fundamentalist Anglican bishops (one had fondly thought that this expression was an oxymoron). The future results of this can only be very dark. Remember what wilful stupidity lead to in mid 20th century Europe.

Hmm New England USA is farther ahead than one might presuppose - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont - and even Maine seems to have struggled some past its former fights to disenfrachise its own resident or visiting queer citizens in key realms of honest daily life and service and work and love.

Thanks Bishop Ely. Really, really, really, really appreciate your kind witness.

I know that New Hampshire is a small diocese, but shouldn't +Robinson be spending more of his time administering it and less time in front of cameras and reporters? If we're going to have a Metropolitan of All Gay Folk, I'd at least like to get to vote on who that is.

Funny you should say that, BillyD, at the one time that ALL Anglican bishops SHOULD be OUT of their dioceses, and in the Lambeth w/ their brother&sister bishops! [The latter, of course, is precisely where +GR would *like* to be, but isn't, only due to (principalities&)powers beyond his control :-(]

Lord have mercy!

"shouldn't +Robinson be spending more of his time administering it and less time in front of cameras and reporters?"

Are you seriously accusing him of publicity seeking? He has received real death threats, while +Orombi claims the drug addicteed faggots are trying to kill him. He forgives the people who threaten his life, and those whose words have created that situation, while they themselves court the limelight and act like lordlings ruling the rest of us. The air of power taken by African bihsops is actually startling for me. I am not used to the idea that a bishop has this quasi-princely status, it reminds me of the power of preReformation bishops, actually. Consider, +Akinola tells the press how embarrassingly humble he is, while +Gene just gets on with the business of being humble. Frankly, you might not like us homos, but this a cheap shot, and far more applicable to most of the conservative leadership than it is to +Gene.