Watch the entire interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC website here.
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Richard Lyon
16 years ago
When it comes to battling it out in the media, Gene Robinson has Rowan Williams at a serious disadvantage. Robinson is interesting, articulate and media savvy. Williams has the charisma of a cold wet noodle.
davidwh
16 years ago
Western society has gotten itself into such a mess over sex the last 50 years; even generating a new global sexual plague. And yet sexual liberty and ‘rights’ still seem to retain almost divine status in the minds of liberals.
I wonder how bad it has to get before liberals and Gene Robinson stop this unholy campaign, and just admit that it is wrong to follow many sexual desires/attractions?
But there is, of course, no-one as blind as (s)he who does not want to see!
Sexual liberty and rights…oh, you mean the ability to form loving relationships? That’s the only ‘right’ I heat liberals and other reasonable people talking about.
Whereas conservatives want to keep that privilege just for people like them.
And those who believe in equality will continue to talk about it until that equality is gained, because loving relationships are positive things which should be encouraged and promoted. The campaign will never, ever be stopped.
Fr Mark
16 years ago
Davidwh: your point being….? Do you imagine that if gays went back into the closet then Britain wouldn’t have such high rates of teenage pregnancy, for example, then, or that divorces would be somehow fewer?
God has warned us not to call anything he created; “Unholy”. I guess if you think that the homosexual is a ‘deviant’ and un-natural, then you have a case to disrespect all gays. If, though, you consider the possibility that most gays are intrinsically ‘born that way’, then you have to concede that the Church is being judgemental in its institutionalised homophobia.
Christians are not divorced from the rest of humanity – it only seems that way when we want to distance ourselves from those who are different, sexually.
Bob in SW PA
16 years ago
I’m tired of hearing that the bible is the word of God. I don’t worship some book but the living Creator. Don’t these people get it. This compilation of text are the early Jewish and Christian communities struggle to understand the Divine working in their lives. It’s like the phrase “I am the way, the true ect…” It was meant for a specific audience with a specific situation. Not as a rock to throw at people who don’t believe as they do. I find myself torn between wishing that Europe continue its abandoning the church and therefore all the hate… Read more »
Peter of Westminster
16 years ago
“Western society has gotten itself into such a mess over sex the last 50 years” Been quite a while since I’ve heard someone hearkening back to the 1950s as a golden age. Someone doesn’t know his history (or his social history)… “Western society…generating a new global sexual plague” AIDS generated by “Western society”? Silly rabbit — that’s nonsense. “sexual liberty and ‘rights’ still seem to retain almost divine status in the minds of liberals” Not at all. Finally, eros is unimportant. Some folks, and not only liberals, are attempting to develop a more mature sexual ethic based upon our best… Read more »
Christopher Shell
16 years ago
Hi Fr Mark- David Wh’s point is presumably partly that there are various immediate consequences of a society changing its position (or, rather, since there has been no debate nor supporting arguments, its practice) on whether or not sex and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Among these are rising unmarried and young sexual involvement, rising divorce, and increase in the instance of homosexual practice. These are full siblings of a common parent. As for whether the parent is a ‘single parent’, don’t ask! – that would be to push the metaphor. What one can ask is whether… Read more »
Spirit of Vatican II
16 years ago
Gene Robinson and Sir Ian excelled themselves on the BBC interview. What cut to the quick was Gene Robinson’s closing remark about a group of youths, only one of whom was a Christian, but all of whom could quote Leviticus on “abomination”, thanks to the Christian propaganda of preachers like this: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=wDWSwvVZ6Bs
karen macqueen+
16 years ago
For Davidwh: “Western society has gotten itself into such a mess over sex the last 50 years; even generating a new global sexual plague. And yet sexual liberty and ‘rights’ still seem to retain almost divine status in the minds of liberals.” “A global sexual plague”? Is this not rather like referring to pneumonia or SARS as “a global breathing plague”? No doubt if we all stopped breathing the global respiratory plagues would end. I assume David is referring to AIDS, which is hardly “Western” in its “generation”. Indeed, AIDS originated among heterosexuals, in Africa, not homosexuals in the West.… Read more »
davidwh, Of course, that’s what it all comes down to, isn’t it ? All theology, all Biblical interpretation, *everything* subsumed under some conservative’s unhealthy, or even prurient, interest in somebody else’s sex life.
It’s enough to make one wish for the continued secularization of the West… :/
A local preacher just after the 2004 SE Asian Tsunami took to the pulpit to brag about how many more souls had died as a result of wars and the transfer of soldiers, and the plagues that followed. Probably the foremost and most effective spread of AIDS has come through the placement of troops offshore. Exacerbated by disintergraing families so that the husbands live in the cities and their wives back in their rural homes. The lack of irreverence for a family life and home are consistent with a lack of respect for the occupants of this planet and the… Read more »
When it comes to battling it out in the media, Gene Robinson has Rowan Williams at a serious disadvantage. Robinson is interesting, articulate and media savvy. Williams has the charisma of a cold wet noodle.
Western society has gotten itself into such a mess over sex the last 50 years; even generating a new global sexual plague. And yet sexual liberty and ‘rights’ still seem to retain almost divine status in the minds of liberals.
I wonder how bad it has to get before liberals and Gene Robinson stop this unholy campaign, and just admit that it is wrong to follow many sexual desires/attractions?
But there is, of course, no-one as blind as (s)he who does not want to see!
Bishop Robinson heckled tonight :–
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7504472.stm
Sexual liberty and rights…oh, you mean the ability to form loving relationships? That’s the only ‘right’ I heat liberals and other reasonable people talking about.
Whereas conservatives want to keep that privilege just for people like them.
And those who believe in equality will continue to talk about it until that equality is gained, because loving relationships are positive things which should be encouraged and promoted. The campaign will never, ever be stopped.
Davidwh: your point being….? Do you imagine that if gays went back into the closet then Britain wouldn’t have such high rates of teenage pregnancy, for example, then, or that divorces would be somehow fewer?
God has warned us not to call anything he created; “Unholy”. I guess if you think that the homosexual is a ‘deviant’ and un-natural, then you have a case to disrespect all gays. If, though, you consider the possibility that most gays are intrinsically ‘born that way’, then you have to concede that the Church is being judgemental in its institutionalised homophobia.
Christians are not divorced from the rest of humanity – it only seems that way when we want to distance ourselves from those who are different, sexually.
I’m tired of hearing that the bible is the word of God. I don’t worship some book but the living Creator. Don’t these people get it. This compilation of text are the early Jewish and Christian communities struggle to understand the Divine working in their lives. It’s like the phrase “I am the way, the true ect…” It was meant for a specific audience with a specific situation. Not as a rock to throw at people who don’t believe as they do. I find myself torn between wishing that Europe continue its abandoning the church and therefore all the hate… Read more »
“Western society has gotten itself into such a mess over sex the last 50 years” Been quite a while since I’ve heard someone hearkening back to the 1950s as a golden age. Someone doesn’t know his history (or his social history)… “Western society…generating a new global sexual plague” AIDS generated by “Western society”? Silly rabbit — that’s nonsense. “sexual liberty and ‘rights’ still seem to retain almost divine status in the minds of liberals” Not at all. Finally, eros is unimportant. Some folks, and not only liberals, are attempting to develop a more mature sexual ethic based upon our best… Read more »
Hi Fr Mark- David Wh’s point is presumably partly that there are various immediate consequences of a society changing its position (or, rather, since there has been no debate nor supporting arguments, its practice) on whether or not sex and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Among these are rising unmarried and young sexual involvement, rising divorce, and increase in the instance of homosexual practice. These are full siblings of a common parent. As for whether the parent is a ‘single parent’, don’t ask! – that would be to push the metaphor. What one can ask is whether… Read more »
Gene Robinson and Sir Ian excelled themselves on the BBC interview. What cut to the quick was Gene Robinson’s closing remark about a group of youths, only one of whom was a Christian, but all of whom could quote Leviticus on “abomination”, thanks to the Christian propaganda of preachers like this: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=wDWSwvVZ6Bs
For Davidwh: “Western society has gotten itself into such a mess over sex the last 50 years; even generating a new global sexual plague. And yet sexual liberty and ‘rights’ still seem to retain almost divine status in the minds of liberals.” “A global sexual plague”? Is this not rather like referring to pneumonia or SARS as “a global breathing plague”? No doubt if we all stopped breathing the global respiratory plagues would end. I assume David is referring to AIDS, which is hardly “Western” in its “generation”. Indeed, AIDS originated among heterosexuals, in Africa, not homosexuals in the West.… Read more »
davidwh, Of course, that’s what it all comes down to, isn’t it ? All theology, all Biblical interpretation, *everything* subsumed under some conservative’s unhealthy, or even prurient, interest in somebody else’s sex life.
It’s enough to make one wish for the continued secularization of the West… :/
A local preacher just after the 2004 SE Asian Tsunami took to the pulpit to brag about how many more souls had died as a result of wars and the transfer of soldiers, and the plagues that followed. Probably the foremost and most effective spread of AIDS has come through the placement of troops offshore. Exacerbated by disintergraing families so that the husbands live in the cities and their wives back in their rural homes. The lack of irreverence for a family life and home are consistent with a lack of respect for the occupants of this planet and the… Read more »