Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Divine Impulses: Katharine Jefferts Schori

From a video interview on washingtonpost.com: "The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church talks about homosexuality as a gift and the future stability of her church."



(Golly! And to think I could have been watching Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge instead.)

4 comments:

Kate Phelps said...

As a scientist, I deplore the specious argument from nature that she and many others use to justify homosexual behavior. To argue that because homosexual behavior is found throughout the animal world, it is therefore normal and acceptable for humans, is simply to reduce man to animal status and completely denies the capacity for rational thinking and moral choice that ought to distinguish human behavior from the merely instinctive behavior of animals. More importantly, homosexual behavior among animals is largely about power and dominance (or in rare cases of hermaphroditism, procreation) and has no necessary connection with love. Thus, extended to its logical conclusions, the argument from nature directly contradicts the contention that homosexual behavior in humans is an expression of love.

Kate Phelps

Fr Ernest said...

I am sure you wish you had. It would have been much more edifying.

Unknown said...

Seems as though the Pb (sharing the title with the 82nd element of the Periodic Table) never fails to disappoint.

Unknown said...

In contrast, here's what the Bishop of Rochester (Church of England) says in a recent interview:

Q: How does the biblical tradition interpret homosexuality then? Because there’s certainly a great deal of evidence recently of the nature of sexuality and er homosexual bonds and many theories about it of course. But you are rather rigorously disapproving – am I right?

A: Mm, I’m not disapproving of anything. I g…I, again, I would go back to the anthropology of the Bible, which is that human beings have been made in God’s image. But being in God’s image also has implications for how we behave. And er, we have all sorts of inclinations for all sorts of reasons. Nevertheless, practising giving as it were, in to our inclinations er is not always according to God’s purpose or for human flourishing, or indeed for social flourishing.

Q: And in that sense in biblical terms, homosexuals are not eligible for revocation to the priesthood?

A: It’s not to do with who people think they are, or their inclinations, but what their behaviour should be. And that is also true of heterosexual people of course, that the Church demands the highest standards of belief, but of behaviour, people and yes there are certain requirements for ordination for example.

bb