A Religious Leader Who Isn't An Idiot

[sparky]

I about fell over. Common sense in a church.

How long before they burn HER at the stake ?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly elected leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on Monday she believed homosexuality was no sin and homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender.

Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, was elected on Sunday as the first woman leader of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church. the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. She will formally take office later this year.

Interviewed on CNN, Jefferts Schori was asked if it was a sin to be homosexual.

"I don't believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us," she said.


"Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender."

Jefferts Schori's election seemed certain to exacerbate splits within a Episcopal Church that is already deeply divided over homosexuality with several dioceses and parishes threatening to break away.

It could also widen divisions with other Anglican communities, including the Church of England, which do not allow women bishops.

In the worldwide Anglican church women are bishops only in Canada, the United States and New Zealand. The Robinson issue has been particularly criticized in Africa where the church has a growing membership and where homosexuality is often taboo.

Jefferts Schori, who was raised a Roman Catholic and graduated in marine biology with a doctorate specialization in squids and oysters, supported the consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican history.

The 52-year-old bishop is married to Richard Schori, a retired theoretical mathematician. They have one daughter, Katharine Johanna, 24, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and a pilot like her mother.

Asked how she reconciled her position on homosexuality with specific passages in the Bible declaring sexual relations between men an abomination, Jefferts Schori said the Bible was written in a very different historical context by people asking different questions.

"The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today," she said.

"The Bible tells us about how to treat other human beings, and that's certainly the great message of Jesus -- to include the unincluded."

[DavidMn]

Huh? What's this?

[DrummerDeanna]

I love it when people just seem to get it right!

SEEE not all religious people are mean and evil. This lady and Jane Fonda really seem to have the right idea!

**I threw Jane Fonda in there because I recently read her book and really liked what she had to say about her Christianity.***

[sparky]

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

SEEE not all religious people are mean and evil. This lady and Jane Fonda really seem to have the right idea!

It's usually just the leaders. Pity, people so often listen to them.

If only we could clone her. She has balls, that's for sure.

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by sparky

It's usually just the leaders. Pity, people so often listen to them.

If only we could clone her. She has balls, that's for sure.

I hope Im wrong but Im afraid the backlash (OH! the moral indignation!) will cost her her job.

[Red]

Well Christ, isn't this refreshing??

[Sahara]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

I hope Im wrong but Im afraid the backlash (OH! the moral indignation!) will cost her her job.

If she's coming out with this sort of stuff that directly contradicts what her church says, then maybe she's not doing much of a good job at it to begin with.
I thought the purpose of religious leaders was to uphold the beliefs of their church, not to just pick and choose what they want to believe and preach.
When we start picking and choosing what to believe from the Bible and from God's teachings we're making up our own little version of God, and how can we be sure of truth in that?

Just my two cents' worth.


PS: To call religious leaders and those who believe homosexuality is sinful "idiots" is a bit much.

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Wouldn't it be great if everyone just took the good things, the wise things, from the bible, instead of the hatred, ritual and the superstition? Although I was raised Catholic, I was very lucky that I had parents who understood that.

Yeah but if that was the case, how would there be excuses for all these wars and what the Terrorists have to say?

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Isn't it all an excuse anyway?

But of course.

[strandinthewind]

This woman is a rather bright light. I mean she became a priest a realtively very short time ago and is now one of the haeds of the whole thing and is widely liked. That is such a good thing!

[foxyluva]

Originally Posted by sparky

[B]"The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today," she said.

Very true - the bible says it is a sin to eat rare meat, and it is a sin to wear garments of mixed fabrics...

[Jason T.]

That's so awesome! Now if only us Catholics can have a leader like this... *sigh*