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Methodists to Reinstate Defrocked Minister Updated: Friday, Apr. 29, 2005 - 11:51 AM By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Writer LINTHICUM, Md. (AP) - The United Methodist Church reversed itself Friday, deciding to reinstate a lesbian minister who was defrocked after revealing her relationship with another woman. A church panel voted 8 to 1 to set aside an earlier decision to defrock Irene "Beth" Stroud for violating the church's ban on openly gay clergy. The Philadelphia minister said she was relieved by the ruling and hopes the church will become more inclusive to people regardless of sexual orientation. After Stroud disclosed...

"This current administration notwithstanding, the world is not black and white," Bishop Robinson said. "We need to teach people about nuance, about holding things in tension, that this can be true and that can be true, and somewhere between is the right answer. It's a very adult way of living, you know. "What an unimaginative God it would be if God only put one meaning in any verse of Scripture," he said.

Pope John Paul II is remembered as being compassionate, but in many ways he was anything but, writes Emily Maguire. ABOUT 5 million people flocked to Rome last weekend to farewell Pope John Paul II. That's the same number of people newly infected with HIV in 2003. That's 10 million people - at least - whose lives have been touched by the man who was Pope. Speaking ill of the dead is not the done thing, which is why all we've heard about the Pope over the past week is that he was an inspirational and compassionate leader who played...

The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire yesterday denounced published reports that said he had suggested Jesus Christ might have been homosexual. The reports stemmed from remarks Bishop V. Gene Robinson made in February while speaking at Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham, a conservative Episcopalian congregation in Massachusetts. Some religious conservatives took Robinson's words as implying Christ might have been homosexual, but yesterday Robinson denounced that idea. "I can assure you with absolute certainty that was not my implication, and certainly not anything I ever said," Robinson said in a phone interview. "I am furious for my remarks to be...

ROCHESTER — Less than a year ago, Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson was the wedge that split the Church of the Redeemer. Yesterday, he presided over its final service, accepting gifts and praising parishioners for their faith and service to the church. Though it had been open for 100 years, the church had been hampered for years by financial difficulties. The difficulties worsened when the majority of parishioners decided to leave the church rather than accept the leadership of Robinson, who is openly gay.

The first openly gay Anglican bishop has sparked outrage for suggesting that Jesus might have been homosexual. The Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the United States, said that Jesus was an unmarried, "non-traditional man" who did not uphold family values, "travelled with a bunch of men" and enjoyed an especially close relationship with one of his disciples.