Posted on 07/13/2008 11:49:12 AM PDT by Schnucki
Openly gay US bishop Gene Robinson was forced to halt a sermon at a west London church after being heckled.
As Bishop Robinson began his sermon a member of the congregation repeatedly called him a "heretic" and said "repent, repent, repent".
He began his sermon by saying how sad it was that the Anglican Communion was tearing itself apart.
But he was stopped when the man in the congregation shouted that the schism was the bishop's fault.
The man's protest was followed by slow hand-clapping by members of the congregation, and Bishop Robinson halted his sermon while a hymn was sung and the protester was escorted from the church in Putney, south west London.
The man was taken outside and left on a motorbike, but no further action was taken against him by police officers present.
Bishop Robinson resumed speaking shortly after the interruption, asking church members to "pray for that man".
Bishop Robinson went on to say: "This discussion of homosexuality we are having in the Church is not so significant because of what it says about homosexuality, but of what it says about God.
"When someone stands up and says homosexuality is an abomination, does that make you want to get to know God?"
Bishop Robinson emphasised that the congregation should reject fear.
He said: "I think God wants us to be bold, I think God wants us to take risks, I don't think God wants us to be afraid.
'Almost untenable'
"You know, whatever you think makes you unworthy, I don't think God wants to hear it any more."
"All you have to do is turn up and open up your heart."
Mr Robinson's sermon comes as the Anglican Communion gather for their 10-yearly Lambeth Conference in Canterbury.
He has been excluded from the conference amid deep Anglican divisions over the issues of women bishops and homosexuality in the Church.
Earlier, he said "a mistake was made" in not inviting him to the conference, but he would do whatever he could to raise the issue of gay rights "from the fringe".
He said he would not stage any kind of protest, but would simply "preach the word of God".
Bishop Robinson also said the Archbishop of Canterbury was in an "almost untenable" position as he tries to retain unity in the Church.
He said that despite Dr Rowan Williams's attempts to overcome deep divisions over the ordination of women and gay people, "no matter what he does he makes someone mad."
Anglican conservatives set up a splinter movement earlier this month, in rejection of the acceptance of gay bishops.
And last week the General Synod, the Church of England's ruling body, voted in favour of legislation aimed at introducing women bishops, a move which generated acrimony.
Some 1,300 clergy opposed to it had threatened to leave the Church if the safeguards they wanted were not agreed.
The 'man' is just an attention w***e.
Gays destroy a church? Profound.
What a disgustingly selfish little man Robinson is! Getting his rocks off with another man is more important to him than salvation.
This guy makes no sense at all.
No matter whether the cause is just, there is no excuse for disrupting a Church Service.
Actually, that is the essence of liberal christianity in a... uh... nutshell.
Maybe he was drunk.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/14/episcopal_bishop_is_treated_for_alcoholism/
There's a difference between a gay rights rally and a church service.
Ping.
Psychologists have an old diagnostic rule of thumb: Neurotics make themselves miserable. Personality disorders make everyone else miserable. Pathological narcissists like this guy are experts at the passive aggressive destruction of civility and relationship, then denying responsibility and projecting blame for the consequences. It is these intensely unethical, antisocial features that earned them the alternate label of Character Disorder.
I had forgotten about that.
Sure, and when Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers, he was also being disrespectful.
Never, ever take your eyes off Gay Gene. He is the general leading the homosexual troops into our churches.
Well.... yeah!
The truth hurts sometimes..... but hey, I guess the bishop thinks a nice sounding lie is better then the truth.
Oh, I think it was totally justified. The ‘disrupter’ spoke the truth, calmly and clearly. Robinson is the perp, not the man in the pews.
My thoughts exactly.
How about for disrupting a Church?
Yes, your analogy to Jesus overturning the tables of the moneylenders is exactly right. This is not a church service that is being disrupted, it is a blasphemous perversion of a church service.
Because of Vickie Gene Robinson and his supporters, the souls of many belonging to the Anglican Communion are at risk of being lost. While he selfishly pursues his perverted desires, the sheep are being led astray.
Better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the depths of the sea, than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
I know somebody who knows a lady who sat on a lot of committees with Robinson back in New Hampshire, before he got famous.
She said, "It is always all about Gene, and always has been."
It seems like a basic personality flaw that has been with him for a long time. Too bad he had to wreck the entire Episcopal church just to satisfy his own desire for attention.
(of course, he would have gotten nowhere fast if the church hadn't been ripe for destruction. In the larger sense, it really isn't about Gene, he's just the sort of person who takes advantage of a situation that's already developed. The sickness in the Episcopal Church really got rolling back in the late 60s and early 70s.)
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