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Gay Episcopal bishop says civil and religious marriage should be separate
LAT ^ | Apr 19, 2009 | N/A

Posted on 04/19/2009 5:46:29 PM PDT by zaphod3000

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop told a Studio City gathering today that the church should begin mending divisions over the issue of same-sex marriage by getting out of the civil marriage business altogether.

During a visit to St. Michael & All Angels Church this morning, the Rev. V. Eugene Robinson said he favored the system used in France and other parts of Europe in which civil marriage – performed by government officials – is completely separate from religious vows. In the U.S., the civil and religious ceremonies are often combined with the cleric signing the government marriage license.

"In this country, it has become very confusing about where the civil action begins and ends and where the religious action begins and ends, because we have asked clergy to be agents of the state," said Robinson, the bishop of New Hampshire.

SNIP

"The church is infringing on the secular society and trying to enforce its beliefs onto the entire culture," he said. "If we can get these two things separated, we can assure every religious group, no matter how conservative, that they will never have to bless these marriages."

(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: California; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: civilunions; ecusa; episcopalchurch; fauxmarriage; gaymarriage; gaystapo; homonaziagenda; homosexualagenda; homosexualbishop; marriage; perverts; religiousleft; religiouspersecution; samesexmarriage; unbiblicalmarriage
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1 posted on 04/19/2009 5:46:29 PM PDT by zaphod3000
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: zaphod3000

The Episcopal church is a modern day disaster and if breaking into pieces in front of its own eyes. Episcopal churches around the world are breaking apart from it and it is going the way of the do-do bird.


3 posted on 04/19/2009 5:56:34 PM PDT by edcoil (Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner Liberty is a well-armed lamb)
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To: zaphod3000

Gene is one of the biggest reasons that some of us no longer hold with the Episcopal church.

Homosexuals & “politically correct” leftists have basically destroyed the church.

Sad, but there you are.


4 posted on 04/19/2009 6:01:24 PM PDT by alarm rider (I am sure the Founders of this country would not ask for a permit.)
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To: Morgana
civil unions presided over by local JP's maybe, but NOT MARRIAGE done in a CHURCH!!! Separation of Church and State and all...
5 posted on 04/19/2009 6:07:15 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - Obama is basically Jim Jones with a teleprompter)
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To: zaphod3000

I thought that in some states civil marriage was indeed separate from a religious marriage.


6 posted on 04/19/2009 6:10:46 PM PDT by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
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To: zaphod3000

7 posted on 04/19/2009 6:13:40 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: HangnJudge
Is your chart issued by TEC, HangnJudge? I don't think it is accurate.
8 posted on 04/19/2009 6:20:12 PM PDT by sionnsar ((Iran Azadi | 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | "Also sprach Telethustra" - NonValueAdded)
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To: ahadams2; bastantebueno55; Needham; sc70; jpr_fire2gold; Tennessee Nana; QBFimi; Tailback; ...
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail Huber or sionnsar if you want on or off this low-volume ping list.
This list is pinged by Huber and sionnsar.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
Humor: The Anglican Blue

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

9 posted on 04/19/2009 6:20:45 PM PDT by sionnsar ((Iran Azadi | 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | "Also sprach Telethustra" - NonValueAdded)
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To: Morgana

Woo hoo Morgana you are exactly right!!!


10 posted on 04/19/2009 6:21:52 PM PDT by parthian shot
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To: sionnsar
Is your chart issued by TEC, HangnJudge?
I don't think it is accurate.

Well, it came from this site
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/

It could be bogus
I'm game for a better source

11 posted on 04/19/2009 6:41:11 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: HangnJudge
There are no good sources on this. All best guesses are that TEC's membership have dropped hugely and they're making up the numbers. I never formally renounced membership when I left over a quarter-century ago (maybe I should have, but several years away without a request for a letter dimissory should be grounds for removal) so I wouldn't be surprised if I were still on their rolls.

But it's odd -- the chart you posted seems now to have disappeared.

12 posted on 04/19/2009 6:50:51 PM PDT by sionnsar ((Iran Azadi | 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | "Also sprach Telethustra" - NonValueAdded)
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To: sionnsar
But it's odd -- the chart you posted seems now to have disappeared.

SubDirectory Address http://www.episcopalchurch.org/images/Episcopal_Domestic_Members_1951-2007(1).jpg
13 posted on 04/19/2009 6:54:49 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: zaphod3000

He’s a very busy little feller, attacking marriage from every angle he can find.


14 posted on 04/19/2009 6:54:57 PM PDT by Marie2 (No, we're NOT "all socialists now.")
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To: Morgana
filthy disease ridden queer

He shouldn't be bishop, but I don't think it is helpful to use this kind of hateful language. Hate the sin and love the sinner and all that.

15 posted on 04/19/2009 7:15:29 PM PDT by Unam Sanctam
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To: Morgana
Why did they not throw him out on his ass? Some one please tell me what is wrong with the Episcopal Church?

Hint: They agree with him.

16 posted on 04/19/2009 7:40:40 PM PDT by fwdude ("...a 'centrist' ... has few principles - and those are negotiable." - Don Feder)
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To: zaphod3000

‘”The church is infringing on the secular society and trying to enforce its beliefs onto the entire culture,” he said.’

Actually Mr. Robertson, the homosexualist movement and its enablers started this whole fight by trying to change the legal definition of marriage in the first place in order to infringe on the religious society and enforce its beliefs onto the entire culture. The church didn’t start this battle. Your side did. Please be intellectually honest with history.

‘”If we can get these two things separated, we can assure every religious group, no matter how conservative, that they will never have to bless these marriages.”’

This sounds very nice but we all know how it will end up. Once marriage is legally redefined, the left will then use the government to persecute the church via lawsuits, revoking tax-exempt status, and worse if we do not endorse, perform and approve of unbiblical marriages. It’s not that our side refuses to “live and let live” and “leave you alone”. It’s that your side that refuses to live and let lie and leave us alone.


17 posted on 04/19/2009 8:20:13 PM PDT by ReformationFan
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To: sionnsar
I know that we are still on the rolls, despite us notifying them multiple times to take us off. We are still getting mailings from the diocese, our old parish, and a new mission church that was recently started in our area (to replace the orthodox parish that was imploded by the bishop).

I finally called the bishop's office and was informed that you will NOT be taken off the rolls unless you transfer to another Episcopal parish!!! About the only way to get around it is to transfer to the parish of a sympathetic rector, who would then erase you from his rolls and thus cause you to finally vanish from 'the system'.

In other words, everyone who fled TEC to become Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Southern Baptist, or Unitarian-Universalist for that matter is still counted as a member!

"How conveeeeenient! Could it be . . . ?"

18 posted on 04/20/2009 6:23:58 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: ReformationFan
"Intellectually honest" and "Vicki Gene Robinson" are not words that really can appear together in the same universe, let alone the same sentence.

Friend of mine is from New Hampshire and served on several committees with this horrible man back in the day. She says, "It's all about Gene, and has always been all about Gene."

He doesn't care about much of anything except his own aggrandisement.

19 posted on 04/20/2009 6:25:37 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: AnAmericanMother
I believe you, and I believe your friend. But leaving the man's personal life alone for just a minute, what's fundamentally wrong with his idea?

My religious friends here probably know I'm an atheist. They regard their marrages as between themselves, their spouses, and their God. On the other hand, if I were to marry my lady (she's not in any big rush, and neither am I, but that's besides the point) it would be just between the two of us. We sure wouldn't impose ourselves on any church, and even though she's culturally Catholic, we absolutely wouldn't expect a RCC to marry us, as I've been divorced.

I think I'm on pretty solid ground when I say that none of my fellow Freepers would have the slightest objection to the two of us marrying, even though we have zero chance of using a marriage as a vehicle for raising a family (we're both in our early 50's), and our union would be purely a civil arrangement.

What is the fundamental difference between what we would have, and what homosexuals already have in four states? Before you delve into what I call the "ick" factor, take into account that my lady and I met on a website for larger folks, and we are both heftier people. That's plenty of "ick" for a lot of straight people!

20 posted on 04/20/2009 6:36:20 AM PDT by hunter112 (SHRUG - Stop Hussein's Radical Utopian Gameplan!)
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