Interview with Bishop Robinson and a Letter to Bishop Duncan

The Daily Office
An Open Letter to the Bishop of Pittsburgh

Right Reverend Sir:

As you prepare to effect schism, pro or con, I have a humble request.

Please make sure that you pray to God one last time about your interpretation of Scripture concerning homosexual behavior.

If after prayer you can say with confidence that your current understanding is right, because the Holy Spirit makes that abundantly clear to you in your body, then go in peace and feed your flock.

Theological education, reading and reflection are insufficient on this issue. We bring too many biases to it, pro or con. It is a difficult issue because it touches each of us so personally. You’ve said correctly (NPR interview, 12/04) that sexuality is located in the core of personhood, and that the Bible recognizes this.

You also assented to the interviewer’s clichéd formula, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” I believe that’s a mistake, bishop, because hate is nowhere found in the vocabulary of Jesus. The correct formula is “Forgive the sin, love the sinner.”

We are not allowed to speak hate. It results in death for both the hater and the hated.

But my point is that we all have to pray about Gay people and the Church. Thought alone is insufficient, because we also bring emotion to it; all of us do. So I ask you to pray to God in a way that acknowledges the possibility that you could be wrong.

Read it all HERE