Why Religion Matters in the Quest for Gay Civil Rights: Rev. Gene Robinson, Part 1

The Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire visited Emory University's School of Law in March 2009 for the Currie Lecture. He spoke on "Why Religion Matters in the Quest for Gay Civil Rights."

For more information on the Center for the Study of Law and Religion and this lecture, visit http://www.law.emory.edu/cslr

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[maggiemay2020]

I love this man. He is an upstanding man of God and makes me proud to call myself a Christian. We can all learn a lesson from Bishop Robinson.

[GideonVanquest]

I am a new convert to the Episcopal Church and I am so proud we have Holy Spirit filled modern day Apostles such as Bishop Robinson leading our church. Even though I am in Alabama, I am comforted by the teachings and peace preached by this man of God.

If God is Love, and as Satan cannot immitate or corrupt the powers of God, I am assured that this man is an annointed and appointed servant and messenger of God.

God bless Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church, and Emory for hosting this.

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 --thanks...email me at kmtesq@aol.com; You can give me a list of books to read and I will give you a list as well--make us both enlightened on the subject :-)

[Gurn92]

@ladyesq64 I'll pm you because you are clogging this comments section up far too much.

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 --Oh I know I said finally, but one more point...the fact that homosexuals cannot procreate does not support that it is a sin. I am a heterosexual married female and I cannot procreate; heterosexuals who take birth control cannot procreate (is that a sin?); heterosexuals who masterbate cannot procreate; is that a sin; heterosexuals who have anal and oral sex do not procreate (is that a sin)...it use to be a crime and was considered sodomy? Is that immoral; is that sin? Can you answer?

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 --Finally, you still have not showed me one verse in the Bible (from the King James Version) that says that same sex relations or homosexuality is immoral or a sin. What is your verse. The sins listed in Romans 1 are not the acts against nature by men and women---the sins are found in Romands 1:29-30....that list does not mention homosexuality. What did Jesus say on the issue is always the most important question. Also read: Acts 15 in its entirety..homosexuality is not mentioned.

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 -you cannot always define immorality from what is stated in the Bible; do you think it is immoral for a 40 year old man to have sex with a 13 year old? Do you think it was immoral for Joseph to have sex with marry? Please answer the question. Do you think that it was immoral for David and Solomon to have multiple wives? Do you think that Abraham should have been put to death for having a mistress (as Lev. and Deut requires??) Do you advocate that homosexuals be put to death?

[ladyesq64]

@ladyesq64 --I meant to say the Ten Commandments OR the Hebrew Moral Code (it is only in the ritual section-ie. Lev. and Deut.) where things that were forbidden then are not forbidden now (i.e. eating pork, wearing clothes out of different materials, not keeping the Sabbath, having a tatoo, etc. were all an abomination). Women who were on their menstrual side were unclean and you could not go near them (an example of what unclean means in the Bible)--

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 --to your second point, that I am trying to justify homosexuality--I do not have to justify it. I am just saying that it is not a moral sin...Homosexuality is not found anywhere in the 10 Commandments, the Hebrew Moral code; Jesus never discusses it or condemns it; where same sex references (the two or three versus) that are found in the New Testament it is taken out of context and culture. Translations had added the word homosexual, but it is not found in the original Greek text.

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 - I agree that enuchs refers to men who are castrated... since men cannot be born castrated, Jesus was speaking figuratively. I do not necessarily believe in Matthew 19:20 that Jesus was refering to homosexuals, but my point was that despite all of the anti-gay rhetoric about procreation--Jesus acknowledges that some people were men where they would not be united with a woman (for whatever reason).

[ladyesq64]

@Gurn92 =can you refer me to a chapter and verse in the Bible where Jesus confirms the 10 Commandments for Christians; I assume that you keep the Sabbath then?

[Gurn92]

@ladyesq64 Also, Jesus' firm teaching on lifelong marriage that is defined as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman strongly rules homosexuality out in and of itself regardless of the verses that condemn it directly anyway.