Bishop never said Jesus was gay
-06/04/05
The first openly gay Anglican bishop has said he has been falsely accused of suggesting Jesus might have been homosexual.
Bishop Gene Robinson’s defence comes after some conservative evangelicals and sections of the media misinterpreted his remarks which were aimed at challenging what many evangelicals see as traditional models of the family.
The Daily Telegraph was amongst those claiming that Robinson has said Jesus might have been gay.
This is not the first time that the Telegraph group of newspapers has exaggerated what Anglican Bishops have said. The Sunday Telegraph misleadingly suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury had said his faith was shaken by the Asian tsunami. Although the editor later privately apologised to the Archbishop in a letter obtained by the Ekklesia news service, the Sunday Telegraph never issued a public correction.
The latest allegations against gene Robinson arose from web log comments posted after American bishop Gene Robinsonís remarks at a February 13 forum on sexual issues at Christ Church in Hamilton, Massachusetts.
ì(Jesus) lived a very untraditional lifestyle,î Robinson told The Associated Press. ìWhich is not to say that I in any way asserted that he was gay, or anything about his sexual orientation.î
Robinson told the New Hampshire Union Leader he was ìbeing flooded with angry messagesî because of his forum comments. He said he was making the point that the nuclear family was a relatively new idea and that, even for his time, Jesus apparently led a non-traditional life.
ìWhat I recall is that the question was trying to get me to say that Jesus affirmed the nuclear family as the only way a family can be,î Robinson said. ìI was just pointing out that you best check scripture again before you use the life of Jesus to try to pronounce a blessing on that.î
Recordings from the forum are on the churchís website.
ìInterestingly enough, in this day of traditional family values and so on,î Robinson says in one of the recordings, ìthis man that we follow … was single as far as we know; who travelled with a bunch of men, although there were lots of women around; who had a disciple who was known as ëthe one whom Jesus lovedí; who said my family is not my mother and father, my family are those who do the will of God ñ none of us like those harsh words. Thatís who Jesus is, thatís who he was, at least in his earthly lifeî.
ìI happen to think the traditional family is a wonderful thing. Iím a product of it,î Robinson said at the forum. îI dearly love my family, and I love my own family, with my own two kids. It just looks a little non-traditional. But this Jesus, when you ask who is Jesus, he was not terribly mainstream, was he?î
David Virtue, who runs what he describes as an orthodox online Anglican news service, was apparently the first to accuse Robinson of suggesting Jesus was gay.
ìHe is a person who wants the Anglican Communion to recognise the conservatives in the Episcopal church as the real Anglican Communion in the US,î Robinson said.
ìThatís his goal and he is willing to write and say almost anything to achieve that goal.î
Virtue said Robinsonís forum comments were part of the ìgay agendaî that would end up splitting the worldwide Anglican Communion.
ìTheyíre all pushing the envelope as far as they can,î said Virtue.
Canon Chris Sugden, a spokesman for the evangelical organisation, Anglican Mainstream, had also said about Robinson: “He’s really selective in what he’s addressing. He makes no mention of Jesus’s teaching on marriage, for instance. And he does not acknowledge that nowhere in the text or in ancient literature is there any suggestion of any form of sexual impropriety among Jesus or the disciples.”