V. Gene Robinson: #1 Reason not to be an Episcopalian

Well, not really but his recent interview with Planned Parenthood gives me the chills.

We'll start with Robinson's closing thoughts:

Planned Parenthood is an organization that I have always admired and respected. It does such extraordinarily fine work, and I'm very happy to be associated with it.

Extraordinarily fine work? Is he referring to the close to a quarter of a million abortions they performed in 2003? Or their child sex site teenwire.com?

Your predecessor called you "a symbol of unity." What do you think he was referring to?

The church — or any organization — can't speak for the world unless all voices are represented. And because there were no openly gay voices in the House of Bishops, for instance — just as, a number of years ago, there were no women — the church had a big blind spot. Unity is actually facilitated by having all the voices present.

This is some great logic. All voices need to be represented? Then why hasn't the Episcopalian Church ordained an openly bisexual polygamist? I guess they can't speak for the world and are lacking a little bit of unity.

Little has been written about your stance on reproductive rights. Are you pro-choice?

Absolutely. The reason I love the Episcopal Church is that it actually trusts us to be adults. In a world where everyone tries to paint things as black or white, Episcopalians feel pretty comfortable in the gray areas.

I'm sure there must be individual congregations, and certainly individuals, who are off the deep end about this issue, but for the most part, the stance that we have taken speaks to our people as a mature and adult way of dealing with this — that we protect a woman's right to choose but also say that obviously there are very deep things involved here.

"We Episcopalians don't need black and white, right and wrong, true and not true. Moral relativism will do very fine for us. Thank you very much." My guess is that long ago Robinson decided that the Bible was a grey ball of goo which he could mold to his liking, accepting the verses that coincide with his beliefs while ignoring the verses that plainly speak against some of his beliefs and actions.

The "adult way" (notice he doesn't say Christian way) of dealing with abortion is openly accepting the 1.3 million abortions that are occurring every year in this country? What are the "very deep things" that are involved? The life of an innocent human being, perhaps? The emotional scars a woman may carry from consenting to the death of her child?

You've said, "We have allowed the conservative religious right to take our Bible hostage, and I think it's time we took it back." How can people who are both religious and progressive reclaim religion?

It's time that we re-familiarize ourselves with our sacred text, so that we can interpret it for the world, and not let the only voice that Americans hear from a Christian standpoint be those wildly conservative voices.

Re-familiarize? Now that's ironic coming from Robinson. My guess is he actually means "readjust" our sacred text so that we can take the things we like and disregard or change the verses that don't work with our world view.

Throughout his interview, Robinson takes numerous cheap shots at prolifers, calling them "off the deep end," "wild-eyed conservatives," and "the so-called ‘prolife' movement."

I'd like to finish with the words of someone who hit the nail on the head with regards to Robinson's interview with Planned Parenthood. V. Gene Robinson himself:

I am both weeds and wheat. When I convince myself that I'm all wheat and no weeds, I am arrogant. When I make my enemies into all weeds, and no wheat, I am arrogant. But when I remember that I am both wheat and weeds, good and evil, then I am more humble about my own life and not so judgmental of others. When I remember how complex I am, how mixed my own motives, then I can better avoid stereotyping or caricaturing those with whom I disagree. When I remember the weeds and faults and shortcomings in my own life, I'm less likely to project my evil onto others, and more likely to seek and serve Christ in them, as I have promised in my baptismal vows.