The Episcopal Church in the US has elected its first openly gay bishop, and at the same time, has opened
a can of worms. Immediately after Rev. Gene Robinson was chosen as Episcopal Bishop of New
Hampshire, a group of conservative bishops gathered to announce an impending split among the sect.
Since homosexuality, they say, is a sin, openly sinning as the new bishop does undermines the church's
principles. The matter goes right to the heart of Christianity in the 21st century.
Historically, of course, the Church of England, from which the American Episcopal Church descended,
came to the entire idea of principles rather later than many other branches of the faith. henry VIII merely
wanted a new wife, and he couldn't get permission from the Vatican to divorce his wife, so he divorced his
church from the Vatican's. The entire Reformation and its ideas came a few decades later. Modern day members of the C of E still maintain that HRM Queen Elizabeth II makes a better head of a church than His Holiness John Paul II.
However, there is a basic issue at stake that goes beyond the question of a schism among Anglicans
worldwide, and that is the relationship of the members of the faithful and the church itself. Jesus, who
was by all accounts a much better fellow than his followers, commanded that Christians love one another
but took a pretty harsh line on sin -- "better to cut off one's hand, etc." And so Christians have settled
for loving the sinner while hating the sin.
Well and good until it comes time for the messy business of life. That Rev. Robinson performs his
functions well is not really in dispute, but rather whether a man who openly commits the sin of
homosexuality (which not necessarily all Christians accept as a sin) should be a reverend or bishop. This
is a particularly hard question to answer given that any stone throwing comes from a sinner. If one were
asked for advice, Matthew 7:1 seems appropriate, "Judge ye not, lest ye be judged."