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It’s been a long week with much to blog about. Not surprisingly, the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman, tops the list of blogged-about topics. While some argue that the church ought to get out of the civil marriage business, Bill McConnell wrote (actually last week) that it’s the state that ought to butt out. Steve Kindle, of the Open Hearts, Affirming Pages blog, posted several items this week. And Danny Bradfield, over at Field of Dandelions, mentions it in this Pentecost-related post.
Photo: ptrktn (Creative Commons license)
In a tangentially related post, The Prophet Joel asks whether the “Open & Affirming” designation adopted by some LGBT-friendly churches puts politics before Christ. His post before that one is good Friday afternoon reading: Television Characters Who Are Seminary Drop-Outs.
We also began the week with Memorial Day, when we remember those who have lost their lives serving our country and protecting our freedoms. Charlie Cochran blogs about God and fireworks. And Pastor Bob Cornwall shares A Prayer for Memorial Day on his Ponderings on a Faith Journey blog.
I also missed a great post last week, from the Field of Dandelions blog: “Beer, Revisited.” I won’t try to explain. Just read it.
Shortest post of the week: found on the Ageing Xperience blog.
My favorite post this week comes from Keith McAlliley who writes the Blogging from Bridgeport blog. Keith calls us to really give some hard thought to what we mean, as Christians, when we talk (obsessively, sometimes) about the need for building “community” in our churches. Do we just want social time? A support group? Or is it about something else altogether? Read what he has to say, and share what you think with him.
Got a blog post you’d like us to feature next Friday? Don’t be shy. Email us: news AT disciplesworld DOT com. Have a great weekend.
Disciples of Christ minister Steve Kindle
If you’re ever reporting on gay marriage, Steve Kindle is someone you’d want to interview. Kindle (a Disciples of Christ minister, and a straight man) is a vocal advocate for gay marriage and other lgbt issues. DisciplesWorld wrote about him when he appeared in Daniel Karslake’s 2007 Sundance film on Christianity and homosexuality, “For the Bible Tells Me So”, and we interviewed him again after California voters passed Proposition 8 last November.
Like most people who have an opinion on the subject, Kindle took note when Carrie Prejean, Miss California, voiced her opposition to gay marriage. But what really got him going wasn’t the subsequent revelation that she had posed for revealing photos. It was her association with the National Organization for Marriage (the same folks who brought you the thunder-and-lightning ad campaign called “The Gathering Storm”)
Kindle methodically takes on the NOM’s Q&A format — their “talking points” approach to getting people riled up about the supposed threat of gay marriage. He describes the NOM’s effort this way: “I have never discovered a more ill-informed, logic challenged, subject changing, straw man creating attempt at defending a position since the efforts of the holocaust deniers.” And then he sets out to take them apart.
Each day for about the past week, Kindle has taken on one point from the NOM and systematically debunked it. You have to admire the sheer bulldog-like quality of his approach. The guy knows what he’s talking about, and he’s not going to let go.
Bishop V. Gene Robinson
He could have stayed home. And some say he should have. But Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire (who grew up as a Kentucky Disciple) chose to travel to the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, to make a point: that gays are part of the Anglican Communion, and won’t be wished away or locked back in the closet.
Robinson was told by the Anglican Communion not to come, and he’s not ‘officially’ participating. Instead, he decided to go to Canterbury and make himself available to those who want to meet him in person. Even if they oppose his election as bishop on grounds that he’s openly gay and in a long-term relationship (his partner is traveling with him too).
To be fair, the Anglican Communion asked Robinson’s most vocal opponents, who are threatening a split, to stay home too.
Robinson will be available in the conference’s exhibit hall to meet with people (perhaps as sad a commentary on his exclusion as anything: i.e. “Come See the Real Live Gay Bishop!!”) He’s been invited to preach before and after the conference, and will be traveling in Scotland afterwards.
On Sunday, he was preaching at a church in Putney, England, when the service was interrupted by a man waving a motorcycle helmet and shouting “Repent!” and “Heretic!” Robinson writes about this experience in his blog, Canterbury Tales from the Fringe. He is also doing a video blog from Lambeth called The Gene Pool.
Yesterday he attended a screening of For the Bible Tells Me So, Daniel Karslake’s documentary (reviewed by DisciplesWorld, log-in required) that includes interviews with Robinson, his family, and other glbt persons and their families in the wider church. Disciples minister Steve Kindle, founder of Clergy United for the Equality of Homosexuals, is also featured in the film.
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