No Pun Intended but our churches our going to hell!

WTF?!?

Gay bishop vows to stay with partner

LONDON (Reuters) - Sex and homosexuality have ignited a heated debate within the Church of England after its first-ever openly gay bishop vowed to stay with his male partner, testing the tolerance of senior church members.

Defying calls by some within the Anglican church that he should stand down, newly-appointed Jeffrey John, 50, said he had no intention of quitting his post as suffragan (assistant) Bishop of Reading.

"We will remain together," John told Thursday\'s Times of his 27-year-long homosexual relationship.

"The relationship has not been sexually expressed for years. The love and commitment are, if anything, greater," he said.

The controversy surrounding John\'s appointment -- backed by some bishops but questioned by others -- has renewed divisive debate among Anglicans grappling with questions of sex and homosexuality, a particularly sharp thorn in the side of the church, especially in recent months.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world\'s 70 million Anglicans, expressed dismay last month that a bishop on Canada\'s west coast had decided to authorise blessing ceremonies of same-sex couples.

And earlier this month, New Hampshire Episcopalians -- a U.S. version of the Anglican Church -- elected their first openly gay bishop.

John\'s appointment drew difficult questions from several other bishops, who this week published an open letter expressing their concerns:

"Dr John has many admirable qualities for the work of a bishop. But the issue is \'what is acceptable sexual behaviour in God\'s sight?\'" part of the letter read.

Defining acceptable sexual behaviour has never been easy for Anglicans.

"The official position is that the church is in the middle of a long-running debate about human sexuality," Church of England spokesman Steve Jenkins told Reuters.

The church\'s 1991 policy paper "Issues in Human Sexuality", which allows gay relationships among the laity but demands that gay priests should be celibate, has hardly clarified the issue or calmed debate.

One church member who asked not to be named said:

"This case may be just what the long-running debate needed to move forward".

Hehe, talking about churches - some priest here said he does not believe in God. Made a bit of a fuss with the "super priests" (no I have no idea what they\'re called ).

[Kurt Angle]

At least he isn\'t molesting the choirboys...............

Religion = Cancer of humanity

You have your beliefs, I have mine.  Difference is I don\'t make fun of yours.

Well Adan probably has a different outlook on this, what with that whole "Inquisition" deal and all.

he\'s quite right though

friggin\' anglicans

I gotta agree with Adan. Religion is responsible for so many deaths and violence around the world. I think that when mankind ends it will be because of religion. It\'s almost like a method of insanity, singing and eating bread because it "clears your sins." It\'s something that will never die though because people are too afraid to face that there is no god, and there is no afterlife.

Cored, I, fortunately, didn\'t know the inquisition... anyway i\'m well informed about it and all the rubish that church (when I say church = religion as a whole) has.

90% conflicts on the earth are caused by religion. It was good in middle ages when people didn\'t know to count further away 10, but now, in 21th century.... it\'s enough to believe in ourselves.

Originally posted by Adan
Cored, I, fortunately, didn\'t know the inquisition... anyway i\'m well informed about it and all the rubish that church (when I say church = religion as a whole) has.

90% conflicts on the earth are caused by religion. It was good in middle ages when people didn\'t know to count further away 10, but now, in 21th century.... it\'s enough to believe in ourselves.

*sigh*

Originally posted by SwifDi
*sigh*

*sigh*

*sigh*
damn, religon is really a touchy issue on these forums.

*sigh*

I don\'t have a soul, I am a meat popsicle.  

I believe that the main issue is not so much religion it is more so about the tradions and values of Catholic Church and other denominational religions.

Religion is not suppose to surpress, it is suppose to free. TCC, as many other denomitionas are, are so bound by tradition, views of others, and views within their own system. Christianity however, is not a religion, it a way of life, a faith. It is the only \'religion\' that is so simple in its principles yet makes so much sense. You simply truly believe that Jesus is the saviour and make an effort to live your life the way he would want you to live it. I believe everything that is written in the Bible and in all honesty is makes so much sense. The Catholic church in particular is so caught up in its image of \'holiness\' that these recent probems with child molestation occur. Just because its a church, doesn\'t mean that everyone associated with it are going to never do anywrong. They should just addmit that sure these things do happen from time to time and the priests should be immediately sacked from their positions.

Yes, it appears in modern day (1940\'s - onward) translations of the Bible (NKJ, NIV etc) that homosexuality seems to be frowned uppon by God. However, its believed because of public opinion about homosexuality throughout the early to mid twentith century that many translations of the english Bible were exaggerated and/or missconstructed. If you go to the original Hebrew/Greek text, it translates quite differently, and this is why there is no clear cut answer in the church (one of the reasons).

I don\'t believe that \'times change\', I do however believe, that with all the cancers, tumours, birth defects, radition, air pollution etc that a birth \'defect\' (as in a different wireing of the brain) that would cause someone to be attracted to the opposite sex via genes would no be impossible, and would be certainly liking to occur.

I don\'t think the issue is the homosexuality, I think its more so that he should be celibate. if hetro priests have to stay celibate, then so should he, and he shouldn\'t be in a relationship (no matter how innocent) if he is supposed to abbstain.