Listener Finds Bishop Robinson Shallow, 'Morally Bankrupt'

by Jim Brown
November 8, 2004

(AgapePress) - The Episcopal Church's first openly homosexual bishop is being criticized for comments he made while speaking at a New England college. During that lecture, the bishop outlined portions of his relativist worldview, even suggesting that the war on terror could be resolved with "an appeal to nuance."

Colby College in Maine recently invited New Hampshire Bishop Vicky Gene Robinson to speak on campus. In his lecture, Robinson argued that in order to solve the war on terrorism, avoid political polarization and form community, "we must learn to hold two opposing truths in tension." Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, was in attendance.

Heath was appalled by what he heard at the lecture and says the Episcopal Church USA "should be ashamed of itself" for allowing someone like Bishop Robinson to represent the denomination. "I mean, that they haven't kicked this guy out is -- I can't even believe it," the CCL spokesman says. "He wasn't even reasonable. And what's even more troubling is that the students and the faculty just loved it."

Heath notes that Robinson likened himself to Isaiah, Ezekiel, and other Old Testament prophets. However, the ECUSA bishop's rhetoric proved to be very postmodern in is relativistic tone. For instance, the pro-family leader says the Colby College's guest speaker suggested "an appeal to nuance" as an answer to the problem of terrorism, and implied that morality is an indefinite concept.

"The only applause line during the whole night," Heath points out, "was when [Robinson] made some pithy, trite, silly statement about the religious right. He said, 'And now I turn to the religious right, which is neither religious nor right.'"

Also, Heath believes the New Hampshire bishop showed his true colors when he addressed the fact that the top concern of voters in the 2004 presidential election was moral values. The pro-family Maine resident says Robinson raised this issue, then quipped, "What are moral issues?" Then, the CCL executive director says the Episcopal priest "paused for effect, as if to say, 'How can we know what's moral? That doesn't tell us anything.'"

Heath says he found Bishop Robinson to be "an intellectually and morally bankrupt man" as well as a very shallow person. However, in a recent CCL communication, he warns believers that the ordination of a homosexual Episcopal priest will be "only the beginning of sorrows" if believers fail to pray, talk with their pastors, participate in the political process, and support the promotion of biblical values.