Via Chris Johnson in Webster Groves (MO), observations on the predominant view and teaching in the top levels of the Episcopalian church.
Preamble:
I was able to observe the House of Bishops and House of Deputies briefly first hand during the convention and I have followed closely the proceedings on the internet and through the media. Below are some conclusions I have developed as a result of my observation both by following the official deliberations and through more informal conversations. I wonder if I have heard correctly, and I welcome remarks from bishops and delegates about whether I have an accurate take on the center of opinion in the national leadership of The Episcopal Church. What follows are statements that I believe reflect the consensus of opinion in the national leadership of The Episcopal Church, particularly as reflected in the General Convention that just met in Columbus, Ohio.
Okay, so what did she hear?
She apparently heard that God wants some people to have sex with people of the same gender. Also, God wants others to get busy with people of both genders:
God is the author of same-sex attraction by an act of special providence that includes biological and social-psychological secondary causes.... Bisexuality is also created by God...
(No word yet on whether peodophilia is also God's will.)
A failure to act on these impulses is sinful:
Same-sex attraction and same-sex relationships should be recommended to our children as entirely equal to and as preferable as marriage between a man and woman. If any young person feels any same-sex attraction it is by God’s express intention and not to act upon it is to dishonor God. To discourage young people to act upon same-sex attraction is to dishonor God’s intention in the creation.
(Apparently self-control is only okay in cases of opposite-sex attraction.)
Young or teenage boys who are questioning their sexual feelings should be paired up with older men who are most likely attracted to, and wish to have sex with, young men:
The question is not whether young people should act on their same-sex attractions but when and under what circumstances. Young people who are experiencing same-sex attraction can be helped by being mentored by older same-sex attracted adults...
The "church" should function act as an intermediary, setting up these man/boy encounters, in which gay men "mentor" young boys in their sexual development and experiences:
... the church should be proactive in facilitating these relationships.
At this point, an onlooker might be tempted to ask: "Is that really a good idea? Are you sure you're hearing God correctly?"
Don't worry -- that's been worked out already, to a high degree of confidence. We are sure this is what God is thinking because persons who experience same-sex attractions are telling us so:
... we know through reports of the spiritual experience of same-sex attracted people that God is the primary author of these experiences....
Contemporary reports of personal spiritual experience by same-sex attracted people and their supporters about the spiritual blessedness of same-sex relationships provide a basis for moral and theological certainty on this question which the scriptures and the traditional teaching of the church cannot....
Yes indeed, the subjective experience of persons who regularly have sex with people of the same gender (and presumably also both genders) is more reliable than scripture, which "cannot possibly be authoritative" concerning God's will...
Since the scriptures cannot possibly be authoritative on this issue and since self-reported spiritual experience provides the only reliable certainty on the subject, any objections to same-sex blessings on the basis of scripture are irrelevant a priori.
Did people once put scripture in a high place, and view it as having some kind of authority? Now, the words and "self-reported" impressions of homosexuals concerning God's will are an even higher authority than that. Absolutely infallible, it turns out...
At the end of the day the inherent uncertainty of the scriptures must give way before the certainty of the personal spiritual experience of the same-sex attracted and their supporters and the felt experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit...
Does the bible seem to tell you something? First, you should check with a gay or lesbian to find out if that's accurate! Like the Pope, they have an unquestionable pipeline to God. (Only the Pope's God doesn't get to change his mind whenever the Pope gets a jones to sleep around...)
So, since the subjective experience of gays is unquestionable, and more authoritative than scripture, what about gays who believe and teach -- gasp! -- that human sexual attraction, particularly their own, is somewhat malleable?
The experience of people who describe themselves as having been cured or freed from same-sex attraction is irrelevant and the church should not give such people a serious hearing.
Hey! I thought we just learned that homosexuals (unlike us 'straight' people) couldn't make mistakes, or be deluded about their own feelings and experiences -- much less God's views. But I guess *some* can -- as long as they're not offering the "correct" perspective.
They either were never really same-sex attracted to begin with or are deluded about their claim to be freed or cured. The personal religious experiences of such people are not of the same quality and reliability as the experiences of the same-sex attracted in the church. These experiences are not to be seen as legitimate experiences of the power of the Holy Spirit in spite of all claims to the contrary.
Oh, okay: such people are inherantly second-class human beings. Their "personal and religious experiences" don't count at all; they lead low-quality lives, so what would they know about anything? Their experience of God's working and mercy in their life is not "legitimate."
So let me see if I follow the logic so far: We know God is in favor of having same-sex relations, because homosexuals tell us so. And the test to see if persons who experience same-sex attraction are hearing from God is to find out if they they think God is for it. All very nice and circular.
And not only do we not care a whit about reason and logic, I see we hold a rather low view of science, should it fail to support our foregone conclusion:
Likewise scientific reporting of the overcoming of same sex attraction is deeply suspect as ideologically tainted and can with confidence be dismissed without a serious reading.
Right. We know it's wrong because it doesn't agree with our views. And our views are right because there's no counter-evidence. Because all the apparent counter-evidence must be wrong, and biased, since it doesn 't agree with our views. (Are we detecting a pattern here?)
Finally, despite our hypocritical rhetoric to the contrary, and demands everyone else tolerate our heresies, we're personally as intolerant as all hell, and have no plans to allow any of our bretheren to disagree:
Those dioceses which are members of the Episcopal Church and which resist the new teaching cannot legitimately be thought to be led by the Holy Spirit and must be resisted with all the canonical and legal means available.... Those who oppose the new teaching are enemies of the Holy Spirit who are making an idol of the past at the expense of the future to which God is calling us.
To disagree with us is, of course, sheer blasphemy.
Well, I think this all nicely spells it out. We cry about "inclusion" and "listening" to the experiences of those who disagree with orthodox theology, but we have no intentions of behaving as we demand others behave. It's simply a ploy we've been using to take control; once obtained, we can drop all the fake wool. Our theology is based on nothing more than our feelings combined with a unhealthy dose of circular reasoning; and we have no room for anyone who disagrees with us. If you do, then you are a second-class human being, and your spiritual experiences certainly aren't as good as ours. If you persist, you will be punished and/or silenced using "all the canonical and legal means available."
Yes indeed, the new face of facism.