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'Heretic': The first openly gay bishop is pilloried in the pulpit by a long-haired heckler
Last updated at 02:03am on 14.07.08
The world's first openly gay Anglican bishop was heckled last night as he gave a sermon at a church in London.
The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, the American churchman whose appointment as Bishop of New Hampshire triggered a devastating split among Anglican leaders, was branded a 'heretic' by the lone protester.
Bishop Robinson began his sermon by expressing his sadness that the Anglican Communion was tearing itself apart.
Gene Robinson at the start of yesterday's service
The long-haired heckler repeatedly jabbed his finger and shouted 'repent, repent, repent'.
He said the bishop 'preached the Gospel but departed from it' and claimed it was he who was behind the schism.
The bishop had to halt his sermon as a slow hand-clap by members of the congregation began in response to the heckling.
Tirade: The heckler rants at the Rt Rev Gene Robinson
The hymn Thine Be The Glory was sung as the protester was escorted from St Mary's Church in Putney, South-West London.
When Bishop Robinson resumed speaking, he asked those present to 'pray for that man'.
Health Minister Ben Bradshaw was among those hearing the speech.
Speaking after the service he said that it was an excellent and inspirational sermon, adding that the bishop had handled the outburst very well.
Mr Bradshaw, who is openly gay, said: 'He is a very brave man speaking the truth.'
Earlier Bishop Robinson had described the Archbishop of Canterbury's position in the Church as 'almost untenable'.
He said that Dr Rowan Williams now faces condemnation whichever way he turns.
However, he insisted he had great sympathy with the embattled Archbishop and pledged to support his efforts to keep the warring sister churches of the Church of England together in the 400-yearold Anglican network.
Dr Williams has banned the controversial bishop from the gathering of Anglican primates from across the world that is due to begin in Canterbury this week.
The ban is an attempt to ease tension at the Lambeth Conference, which is torn with dissension between conservatives and liberals over gay rights.
Bishop Robinson yesterday made a plea for the acceptance of homosexuality in the Church from the fringes of the conference.
He said sexuality was 'important but not essential' and that churchmen should instead turn their attention to the troubles of the wider world such as knife crime and poverty.
'While young men are knifing each other on the streets of London and there are a billion people living on less than a dollar a day, the fact that the Anglicans argue over two men who want to make a family together makes the Church look irrelevant,' he said.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday morning that Dr Williams 'is in an almost untenable position.
No matter what he does he will make someone mad and sometimes everybody mad'. Later he toned down his language and told the Daily Mail: 'Dr Williams is in an almost impossible position.
I believe with every fibre of my being that he is doing everything he can to hold the Anglican Communion together. I not only respect him but join him in that effort.'
Bishop Robinson appealed for compromise from the alliance of British and American conservative and evangelical clergy with African and Third World prelates that has already begun organising an alternative organisation to support traditionalist views on sexuality.
'Things seem intractable but nothing is impossible,' he said.
'We are arguing over things that are important but not essential.'
Dr Williams is mired in trouble at home over women bishops.
Last week the General Synod was divided into hostile factions by the arguments over women.
The Lambeth Conference is already facing boycotts by conservative bishops from the Anglican world - including senior figures such as the Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali.
Conservatives refuse to accept the appointment of Bishop Robinson - who is in a 20-year relationship with a male partner - by the diocese of New Hampshire in 2003.
They say it breached Anglican rules and amounted to an attempt to bludgeon Anglicans into accepting liberal demands for gay rights.
They have publicly distanced themselves from the leadership of Dr Williams.
At the same time, Anglican liberals who support the gay rights agenda believe the Archbishop is doing too little to swing the argument in their direction.
Reader views (9)
I understood that Christians should hate the sin - not the sinner. All this name calling - why cant people live and let live?
- Petulica Crabtree, St Leonards on Sea, 14/07/2008 16:42
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I don't understand, if Bishops can't have sex why does it matter if they are gay or straight?
- Emma, Nunhead, 14/07/2008 16:21
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Lee it states in the Bible that a Man must not lie with a another man as with a woman. That means sex between men is forbidden. There is no mention as to whom would or should not become a Bishop as they are a man-made creation and not ordained by God. But by picking and choosing which of Gods laws to follow this man is clearly unfit to hold this position, a minister of God must uphold each and every law of God. What arrogance is this to believe he is above the word of God and pick and choose which facets of Christianity suit his lifestyle.
- Steph, Ilford, 14/07/2008 15:14
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Lee from London quotes the Bible in his comment, however he left out the part about man laying with man. This is against the teaching of the Bible and Lee probably knows but ignores it.
I think Simon from London is correct and Robinson is in London only to stir up some more trouble for his church. It is he who should be ashamed. Homosexuals seem to think they can do anything their way and overlook the part that the Bible teaches non-homosexuals not to have sex before marriage.
- Apaul, West Palm Beach,Fl.USA, 14/07/2008 14:41
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The bishop has come up with some spurious arguments that god wants gay marriages. God may well do, but I have only one argument with the homosexual prelate and that is he is guilty of deception by his having taken holy orders knowingly that homosexuality is a sin and taboo in the Anglican faith as it is in the church of Rome. Judaism and Islam. If he wants acceptability of homosexuality within the priest hood he should work from the outside in. He must now resign as a bishop rather causing an unrepairable schism.
- Alexis Dogilewski, London, England, 14/07/2008 13:58
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Lee it is a very warped morality that believes that a heckler shouting at Gene Robinson is ‘hatred’ when Ben Bradshaw MP is sitting in the congregation. Ben Bradshaw voted for: war in Iraq, to block any investigation into the intelligence that led us to war, the scrapping of Magna Carta, the introduction of ID cards, the suspension of habeas corpus, the replacement of Trident and the DNA testing of children. The New Labour government, of which Ben Bradshaw is a minister, has killed more non-white people and moved Britain closer to fascism than the BNP could ever dream of, yet it is the biker who is filled with hatred? Gene Robinson’s morality is to condemn his heckler while ignoring the war criminal in front of him, now what kind of Christianity is that?
- Dee, East London, 14/07/2008 13:57
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This just highlights everything that is wrong with organised religion. It's just an us and them game, a way of judging and alienating other people and then hiding behind God gods. Nothing more than coward vigilantes.
- Kitty, London, 14/07/2008 13:28
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Having watched what happened and read today, the heckler should be ashamed of himself... I wonder if he is a member of the church involved or someone that just wanted to get a name for himself or to appear on television. He should “love they neighbour” like the bible states and have respect for each other.
He was shouting repent, repent, repent. Repent from what? What Bishop Robinsons does is between him and God. Who are we to judge? Does this heckler know his bible? Does he have a personal relationship with God? Shouting in the house of the Lord, made my blood boil. It's idiots like him that are stopping the Church from growing. Who wants to go to Church these days with so much hypocrisy?
I for one am really embarrassed of what is happening with the Church today. They no longer spread the word of Love or Tolerance just hatred. If it's not gay, it's women.
Where exactly does it state in the bible that gays or women can't be bishops? They say it's this text or that text and it's all down to interpretation... I fear that when the Lord finally blows him trumpet a number of people will be surprised and left here. The Church is in such a sorry state.
I will continue to support Bishop Robinson as I believe men like of him are made of sterner stuff and these are the people who will bring the Church into the 21st Century. The World is changing and the Church needs to recognise this or it will just become a part of history and not the future.
- Lee, London, 14/07/2008 11:29
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Gene Robinson claims he is not in the UK to make trouble but must, surely, be aware that his very presence is creating a problem for the Anglican church. So is he being naive? I think not - he knows exactly what he is doing and, from that point of view, cannot be taken at face value. As to his objectives, he represents a group which is trying turn established Christian teaching on its head. If he and the other gays and lesbians he represents were being honest, they would set up their own church where they could believe and practise whatever they wish.
- Simon, london, 14/07/2008 11:19
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