Just got out of the plenary with the Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson, and while I’m not sure he fired up the crowd nearly as much as Julian Bond or Matt Foreman (who showed up to the BTL Media reception last night!! To say that we’re his favorite gay paper!! And that he *cough*throwsanothergaypaperawaywhenitshowsuptotheoffice*cough*!!) but he definitely made an impact with the religious types that were around me. As an atheist, to me a lot of it fell flat, though he did have salient points about engaging the religious community.
But when he called for ‘not being afraid of people quoting scripture to me’? Really, I don’t even bother engaging that since it means to me that they’re just abandoning reason from the outset. Why would I even bother talking a fairytale? I know it means a lot to a lot of people, so I’ll do my best, but you’ll see my eyes glaze over and attempt to change the subject to something more productive.
Anyway, some of the stories he related were poignant - about during his ordaining to bishop, having to wear bulletproof vests because of a bomb threat. Another story related how when he started a youth group in Concord, almost none of the kids that came to it came from a particularly religious background, but all of them knew about the passage in Leviticus and the meaning of ‘abomination’. Or, I should say, the prevalent meaning of ‘abomination’.
A couple of things that did stick with me, though, was when he talked about recognizing the fact that 90% of the vitriol and oppression that came from religions came from Abrahamic religions specifically, and they had a lot to overcome if that were ever to affect change. And that, similarly, Desmond Tutu in his foreword of Robinson’s upcoming book specifically, and without reservation, begs for forgiveness for all of that, from lgbt* people because of all the oppression they’d suffered from the religious.