Episcopal voice at the Inauguration: Bishop Gene Robinson
Photo of Bishop Robinson courtesy of the BBC
I received an email about this and went onto Episcopal Cafe to check it out, where I learned it’s all over the Internet. The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, will give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities on Sunday, January 18, at the Lincoln Memorial. Part of an email reportedly sent out by Bishop Robinson states:
It will be an enormous honor to offer prayers for the country and the new president, standing on the holy ground where the “I have a dream speech” was delivered by Dr. King, surrounded by the inspiring and reconciling words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. It is also an indication of the new president’s commitment to being the President of ALL the people. I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
For those of you who are out of the loop (hard to imagine anyone reading this blog needs to be told, but nonetheless), Gene Robinson is the first openly gay man to be chosen as a bishop in the Episcopal Church and has been at the center of a firestorm of controversy for the last several years.
An editor’s note on Episcopal Cafe remarks that “There will undoubtedly be some controversy over whether Gene was invited as a response to the intense criticism of Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration.” That seems like an understatement. I’ll post more, including more links, soon.
In the mean time, it’s interesting to note that some bloggers seem to be reading this as a sign of strength on Obama’s part–he is willing and able to bring disparate voices to the table, or at least to the microphone–while others see it as a sign of weakness–he can’t stand criticism and so he caves to everyone who pipes up with an opinion, and will end up offending everybody and pleasing nobody. All I can say at this point is that it would take an awfully big tent to keep all these folks together.
Pamela Dolan is on staff at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Webster Groves and is a Candidate for Holy Orders. After high school in Hawaii and college in California, she earned a master's degree in theology from Harvard before spending several years in New York studying medieval religion and literature. Pamela is married with two children. 
Christians should never cave in when it concerns outright acts of dishonoring what God has set forth. You don’t play around with these things and use God as the stag as this bishop is doing and now Obama is condoning by inviting this man to speak in representation of God and Christians to the world. It is an abomination against God and absolutely nothing to do with tolerance or acceptance of one being gay.
There will be a price to pay for this country (The White House) disgracing God’s name in such a way for the entire world to witness. I am shocked that Obama would take part in such a thing. There would have been no problem having a gay speaker in representation for gays, but to dishonor God’s name in doing so is going totally over board and sadly Obama will pay a price for doing so, just as the Republican Party has paid a heavy price for disgracing the name of God via politics in the churches.
This is a very sad day coming that I am not looking forward to coming now. How very sad. I see nothing but bad following such a bold move by Obama.
Furthermore,
I see very little hope now for this country due to its continuation of disgracing God’s name. I also can understand so much more why some Christian religions such as the Jehovah Witnesses do not get involved in the politics of this world because it is such a losing battle, this country or world can’t be saved and this I know from scripture but is still hard for me to accept and I see that I must and believe the truth that only individual people can be saved and not this world or this country.
It’s a sad day come January 20th as to how Christianity first and next, and the Episcopal Church will be presented to the entire world disgracing the name of God.
So how often do you try to keep religion out of the government? If you don’t then you can’t pick and choose which message of love will be presented.
Simian
Robinson was not invited as a response to the criticism of Warren. No really! Honest! They are in no way connected!
(End Sarcasm)
Obama is not an Episcopalian and even if he was, he should not be using this platform to meddle in the internal affairs of a particular religion. Why did he not choose a bishop that was in the High Anglican camp?
Obama’s sense of values could be described as flexible to say the least. If Obama was in Christ, he wouldn’t even meddle with this heretic of a clergyman. I was kinda gald to see a war hungry president leave office, but this new guy makes me worry about our country. Gene Robinson is personally responsible for splitting one of the largest branches of the Christian church, and now he is being given the honor to stand beside the next president of the US. What a terrible thing. Obama has made an awful choice.
I have embedded some links in the post above, FYI.
Two quick responses to the comments above: I don’t think that Obama’s denominational affiliation has anything to do with this. He obviously can and should ask people from a variety of traditions to pray at public events, including the Inaugural activities.
As to whether he’s meddling in internal church affairs, I’m not so sure of that, either. Gene Robinson is a bishop of our church, and while there are people who wish that were not so, there is no speaking engagement in the world that can either validate or invalidate his episcopacy. I would say Obama is taking sides here, but in a larger current of debate than just that within the Episcopal Church.
Finally, Gene Robinson is not “personally responsible for splitting one of the largest branches of the Christian church.” He did not consecrate himself.
D Walker, could you clarify for me what you mean if your first post? I ask because I didn’t understand what it was that you were calling an abomination against God. The post was well written but the meaning flew over my head for some reason. Thanks.
Wowee is right, the political move behind this is so obvious it hardly bears mentioning.
I know we discuss religion in here but I have to mention one thing. Obama may be committed to being the President of ALL the people, but we isn’t and won’t be. No one can. The bishop’s comment is disingenuous.
I listened to Bishop Robinson as he was interviewed on NPR this evening. He stated his intention to pray to “the god of all understandings” and then explained that this was a phrase he had learned that would open his prayer to individuals of all faiths, even though he himself was a Christian. I wonder if he knows who he is praying to. It seems that he is more concerned about what the people he is praying FOR will think, and less about what the person he is praying TO will do.
This is how Obama governs. This is deliberative democracy.
Tim,
I should clarify myself.
Bishop Robinson parades himself as representing and teaching the lessons set forth by this same God of the Holy Scriptures who sacrificed His only Son Jesus so that we could be forgiven our sins if we would believe upon Jesus and turn away from all those things that God has shown us are sins and wickedness. This holds also the most important and crucial promise of God’s to those who turn away from sin and wickedness and remain faithful to Him, eternal life to come in the New Kingdom that will be established.
Christ has commanded all who believe upon Him to go out into the world and tell as many as possible about the Kingdom of God’s that will Come and to warn the people in ALL the world that they must turn away from all wickedness and sin. This Bishop is misleading those who listens to him and believe what he is teaching them in the area of same-sex sexual matters.
Scripture warns us about false teachers such as this Bishop. This Bishop stands before the world as one who supposedly represents God and tells those who listen to him that God finds it acceptable for individuals of the same sex to have sexual relationships, that is also part of being married isn’t it and this Bishop supports gay marriages while pretending to represent God. He has certainly been blinded if he truly thinks that he is representing God and what is recorded in Scripture.
There are two abominations here:
1. This bishop supports gay marriages which is an abomination against the God of the Holy scriptures and getting married will not make such acts right in God’s eyes as for as where God and the Christian religion is concerned.
2. Barack Obama as a Christian (the U.S.) has also committed an abomination against God for allowing such a man to parade before the entire world as representing God of the Holy Scriptures for the entire world to witness our country disgracing the name of our Lord, our God of the Holy Scriptures.
It has been recorded in Scripture many times in Old Testament and, throughout history real examples showing us that there is always a very serious and very heavy price to pay whenever such an outright bold dishonoring of God’s name and God has ever occurred for the entire world to see.
Obama is totally in error here and this is the first real evidence that I see so far where he is not being a very wise man. Wise men fear God and would not bring dishonor to His name.