Bishop of Arizona Calls for Civil, 'Religious' Discourse" about LGBTs - says: "There are no second-class citizens."

Bishop of Arizona Calls for Civil, 'Religious' Discourse @ Living Church Foundation, WI 

The Bishop of Arizona, the Rt. Rev. Kirk Stevan Smith, is calling for “religious discourse” over human sexuality as the 75th General Convention prepares to respond to the Windsor Report.

Bishop Smith told The Living Church he was stunned by the huge circulation given to a recent internet weekly update he’d intended for his clergy and interested diocesan laity, and shocked by the vulgar language some outside his diocese used in responding.

“I’ve been told the Church often runs on negative energy, but it seems to me sometimes, we have reached new lows when it comes to ‘demonizing’ those whom we see as our opponents,” he said in a follow up E-pistle message. “At the same time, our name-calling skills have been sharpened.”

In the letter written shortly after the conclusion of the House of Bishops’ spring retreat, Bishop Smith said given the mood of the recent meeting, consents would not be forthcoming from a majority of the bishops if a partnered gay or lesbian person was elected as Bishop of California.

Bishop Smith asked for a more charitable approach to “religious discourse” than what typically passes for civil discourse and said he was merely trying to report what he’d observed. There were no straw polls during plenaries or other formal basis during the House of Bishops’ meeting by which he came to his conclusion about the California election.

“Consents would not be as easy to get as they were for Gene Robinson,” he said. “All of us, I think, are concerned about not doing anything to jeopardize further [the Episcopal Church’s] standing in the Anglican Communion. ‘Extreme caution’ is vague, but also an indication of where folks’ mood is.”

Bishop Smith said he was personally faced with a dilemma as he tries to balance his own concerns about the Communion against equally strong convictions in favor of autonomy and inclusion.

“Everyone who is baptized is in a covenant with God and that is the full requirement for membership,” he said. “There are no second-class citizens.”