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Homosexual Episcopal Bishop Out to Claim Bible for Abortion-Rights Activists

Washington, D.C., April 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com)  The logical consequences resulting from the first ever consecration of a homosexual bishop continued to manifest themselves as Bishop V. Gene Robinson of the U.S. Episcopal Church addressed those Planned Parenthood's fifth annual prayer breakfast in Washington on Friday April 15th.

The Washington Times carried a news article in which Rev. Robinson was reported as directing his comments against "people of faith" and suggested that Planned Parenthood should target them so as to "promote abortion rights and comprehensive sex education". 

The main theme of Robinson's comments dealt with the reasons surrounding last year's election results in the United States. The large number of people who voted for President Bush was, according to Robinson, a result of the disconnect between religious people and the pro-abortion mindset, saying, "In this last election we see what the ultimate result of divorce from communities of faith will do to us."

Robinson believes that the only way to defend the pro-abortion mindset is to reach out religiously. He noted that, "our defense against religious people has to be a religious defense. ... We must use people of faith to counter the faith-based arguments against us."

In essence Robinson is advocating the complete reinterpretation of the Scriptures. He is quoted in the Times article as saying "We have allowed the Bible to be taken hostage, and it is being wielded by folks who would use it to hit us over the head. We have to take back those Scriptures," he said. "You know, those stories are our stories. I tell this to lesbian folk all the time: The story of freedom in Exodus is our story. ... That's my story, and they can't have it. … We need to teach people about nuance, about holding things in tension, that this can be true and that can be true, and somewhere between is the right answer. It's a very adult way of living, you know. What an unimaginative God it would be if God only put one meaning in any verse of Scripture."

Rev. Robinson gained worldwide notoriety in 2003 when he was elevated to the office of bishop within the Episcopal Church (known as the Anglican Church outside the U.S.).  Robinson had left his wife and two young daughters in 1986 and moved in with a man. His stand on abortion, however, mirrors faithfully the Episcopal Church's position on abortion, adopted in a resolution during its 71st General Convention in 1994, stating: "While we acknowledge that in this country it is the legal right of every woman to have a medically safe abortion, as Christians we believe strongly that if this right is exercised, it should be used only in extreme situations. We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience."

Planned Parenthood has made limited inroads in subverting the Christian faith. The Rev. Ignacio Castuera, a Methodist and Planned Parenthood's national chaplain, indicated that the size of their clergy network, numbers around 1,400 pastors and clergy, mostly on the East and West coasts. However, Mr. Castuera said, "When you move further into the country it gets harder. ... In the center of the country we have a lot more conservative perspectives on the Bible and sex."

The comments and activities by Rev. Robinson and other clergy are not going unchallenged however. David Bereit, national director of Stop Planned Parenthood (Stopp), an organization that espouses the belief that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder, said his organization is "not going to allow Planned Parenthood to hijack Christianity." According to the Washington Times, Mr. Bereit said his group will work to build coalitions of churches who will then try to remove Planned Parenthood materials from public school sex education courses and lobby government against funding the group.

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