Loath as I am to say anything nice about the New York Times, I thought this

piece in the Sunday magazine very good, as an inside look at the crisis

currently gripping the Episcopal Church USA

Warning: It’s

rather long, but bears reading all the way through. Further warning: This

is still the New York Times, and you have to discount the occasional New

Class sneer breaking through the facade of impartial reporting. For

example:

“On all sides these devout Christians felt assaulted by the lurid offerings

of consumerist America — half-dressed teen idols, gore-filled video games,

Internet porn a click away — and, seeking a lifeline, they had grasped hold

of the Bible. Gay rights seemed especially threatening, for they saw it as

challenging the sacrament of marriage, the foundation of their moral

universe. At the same time, the intensity of their feelings about Gene

Robinson indicated that something more profound was at work, that the issue

of homosexuality touched them in a very visceral and vulnerable spot.”

Translation: “These rubes can’t cope with modernity and so take refuge in

crackpot fundamentalism. They have mental problems, or weaknesses, that

cause them to panic when faced with the reality of homosexuality.”

Or how about this egregious bit of nonsense:

“In sermons, forums and Bible-study groups, parishioners have been

discussing, arguing and educating themselves about the rightful place of

gays and lesbians in a church that for two millennia has shunned them.”

In the first place, the Episcopal Church only existed for 467 years, not

“two millennia.” In the second place, it has never “shunned” homosexuals.

It has only told them that their acts are sinful and they ought to (a) stop

doing them, and (b) repent them. It’s really pretty straightforward, and if

you don’t like it, you don’t have to be an Episcopalian.