Bishop Bans Same-Sex Marriage While Proclaiming Love For Queer Christians
Albany, NY, Bishop William Love has issued a directive banning same-sex marriages in his diocese ― blatantly defying steps his denomination has taken in recent years to be more welcoming of LGBTQ Christians, claiming that those advocating for marriage equality in the Episcopal Church have been “deceived” by the devil.
“The Episcopal Church and Western Society have been hijacked by the ‘Gay Rights Agenda’ which is very well organized, very strategic, very well financed, and very powerful,” he wrote. “Satan is having a heyday bringing division into the Church over these issues.”
The bishop claims his decision to dig in his heels in the face of that resolution comes from a spirit of love. “It is not out of mean-spiritedness, hatred, bigotry, judgmentalism, or homophobia that I say this — but rather out of love.”
Although the Episcopal Church has made significant strides toward welcoming LGBTQ Christians in recent years, Love’s directive illustrates that deep divisions still exist in the denomination. In 2015 the Episcopal Church authorized its priests to perform same-sex weddings. That resolution gave individual clergy the ability to refuse to conduct such services and gave bishops the right to prohibit same-sex marriages from taking place in their dioceses.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-episcopal-bishop-same-sex-marriage_us_5be9a123e4b0caeec2bbcf0f
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