Generally, I start reading the newspaper by reading the funnies – the comic strips. This practice eases me into the day. It avoids beginning my day with reports of atrocities and disasters. It is just a brief diversion. I go on to scan the local and national news, absorbing what I can.
There are days when this practice seems more essential than others. Take Friday, Nov. 12.
In Section D of my local paper there was an article about Anglican bishops converting to Catholicism “in part over their opposition to the Church of England’s decision to ordain female bishops.” In their official statement, they spoke of their distress about developments in the Anglican Church that they deemed “incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years.” According to the item, the Vatican will make new arrangements for the defectors “upset by the acceptance of female priests and gay bishops.”
Really?
The headline of the next article: “Focus on the Family takes over program on sexual orientation.” The conservative Christian group will sponsor a day of dialogue in schools promoting “the message of freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.”
Really?
The last item in the column reported on the early retirement of an openly gay Episcopal bishop. As reasons, he cited the strain of constant controversy, including death threats.
Why?
Why is acknowledging the spiritual authority of women such a threat?
What is the disparity between homosexuality and spiritual authority?
When are we as a species finally going to discard narrow, bigoted views about our fellow humans?
Sometimes comics are not enough.
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