Gay bishop at Oxford Union debate

The first openly gay Anglican bishop is to appear at the Oxford Union to debate the question of whether homosexuality is a bar to becoming a bishop.

The Bishop of New Hampshire in the US, Gene Robinson, had withdrawn from the original debate last year after the controversy caused by his appointment.

The Anglican Church remains divided over the ordination of gay priests.
Church traditionalists believe homosexuality is inherently sinful and bars gays becoming bishops.
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Gay unions backed
November 2

The Church of Sweden will bless gay civil partnerships, the Church’s governing assembly, decided last week. By a vote of 160-81 the assembly, the Kyrkomötet, agreed to amend the title of Chapter 23 of its prayer book, from “Marriage” to “Marriage and Blessings” and has appointed a committee to draw up the appropriate rites. Swedish priests have long had informal permission to solemnise gay unions, and last Thursday’s vote, speakers during the debate noted, merely codifies existing practices. The measure passed with the unanimous support of Sweden’s bishops. Traditionalist members of the Kyrkomötet argued the move violated Scripture and the Church’s traditional teachings on marriage and imperiled ecumenical relations. The Church of England is in communion with the Church of Sweden through the 1992 Porvoo Common Statement. The Porvoo agreement holds that in the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Churches of Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and Portugal “the word of God is authentically preached” and that “all our churches share in the common confession of the apostolic faith”.
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