Getting a bit fed up now every time I see or hear the news theres always something about gay vicars on. Whats all the fuss about all of a sudden. Doesnt bother me either way as I dont really attend church and I thought most of them were anyway.

Chip.

 

Same here, I don't care either way.

Who gives a crap if they are or not?

 

Im sure loads of em are cos they aint supposed to have dealings with women ....which makes em start on each other...

 

Chip,

Gays can get married, join the forces, so why not become vicars ?. They could become Nuns for all I care. Perhaps they allready are.

 

I think I read somewhere that only 8% of the population attend church anyway, so why is this even in the news?

 

Catholic priests are supposed to be celibate - CofE vicars are allowed to have normal relationships.
Most likely, you don't understand the problem becuase you're not religious. Some people who are religious believe that the Bible forbid homosexual acts (they forbid other stuff - check out bits of Leviticus, but that's besides the point), and so believe that being a vicar/bishop/whatever who is gay is disobeying the word of God. It's like sex before marriage, but worse.
There are 2 factions - the moderates (Bishop of Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury etc) who think they need to be modern and progressive and understand that gays are okay, and there are the conservatives (several African bishops with huge congregations) who think it's dreadfull and would split from the Church of England if the gay guy became Bishop of Reading.
So it's not a big thing for non-religious people, but for people with a strong faith, and a literal acceptance of the Bible, it's a big issue.

 

It's in the news because this country has a state religion, and the head of the church is the Queen.

 

To how many people out of 60 million is it a big issue?

Because its getting a lot of airtime!

 

Perhaps its being promoted by a cerain Mr A campbell to get the press off his back.

Chip.

 

Its a big issue for all the homos/lesbos.....

 

Before it all goes "Pete Tong" can we keep this thread on the rails? No homophobia please...




It is concerning to many as one of the foundations of the Christian Church is the family unit, consisting of 1 male and 1 female + kids. This is enshrined in the marriage ceremony. Therefore they have to question the beliefs in their church of someone that promotes this ideal, who is openly gay.

You don't have to go to church to believe in god and the "christian" wat of life.

 

Thank you PTMW.

The fact that only 8% of the population actively goes to church regularly is irrelevant. Most of the population haven't got a conjoined twin or performed any neurosurgery lately, but the Bijani twins story is still newsworthy.

 

According to the Bible, homosexuality is very wrong. So having a figure head of the Church who is a homosexual doesn't look very good!

 

SJ

Unnecessary & un-called for I think

 

Donno really - my vicar at home is (openly) gay

Bible is all about love - as usual, you can read it both ways "all made in His image" ?

 

Only 8% of the population goes to Church on a Sunday, but there are still a lot of people that have faith. Its slighlty more than 8% of the population that get married or christened in church. When figures are published I wonder if the numbers take in people of other faiths Muslim etc. We as nation try to abide my the 10 commandments. IMHO pretty good idea

I'm a practicing happy clappy. The gay issue is a tough one for most people IMHO. How you interpret tollerance and the fact that the bible is hardly pro gay. I have no clear view on it, probably like many people. THe Church of England were in a no win situation here.

Jonathan

 

I'm also bored with this nonsense - the bible's against loads of things if you read it literally (you can use it to justify or decry virtually anything).

Religion is scary exactly because of these deliberately literal interpretations of what is clearly a work of fiction (many different authors, conflicting versions of tales told hundreds of years after the fact, conversations related as 'fact' when there was no reporter present etc). Evidence the farce in the Middle East - not just the Jews vs the Arabs, but the almost unbelievable feuding constantly occuring between different sects of the same religion. Ireland is another example of this - are the protestants and catholics beliefs really so different?

In this context, fretting about a homosexual priest is the least of the church's worries IMO.

Gordo

 

frankly I don't give a ****

 

Doesn't the bible say Pi is 3? Bit or a generalisation as it is an irrational number.

I personally have no faith at all. I know it provides a great deal of comfort to many people. Whilst I see no reason to deny those people their beliefs I do not believe a book written years ago from stories passed down by word of mouth should be used as an excuse for homophobia.

 

Like LMWRX I was born and brought up a Catholic. I too am lapsed, but I will never regain my faith, thank God.
To my mind a persons gender or sexual preference is no barrier to how they persue their faiths and beliefs. But it strikes me that it does set up an issue when they will be in direct contravention of the source text, i.e. the bible, of the religion they would be ministering.
So in real life it is not an issue to be a gay man or woman, but how could you preach the text you are sinning agianst.

 

Spose a lot of parents would be unhappy with their kids being 'influenced' but a gay Vicar incase he turns them gay

I am not saying I subscibe to this view, just offering an explanation before I get vaped

for the record I put my own safety on the line sticking up for a homo a couple of weeks back and it could have got very nasty. Fact is I stand up for anyone in need no matter if they are black, asian, oriental, gay, straight (proviso being they deserve the support)

 

I don't care at all about this whole thing but I think the reason why it is been brought up is that some people wrongly associate gays as more likely to be paedophiles. This of course is a load of rubbish. I believe those are the understones that are being hinted at in the news stories.

 

Carpet say's:
Same as the above.

Only it gets my goat when the pc brigade (hey PTMW!)jump on the righteous band wagon when a joke is made about a "section" of society and either edit or delete a post just to make themselves feel important in their small world.

Oh, and retort with a comment equally un-pc in the edit, but of course that's allowed.

I'll expect this will be edited too.

 

Spoon

I'm with you all the way on this. It'all to PC for my liking. FFS where do straight people stand on this. We've got a guy in admin who is homo. I was in conversation regards my run in with arrogant tosser having a go at the homo I backed up and he got quite funny with me referring to the guy as Homosexual??

WTF? He said it's offensive term and prefers to be referred to as gay or queer. So just what are we supposed to do here

 

Carpet- say it how you see it, we can't change for these Prícks who just happen to be in jobs that decide what a nation should do, be and say.

I am a respectful individual but I also like a laugh and if that's at something deemed "wrong" then bóllocks, I won't be changing.


I drive myself and will continue to do so and will never be a follower or somebody's puppet.

 

thing is this guy is a real showman and invites jibes.

One of the lads asked him what he was up to over the weekend and he said he was going to try and pack some fudge

fookinell, talk about a conversation killer

I'm telling you half of the homos play up to it as much as possible and invite people to take the ****

 

I didn't realise homosexual was an offensive term!!!
I thought 'queer' was!

I think he's just being silly tbh.

Or can I find the term 'straight' to be offensive if I like?

 

I think if people were asked have you been to a church this year then a majority would say yes. Of that majority, a majority would have gone because of a wedding or funeral. I myself only go to church for the latter reasons, most weddings is because the bride wants it for the occasion, not the religion. Going to church isn't a God thing these days. I suppose 8% of the population would disagree.

 

Mungo, I am Roman Catholic and up until I was 16 I attended church - I did the usual teenage rebellion - yeah, yeah, I know very sheep like.

However, I have never been able to regain enough faith in the Catholic faith to return to it and hence am a non-practising Catholic. I have a second middle name through confirmation when I was younger.

I do agree that for religious peeps who do follow the bible to the exact word that this is a major issue.

[Edited by Little Miss WRX - 7/8/2003 5:50:41 PM]

 

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[Edited by Spoon - 7/9/2003 10:24:43 AM]