In the News -- "Jesus never got angry at people who committed sexual sins"

[Tom Dempsey]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: In the News -- "Jesus never got angry at people who committed
sexual sins"]
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 13:01:21 -0600
From: Tom Dempsey <tdem...@lgbt.com>
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (DontAmend GA) In the News -- "Jesus never got angry at people
who committed sexual sins"
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:37:28 -0500
From: George Loud <geo...@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: DontAmendGA General Info <gen...@dontamendga.com>
To: DontAmendGA General Info <gen...@dontamendga.com>



Published Dec 25, 2004 in the Raliegh (NC) News Observer, "Church, Pastor
Prepare Goodbyes: St. Ambrose's Battle Going to VA" by Yonat Shimron
<yshi...@newsobserver.com> reports that the Rev. Dr. Michael Battle, PhD,
will become dean at Virginia Theological Seminary <http://www.vts.edu/> as
its new Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
<http://www.vts.edu/news-events/press-releases/2004-2005/Michael%20Battle.pdf>.

At a time when "Bishop" Eddie L. Long is leading marches against gay
marriage in Atlanta, the Rev. Dr. Battle (who is also black) has some
interesting insights into "Gays" and into "Religious Leaders".

The story begins:

|
| Raleigh -- In the three years the Rev. Michael Battle served as rector
| of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church <http://www.stambrose-church.org/>
| he cast a vision for the congregation that stretched far beyond
| its beginnings as a worshipping community of freed slaves.
|
| The congregation will celebrate that leadership on Sunday, his last
service
| before taking an academic job in Virginia ...
|

Later in the story, Shimron reports:

|
| ... Last year, when the Episcopal Church U.S.A.
| <http://www.episcopalchurch.org/> elected the denomination's
| first openly-gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson,
|
<http://www.nhepiscopal.org/BishopSearch/The_Rev_Canon_V_Gene_Robinson.htm>
| | many at St. Ambrose bristled, and at least two families left the church.
| But Battle, who supported Robinson's consecration as bishop,
| stood his ground.
|
| Battle is well aware that the majority of African-American preachers
| view homosexuality as a sin. To them he has a ready answer:
|
| "Jesus never got angry at people who committed sexual sins,"
| Battle said. "Jesus got angry at religious leaders who proclaimed
| a public righteousness while privately struggling
| with the same problems we all face."
|
| But Battle's experiences in South Africa have also given him
| an appreciation for the cultural obstacles gays face in a society
| that views fatherhood as a rite of passage.
|
| "In many African communities to be a mature human being
| you have to have progeny," he said. "And if your progeny
| don't remember you when you pass from this life, you don't
| obtain the full rights of an ancestor."
|
| He thinks those cultural biases are as deep-seated
| as the theological ones ...
|

The Rev. Dr. Battle <http://www.stambrose-church.org/docs/code/rector.htm>
is the 9th priest to serve St. Ambrose during its 135 year history. He began
his tenure on June 7, 2001. Ordained to the Diaconate in 1993 at St.
Ambrose Episcopal Church by Bishop Huntington Williams, then Bishop of the
Diocese of North Carolina, Fr. Battle was ordained an Episcopal/Anglican
priest by "THE" Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town South Africa, also in
1993. Fr. Battle has served an Assistant Professor of Spirituality and Black
Church Studies at Duke University. He also serves as Chaplain and Consulting
Theologian to the House of Bishops for the Episcopal Church in the United
States.

--> Read the complete "Church, Pastor Prepare Goodbyes: St. Ambrose's Battle
Going to VA" at:
<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1961798p-8329864c.html>

*** George C. Loud
<Geo...@hotmail.com>

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss