JIM NAUGHTON: DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE MADE OUT OF AWESOME?

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Torpedoing Dan Martins‘ episcopal career before it starts by insinuating that he’s a bigot:

In the debate over [Resolution C056], the Rev. Dan Martins, who was elected on Saturday as Bishop of Springfield, said that if the convention passed C056, members would be “covering ourselves in shame.” He did not say he had a principled disagreement with the resolution, which would have been unobjectionable. He did not say the theological reasoning was weak, which is an opinion to which he is entitled. He did not say he could not accept the morality to committed gay and lesbian relationships, which, again, would not have troubled most Episcopalians who are accustomed to a diversity of views on this issue within their church.

Instead, he used the word “shame”, the word that LGBT people have had thrown in their faces for most of their lives, the word that has rung in the ears of LGBT teens who have ended their own lives prematurely. It is a word meant to intimidate and to wound, a word meant to set one’s self above and apart from those one is describing.

Jim’s got a point. Do you know what was playing on Martins’ iPod when he said that? Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That A Shame.” And what book was sitting right there on the table in front of him? Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens.

I read somewhere that Martins once taught college math and used the cruel term “standard deviation” again and again in his statistics classes. And he deliberately taught gay kids differential calculus rather than the perfectlynormalnothingwrongwithitatall-ential calculus they were supposed to learn. Clearly, Martins was not properly vetted.

Seriously, Jim? This is the best you can come up with? Why didn’t you blame Dan Martins for Matt Shepard while you were at it?

You may claim that you have no problem with the traditionalist position per se, big smacker, but overwrought crap like this practically screams that you have aserious problem with it. So here’s a suggestion.

Nut up, declare that Martins’ traditionalism is completely out of step with the modern Episcopal Organization as well as sufficient grounds for refusing consent and urge bishops and standing committees to turn Martins down.

Hypocrisy is such an ugly thing, Jim.