To a hammer, everything's a nail (Part II)

The first openly gay Anglican Bishop is now suggesting that Jesus himself might have been gay:

The first openly gay Anglican bishop has sparked outrage for suggesting that Jesus might have been homosexual. The Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the United States, said that Jesus was an unmarried, 'non-traditional man' who did not uphold family values, 'travelled with a bunch of men' and enjoyed an especially close relationship with one of his disciples.

Frankly, I'm entirely unsurprised by this. As you may recall, not that long ago, a gay writer, clearly unfamiliar with 19th Century social mores, suggested that Abraham Lincoln was gay, in terms so uncompelling that even the NY Times rejected the idea. (I blogged on that here.) The fact is, as I've also noted before, gays define themselves by their sexuality. That means, while I may look at the world around me primarily through the lens of a parent or a lawyer, they look at the world around them primarily through a sexual lens. It's entirely consistent with this worldview, therefore, for Bishop Robinson, when analyzing Jesus' lifestyle and words, not to see in them spiritual connections or comraderie but, instead, to see sex. That's his primary definition and his primary yardstick. Incidentally, I'm also not surprised about the fact that Bishop Robinson doesn't see things spiritually, because I had the dubious pleasure of hearing him interviewed some months ago on the radio. Despite the religious life he chose, his is not a rigorous Christianity but is, rather, a New Age melange of love and angels. I'm sure that he is a genuinely religious man -- otherwise he would not have allied his life so closely with the church -- but it's certainly not the demanding form of religion many of us imagine is lived by those who opt for a religious life. Hat Tip: David Limbaugh