Monday, April 4

Vigilantes?

ABC News reports on the 'Minutemen' Volunteers Watching the 370-mile Arizona border. Incensed was one comment by Ray Borane, the mayor of nearby Douglas, a border town of 15,000 mostly Hispanic residents.

"They have a lynch-mob mentality, especially when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants," he said. "[The Minutemen] have no training, no sensitivity. They come in here and have a good time chasing these people down and then leave. That doesn't set very well with us here."

If the "vigilantes," make you as incensed as Mr. Borane, fret not because ABC says that "Mexican reporters were watching American reporters watching the Minutemen, Border Patrol and ACLU volunteers." Sometimes I wonder who the real Vigilantes are.

Is There a New Way?

Elizabeth Day reports on Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson, who has sparked outrage for suggesting that Jesus might have been homosexual. Robinson was asked a question from a member of a congregation he was addressing recently. The question was about the acceptance of homosexuality in the Anglican community and the scriptural teaching on repentance of sins and redemption. Robinson responded by saying:

"Interestingly enough, in this day of traditional family values, this man that we follow was single, as far as we know, travelled with a bunch of men, had a disciple who was known as 'the one whom Jesus loved' and said my family is not my mother and father, my family is those who do the will of God. None of us likes those harsh words. That's who Jesus is, that's who he was at heart, in his earthly life. Those who would posit the nuclear family as the be all and end all of God's creation probably don't find that much in the gospels to support it."

A spokesman for the evangelical organisation, Anglican Mainstream, said: "He's really selective in what he's addressing. He makes no mention of Jesus's teaching on marriage, for instance. And he does not acknowledge that nowhere in the text or in ancient literature is there any suggestion of any form of sexual impropriety among Jesus or the disciples. Jesus broke the cultural traditions of the time and has women mixing with men in public and having them teaching."

The spokesman finished his remarks by saying, "those of us who put scripture as a priority are called on to obey the scripture even when that is in conflict with our culture."