Tuesday, January 22, 2013

RI'S EPISCOPAL BISHOP CITES EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALITY



KniselyReligious figures most often extract from their faith when speaking for or against marriage equality. Their spiritual life either confirms or condemns equality.

Bishop Nick Knisely, the Episcopal Bishop for Rhode Island, bucked that trend by citing both faith and science when he declared his support for marriage equality this weekend. He has weighed the empirical evidence and he has seen the light, he says.

"Part of what informs my opinion is that before I became a priest and then a bishop, I was a scientist. So I know the importance of trusting evidence that we see with our own eyes," he writes in a letter being distributed to parishioners this weekend.
I have seen what St. Paul describes as the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in the married lives of two men and of two women. I have seen relationships that are loving, mutual, and monogamous and that have lasted a lifetime. Jesus tells us that we must test each tree by looking at the goodness of its fruit (Luke 6:43-45). Across our congregations and communities, I can see the goodness of gay and lesbian couples and their families.

No comments: