Desmond Tutu weighs in on the Gene Robinson fiasco (be warned, this is a link to a pro-gay site). By saying “I could not stand by while people were being penalised again for something about which they could do nothing – their sexual orientation” he is confusing – using standard Anglican obfuscation – sexual orientation with sexual practice. The fact is, it is not Gene’s sexual orientation that is the problem: the problem is his acting on it by leaving his wife, setting up house with his gay partner and proclaiming to the world that this is not only socially acceptable (which it may be), but fully in line with Christian teaching – which it isn’t.

Also of note is that fact that Obama has met with Gene 3 times already! What more can one ask.

Influential figures within the church, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town, strongly support Robinson. Tutu even penned the foreword in Robinson’s book.

“Apartheid, crassly racist, sought to penalise people for something about which they could do nothing,” he wrote. “I could not stand by while people were being penalised again for something about which they could do nothing – their sexual orientation … Gene Robinson is a wonderful person and I am proud to belong to the same church as he.”

Robinson also enjoys powerful support in the wider community. While the Archbishop of Canterbury has only acceded to one meeting with him – and then under such secrecy that he was told the venue at the last possible moment – Robinson has already had three one-on-one meetings with US presidential candidate Barack Obama, the man many believe will be the next President of the United States.

What people like Obama and Tutu realise, says Robinson, is that far from being dependent on texts from thousands of years ago for God’s word, the human relationship with God is a living, breathing, ever-evolving one.

Or, to put that last sentence another way: “since the Bible is really, really old, we might as well ignore it and make this up as we go along.”