The Fallacy of Dialogue on Same-Sex Marriage

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD

www.virtueonline.org

June 9, 2025

Some 15 Episcopalians met recently in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island to have a respectful conversation on same-sex marriage, with a view, presumably, to bridge the gulf between opposing views.

For the Rev. Scott Gunn, one answer is to bring together a group of people who “disagree about things that are important to each individual” and engage in thoughtful discourse “in a loving and respectful way.”

“Jesus told us to love our neighbors,” Gunn told TLC, “And we don’t always agree with our neighbors. I think the conversations that we’re having are important, not only because they’re about same-sex marriage, but they’re helping us practice the skill of having difficult conversations with people that we are called to love.”  But nowhere does Jesus in his plea to love our enemies meaning "loving our neighbors" does it imply abdicating the basic tenets of the faith which Gunn is advocating.

Episcopal Bishop Larry Provenzano of Long Island emphasized the need to continue the work of reconciliation throughout the church by acknowledging and listening to diverse viewpoints on same-sex marriage. Without compromising core theological principles, the Church must “prioritize understanding” as if there is no absolute across difference to maintain unity.

Well just how much have homosexuals in the Episcopal Church loved those who disagree with them? They haven’t. There has been no compromise. They have been told by people like the late Louie Crew, the late Jack Spong and (the Rev.) Susan Russell, a fierce lesbian, that if you don’t conform then get the hell out of TEC.

Look what happened to Bishop Bill Love of Albany, or the bishop wannabe of Florida, Charlie Holt.  He was told not once but twice he was unacceptable as bishop even though he was prepared to compromise his personal belief on the altar of same-sex marriage for the “higher good” of the diocese. He was toast after lesbian priestess Susan Russell weighed in.

And then there is the case of David Duggan, frequent contributor of devotional essays to these pages, who opposed the ordination of a practicing homosexual (supposedly married to a man, with an adopted daughter to boot). The "ordinand" used Duggan's opposition to secure a "No Stalking Order of Protection" against Duggan while lying under oath, which cost him two-years worth of income to vacate. Duggan's efforts to get recompense for this violation of canons and normal principles of law have so far been unfruitful. But faith persists.

These gatherings do nothing; the die has been cast. TEC will never reverse itself on B012 and they will never tolerate disagreement. There is not a chance in hell that a person with orthodox views on sexuality would ever be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church again. Never. The small highly vocal gay and lesbian bishops would never give consents.

These gatherings are a veneer of religiosity. It is one ‘white-washed tomb’ talking to another ‘white-washed tomb’ in the hope that the corpse doesn’t have to hear what the other really thinks. “On the outside you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness,” said Jesus. (Mt. 23:27-28)

These gatherings are designed to relieve the consciences of those who know that TEC will never change its mind or retreat from its new position. And they don’t care if the church goes under in the next decade or so as boomers die off, the check books dry up, and there is no replacement. If columbaria were traded on the Nasdaq, it would be a buy.

SEX IS THEIR IDENTITY NOT CHRIST

Future historians will marvel that western Christianity was divided, not over the two natures of Christ or the atonement or the bodily resurrection of Jesus, but about who should be permitted to have sex with whom.

It bears repeating that God created ‘male and female’ (Gen 1:27 and 5:2) and He closed the sexual matrix never to reopen it. Jesus affirmed that God created humans as male and female, and that marriage is between one man and one woman. (Mark 10:6-9) He had no need to reinvent the sexual wheel to affirm homosexual unions.

‘COMMUNION ACROSS DIFFERENCE’

Communion across difference ran the headline in The Living Church. What communion? The communion’s fabric has been torn and will never be repaired. GAFCON and GSFA bishops will no longer sit down with TEC or the Anglican Church of Canada, and now the Church of England. The “difference” is deep and wide and will never be bridged. It is wider than the River Thames, and with a winter storm it would wash them all away.

A Thoughtful Dialogue on Same-Sex Marriage. Really!

The church is as divided as Russia is from the Ukraine; as Gaza is from the rest of Israel, and the notion that we can all get along over tea and crumpets, but not bullets, is pure fiction. TEC has split, it is forever divided. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a witness to that divide and they are not going away. They are vigorously doing evangelism and discipleship to reach the next generation for Christ.

TEC has no message for generations X, Y and Z. None. They have tried twice passing resolutions at General Convention to double the church and it has fallen flat. If they think that woke issues will draw people, they are wrong, dead wrong. You can get all that from the New York Times and left-wing social media. Waving gay flags from atop church steeples or from pulpits changes nothing. It is all virtue-signaling.

The local Methodist church near where I live is down to 10 people. They now wave a gay flag and loudly proclaim their allegiance to homosexuals. None attend. The local Two Queers coffee shop ignore the church. In a year the Methodist church bishop will claim the property, sell it off, and someone will throw the gay flag in the garbage bin. Sic transit gloria mundi.

The Rev. Dr. Matthew S.C. Olver, executive director and publisher of THE LIVING CHURCH, a convener of the group, wryly noted that looking at the context of the U.S. church, it might seem that the progressive side won the debate on marriage for same-sex persons. On that point he is absolutely right. TEC won, and for their sin the church will wither away in a generation; the judgment of God for all to see.

END