(AgapePress) - Last week's confirmation of an openly homosexual bishop by the Episcopal Church USA has shaken that two-million-member denomination. At the same time, other major denominations are struggling with acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle as advocates pressure church leadership.

USA Today recently reported that the confirmation of Bishop Gene Robinson, an open homosexual, makes the Episcopal Church USA the first major Christian denomination to decide that individuals in committed homosexual relationships are not barred from leadership.

That same report showed that several other denominations, either at the national or local level, are considering ordination of -- or have decided to ordain -- openly homosexual clergy. That is the case with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the American Baptist Church, and the United Church of Christ.

Lost in the controversy over the confirmation of Robinson, it seems, was the decision by the Episcopal Church regarding same-sex unions. At the national meeting in Minneapolis last week, church leaders adopted a resolution recognizing "that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions."

A poll out today indicates most people disagree with that decision. The Washington Post polls shows the opposition was strongest among those who attend church every week. Seventy-five percent said they disagree with what the Episcopal Church did, and a similar portion said they would feel the same way if their own denomination made such a move.

The Post says the poll also found that public acceptance in general of same-sex unions is falling. Fewer than 37% of Americans said they would support a law allowing homosexuals to form civil unions that would give them similar legal rights to normal married couples. That is a 12% drop from what a Gallup poll found in a similar question posed in May.

God Intolerant of Sin
God is not tolerant of sin -- and His followers should not be either, especially when it comes to sinful lifestyles, according to Christian radio commentator Janet Parshall. She says homosexuality is now solidly establishing itself in many of America's mainline denominations.

"We were foolish if we thought that [the issue of homosexuality] -- which is so out there in the culture, so pandemic in all of the societal ills that we see -- wasn't going to work its way into the Church. It's there," she says.

Parshall believes the situation in the Church is the result of current teaching on "tolerance" -- a concept she says should not be applied when it comes to sinful behavior.

"Somehow we've embraced this idea that tolerance is a warm, touchy-feely idea," she says. "You know, God doesn't tolerate sin -- to the point where He had to send His Son to die for sin.

"As parents, we don't tolerate disobedience in our children's lives. Our boss won't tolerate it if we come to work at 9:30 when we're supposed to be there at 8:00. So when did we decide that tolerance was a transcendent ethic?" she asks.

Parshall says all one has to do is look at the Ten Commandments, "carved in stone by God's finger of fire," to see that He is rather intolerant regarding sin.

Bob Knight

Don't Confuse Me with Facts
Christians who oppose homosexuality are characterized in the media as "hateful bigots." Yet Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute says Christians are the most loving and concerned people of all -- and that is why they are trying to get homosexuals to forsake their dangerous lifestyles.

"If you didn't really care for homosexuals [and] really did hate them, you'd probably promote them the way the gay rights groups are doing," Knight says. "You'd promote the whole experience instead of trying to talk people out of it."

HIV-AIDS infections are continuing to skyrocket among homosexual men. Knight says despite this fact, the "safe-sex" myth is sentencing young men and women to their deaths. He says the problem with the "condom mentality" is that people are expected to use condoms under laboratory conditions -- which seldom happens.

"Usually condoms are brought out when people are already inebriated with alcohol or drugs and they don't use [condoms] clinically -- so they fail," he says. "Condoms are not the answer -- it's stopping the deadly behavior in the first place."

Reports have indicated that these contraceptive devices often fail to protect their users against many serious sexually transmitted diseases. Knight says homosexual advocacy groups have access to statistics which verify the risks of homosexuality -- yet they continue to push the deadly lifestyle and try to sell it to America's youth.

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