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Homosexuality and the Church

Aired July 31, 2003 - 15:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The issue of gay rights continues to stir debate. And it's not just in the political arena. Same-sex relationships and the confirmation of a gay bishop are on the agenda as the deeply divided Episcopal Church holds its national convention in Minneapolis.
With me now is Trevor Potter. He is a prominent Republican attorney and also a member of the Episcopal Church who happens to be gay.

You're on the board of the Human Rights Campaign. I'm going to say you not only are a prominent lawyer. You're Republican. You held top positions in the Bush-Quayle campaign in 1988 and the John McCain campaign of 2000.

TREVOR POTTER, EPISCOPAL CHURCH MEMBER: That's right.

WOODRUFF: But, Trevor Potter, the reason you're here is to talk about the Episcopal Church. What is this debate all about, at its core?

POTTER: At its core, it's about how the Episcopal Church is going to recognize the existence of gay people in the church. And, of course, they're in the pews every Sunday. There have been gay bishops in the past. There have not been any bishops who have openly said, "I am gay" at the time they were elected. And we have bishop-elect Robinson from New Hampshire.

The national body meeting in Minneapolis this week has to decide whether to confirm his election. And it will be a debate about what that does to the Episcopal Church's relationship with the rest of the Episcopal Churches around the world, the Anglican communion, who differ with some of the American diocese over whether an openly gay person can be a bishop.

WOODRUFF: What do you believe the church should do?

POTTER: I believe the church needs to recognize that we're all God's creatures, we were created by him, as we are, and we need to include people. I think what's been nice about bishop-elect Robinson is that he's been honest about this. We have some churches where people are not honest.

WOODRUFF: We should say, this is the state of New Hampshire, yes.

POTTER: He's the bishop-elect in New Hampshire. WOODRUFF: Right.

POTTER: He's at least has been honest about this and said, this is who I am. And he's been in New Hampshire for 18 years. He's loved by the people there. He was overwhelmingly elected as bishop.

And then, particularly in the Episcopal Church, we have a tradition of letting each diocese choose the route it thinks is best as it reads the scripture, in light of modern times. And the Episcopal Church used to approve slavery and used to say women had no place in the church. They couldn't preach. And now we have women ministers. I think that's a revealing development as time goes on.

WOODRUFF: What do you say to those 24 some current and former bishops in the Episcopal Church who have now written a letter to the hierarchy of the church, saying this is going to split the church wide open?

POTTER: I think there's always going to be a difference of opinion on issues. The church was almost split by the ordination of women. And some left the church. I suspect that, if Bishop Robinson is confirmed and if the Episcopal Church decides to have some sort of a right that blesses a same-sex union, there will be people who are uncomfortable with it.

But, over time, I think the church has to be true to what it sees as its prophetic mission. It has to decide how best to preach God's love and the message of Christ.

WOODRUFF: I want to be clear that they are also debating not just whether to give the green light, in essence, to this bishop in New Hampshire, but also to make it acceptable to have Episcopal priests bless same-sex unions.

But I want to just quote very quickly from what these bishops who are critical of this are saying. This would be -- quote -- "an unparalleled departure," they say, "from church teaching and" -- quote -- "symbols of a desperately confused, errant, and disintegrating Anglican province in the United States."

POTTER: I think there is going to be controversy over this, as there has been when people inside the church have disliked some of the other developments.

The people in Minneapolis meeting in the convention I think are moving slowly and prayerfully. They're listening to each other, which is what's important. But, at some stage, we're going to have to decide whether people who are already in the church and are in committed relationships can have that relationship blessed or not. And it's always said, we bless foxhounds. We bless houses. Why not bless people who are in a good relationship in the church and include them?

And that, I think, has been part of the debate. The concern the bishops have is, they don't want to separate us from the rest of the Anglican church. And there are differences between the church in Africa and the church in, for instance, England or the West.

WOODRUFF: Trevor Potter, we thank you for talking about this. This is clearly something we are going to be watching closely and come back to again and again. Thank you very much for talking with us today.

POTTER: You're welcome. Good to be here.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate it. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 31, 2003 - 15:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The issue of gay rights continues to stir debate. And it's not just in the political arena. Same-sex relationships and the confirmation of a gay bishop are on the agenda as the deeply divided Episcopal Church holds its national convention in Minneapolis.
With me now is Trevor Potter. He is a prominent Republican attorney and also a member of the Episcopal Church who happens to be gay.

You're on the board of the Human Rights Campaign. I'm going to say you not only are a prominent lawyer. You're Republican. You held top positions in the Bush-Quayle campaign in 1988 and the John McCain campaign of 2000.

TREVOR POTTER, EPISCOPAL CHURCH MEMBER: That's right.

WOODRUFF: But, Trevor Potter, the reason you're here is to talk about the Episcopal Church. What is this debate all about, at its core?

POTTER: At its core, it's about how the Episcopal Church is going to recognize the existence of gay people in the church. And, of course, they're in the pews every Sunday. There have been gay bishops in the past. There have not been any bishops who have openly said, "I am gay" at the time they were elected. And we have bishop-elect Robinson from New Hampshire.

The national body meeting in Minneapolis this week has to decide whether to confirm his election. And it will be a debate about what that does to the Episcopal Church's relationship with the rest of the Episcopal Churches around the world, the Anglican communion, who differ with some of the American diocese over whether an openly gay person can be a bishop.

WOODRUFF: What do you believe the church should do?

POTTER: I believe the church needs to recognize that we're all God's creatures, we were created by him, as we are, and we need to include people. I think what's been nice about bishop-elect Robinson is that he's been honest about this. We have some churches where people are not honest.

WOODRUFF: We should say, this is the state of New Hampshire, yes.

POTTER: He's the bishop-elect in New Hampshire. WOODRUFF: Right.

POTTER: He's at least has been honest about this and said, this is who I am. And he's been in New Hampshire for 18 years. He's loved by the people there. He was overwhelmingly elected as bishop.

And then, particularly in the Episcopal Church, we have a tradition of letting each diocese choose the route it thinks is best as it reads the scripture, in light of modern times. And the Episcopal Church used to approve slavery and used to say women had no place in the church. They couldn't preach. And now we have women ministers. I think that's a revealing development as time goes on.

WOODRUFF: What do you say to those 24 some current and former bishops in the Episcopal Church who have now written a letter to the hierarchy of the church, saying this is going to split the church wide open?

POTTER: I think there's always going to be a difference of opinion on issues. The church was almost split by the ordination of women. And some left the church. I suspect that, if Bishop Robinson is confirmed and if the Episcopal Church decides to have some sort of a right that blesses a same-sex union, there will be people who are uncomfortable with it.

But, over time, I think the church has to be true to what it sees as its prophetic mission. It has to decide how best to preach God's love and the message of Christ.

WOODRUFF: I want to be clear that they are also debating not just whether to give the green light, in essence, to this bishop in New Hampshire, but also to make it acceptable to have Episcopal priests bless same-sex unions.

But I want to just quote very quickly from what these bishops who are critical of this are saying. This would be -- quote -- "an unparalleled departure," they say, "from church teaching and" -- quote -- "symbols of a desperately confused, errant, and disintegrating Anglican province in the United States."

POTTER: I think there is going to be controversy over this, as there has been when people inside the church have disliked some of the other developments.

The people in Minneapolis meeting in the convention I think are moving slowly and prayerfully. They're listening to each other, which is what's important. But, at some stage, we're going to have to decide whether people who are already in the church and are in committed relationships can have that relationship blessed or not. And it's always said, we bless foxhounds. We bless houses. Why not bless people who are in a good relationship in the church and include them?

And that, I think, has been part of the debate. The concern the bishops have is, they don't want to separate us from the rest of the Anglican church. And there are differences between the church in Africa and the church in, for instance, England or the West.

WOODRUFF: Trevor Potter, we thank you for talking about this. This is clearly something we are going to be watching closely and come back to again and again. Thank you very much for talking with us today.

POTTER: You're welcome. Good to be here.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate it. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com