The retired Bishop who led the fight for LGBT equality in the Episcopal Church calls anti-gay legislation a ‘last gasp of white male racists’
Bishop John Shelby Spong
Had a black person walked into the South Carolina church where Bishop John Shelby Spong grew up, he would have been arrested. Women also were kept in their places at his childhood evangelical Episcopal church. None of them were allowed to serve in leadership positions.
“And we didn’t have gay people,” he said, although he knew some members must have been gay.
Decades later, when Spong retired as the bishop of Newark, N.J., in 2000, he said he had named 35 out-of-the-closet clergy to positions in his diocese, and blessing gay unions had become common throughout his denomination.
He ordained his first openly gay priest in 1989.
“That created a storm,” he said. The furor included death threats, but he’s proud there are now two out bishops in the Episcopal Church.
During his years as a priest and then bishop, Spong became a leader in the fight for equality for women, people of color and gays and lesbians in his church. He brushes off the question of how he became that leader since he says he was doing nothing more than what was morally just.
After witnessing the civil rights and women’s movements and the fight against anti-Semitism, Spong said he’s not surprised at the speed at which LGBT rights are advancing. He credits social media for changing social attitudes.
“Churches will change or die,” Spong said.
He said people under 40 just don’t tolerate bigotry, but older people, including some of the most powerful in the religious world, are coming around. He called Pope Francis’ “who am I to judge?” statement an amazing change from the previous pope’s conservative teachings. Calling out anti-gay laws disguised as religious protections, he said the Arizona anti-gay bill that Gov. Jan Brewer recently vetoed “an incredibly stupid bill.” He questioned the religion the bill was supposed to protect by allowing discrimination.
“I don’t know what type of religion that is,” he said.
Noting the backlash the Arizona bill generated, Spong said the fight for equality is in its final stages.
“As soon as we start debating prejudice, the battle is won,” he said.
He sees legislative bills protecting bigotry in the name of religion as “the last gasp of white male racists.”
After eight years of the bigots complaining about President Obama, Spong laughed at the prospect of them facing eight years of Hillary Clinton.
“That’s more than most of them can stand,” he said.
When he appears at Cathedral of Hope on March 9, Spong said he’ll address the predominately LGBT congregation as he would any other “ordinary group of Christians.”
“I just love Cathedral of Hope,” he said. “I know Michael Piazza quite well,” referring to the church’s longtime pastor.
He said he’s also known the Rev. Jim Mitulski, Cathedral’s interim senior pastor, since Mitulski headed a church in West Hollywood, Calif.
At 82, Spong isn’t slowing down. He speaks about 125 times a year, and he’s writing a book about the Gospel of Matthew he said will give Christians a new way of approaching the work.
Today, he doesn’t run into some of the hostility he did while he was still an active bishop, but he hasn’t toned down any of his viewpoints.
He said if he’s been invited to speak, he assumes they’re ready to hear him.
Bishop Spong preaches at Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs Road, March 9 at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. traditional services and at 6 p.m. evening service.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 7, 2014.