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Clergyman Debates Australian Justice Over Homosexuality

By Howard Friedman

Today's Sydney Morning Herald reports on an unusual public exchange of recriminations between Reverend Richard Lane of Sydney's St. Stephen's Church and Australia High Court Justice Michael Kirby. In an ABC Radio interview last year, Kirby said that the Anglican and Catholic archbishops had made it difficult for people to adopt a more tolerant attitude toward gays. In a letter to Kirby, Rev. Lane denounced him for calling himself a Christian Anglican while living in an openly gay relationship . He warned him that he faces God's judgment, and encouraged him to open himself to "God's healing of homosexuality." Writing in reply, Justice Kirby said that Lane's biblical interpretation in not a universal one, and that the biblical quotations Lane used were unreliable mid-19th century translations.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).