LETTERS

Re “Acceptance at the altar,” Editorial, Aug. 2

Last month, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved resolutions favoring the election of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions. The votes came in spite of appeals from orthodox bishops and deputies concerned about our relationships with brother and sister Anglicans around the world. Anglicans in Africa and the Far East were ignored. I spent a school year in Taiwan and returned much more aware of how negatively Anglicans there view the Episcopal Church’s increasingly self-assured stance toward blessing homosexual unions.

The closing line of your editorial (“Supporters of Proposition 8 weren’t the only ones to cloak prejudice with piety.”) is an arrogant, cheap shot. Is it really necessary for you to indulge in name-calling? If that’s an accusation of intellectual dishonesty, it equally applies to Episcopal bishops and deputies who torture Scripture to support their approval of homosexual practices. Arrogance comes in many guises.

The Rev. Rog F. Rose

Hacienda Heights

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Thank you for this editorial. The Episcopal Church has firmly declared that there is no room for using selected passages of Scripture to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Those of us living in religiously conservative areas, scorned for accepting homosexuals, are grateful to the Episcopal Church for speaking out even as much of the Anglican Communion condemns its actions.

As with its support of civil rights and the equality of women, the Episcopal Church is -- and will eventually be shown to be -- on the right side of history.

Miriam Raub Vivian

Bakersfield