One of the top internet news headlines yesterday was about Episcopal bishop V. Gene Robinson's announcement that he has checked himself into an alcohol treatment center. During the day, it made the top ten national headlines of the news services I read (Yahoo!, CNN.com, etc.). CNN.com's headline was particularly harsh.
Why was this big news? Afterall, alcoholism is, unfortunately, a fairly common condition. There has not been any reports of a significant scandal relating to Bishop Robinson's alcoholism. It's difficult to imagine such an announcement coming from any other religious leader in a similar position receiving as much attention.
Of course, Robinson's story was big news because of his notoriety of being the first, openly gay Episcopal bishop. Anti-gay forces immediately used Robinson's admission as an additional reason why he is supposedly unfit to be bishop:
BUT THE BIG NEWS of the week was the announcement by New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson that he was an alcoholic and had checked himself into a rehab center. His acknowledgement stunned the church. No one knew, apparently, and it was never unearthed in statutory background checks when he was running for bishop. I suppose that must be in the category of "don't ask, don't tell." ... A homosexual, alcoholic bishop is lauded by his parishioners for his courageous example? Are there not some generally accepted 'above reproach' standards for church leaders?" . . .
. . . So the question is; Why didn't this come up in a background check of VGR? He has gay sex and drinks too much? And that's not, at the very least, a problem? . . .
-- excerpt from a posting by David W. Vitrue, VirtrueOnline.org
Well looks like the world's first "openly gay bishop" has been drinking way too much of the communion wine. Bishop Vicky Gene Robinson of New Hampshire is being treated for alcoholism. . . . Maybe the pressure to be the gay christian poster boy proved too much. We can only hope that he will kick his drinking addiction and while he's at it make the change from his sinful homosexuality. . .
-- excerpt from DL Foster's blog
By simply being "the first", Bishop Robinson has subjected himself to enormous scrutiny, which probably contributed to drinking problem.
I have to admit that I'm a little jaded whenever I hear about the courageousness of 'the firsts' (the first women, the first racial minority, the first openly gay, the first disabled, etc.). I sometimes forget that being "the first" is not just a statistically significant event, but a testimony to overcoming real obstacles. Yesterday's exploitation of Robinson's admission is truly evidence of this.
Although we don't know all the details regarding Robinson's admission. I would argue that his ability to recognize his own unhealthy dependency and to openly seek treatment is a credit -- not a negative -- to his qualifications to be a religious leader. Although we would all like to believe religious leaders are Christ-like figures (or other perfect, supernatural beings), seeing how these people deal with real-life challenges is a more significant testimony to me.
2 comments:
It sucks that he can't just be flawed and human. He at least owned up to it, without needing to be caught in a scandal. I can see where just the job pressure would exacerbate the problem, too.
And people like DL Foster need to relearn what love and mercy mean, but we knew that already.
I shouldn't read DL Foster's bitter anti-gay blog -- let alone reference it. But sometimes I need a reality check into what goes through some people's minds.
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