Gene Robinson Quotes

• Sometimes there are things worth risking your life for. It was Jesus who said if you want to save your life, you have to lose it.

  Gene Robinson

  Jesus, Want, Sometimes

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• It seems to me, then, that vulnerability and and self-disclosure are at the heart of what we understand about the nature of God. And the reason I believe gay and lesbian people are spiritual people is that we too have participated in vulnerability and self-disclosure, especially in the process of coming-out. When someone shares with you who they really, really are, it is a special offering. To do so when it risks rejection is a profound, holy gift.

  Gene Robinson

  Spiritual, Believe, Heart

  Gene Robinson (2012). “God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage”, p.109, Vintage

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• I think there's a terrible price to be paid when your exterior life is not an honest reflection of your interior life.

  Gene Robinson

  Reflection, Thinking, Honest

  "'I'm not the gay bishop - I'm just the bishop'". Interview With Aida Edemariam, www.theguardian.com. August 28, 2009.

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• I believe God is doing a new thing in the world. God is always moving us to include more people in the kingdom. God has taught us that about people of color, about women, and now I think God is teaching that about gay and lesbian folk. And I am humbled and privileged that I might be playing a very small part in that grand and wonderful plan of God's.

  Gene Robinson

  Believe, Moving, Teaching

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• Faith is a dynamic and ever-changing process, not some fixed body of truth that exists outside our world and our understanding. God's truth may be fixed and unchanging, but our comprehension of that truth will always be partial and flawed at best.

  Gene Robinson

  Our World, Understanding God, Body

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• We love to talk about justice. It's the doing of justice that's hard...I believe it is work we are called to do

  Gene Robinson

  Believe, Justice, I Believe

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• I think people often come to the synagogue, mosque, the church looking for God, and what we give them is religion.

  Gene Robinson

  Thinking, People, Giving

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• I will always speak out when someone says that a principle or a rule or a tradition trumps people.

  Gene Robinson

  Speaks Out, People, Principles

  "Bishop Gene Robinson Extended Interview". Interview with Kim Lawton, www.pbs.org. April 22, 2008.

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• My conservative brothers and sisters seem to argue that God revealed everything to us in scripture. Ever since, it has simply been our difficult but straightforward task to conform ourselves to God's will revealed there and to repent when we are unable or unwilling to do so. For me, there is something static and lifeless in such a view of God. Could it be that even the Bible is too small a box in which to enclose God?

  Gene Robinson

  Brother, Views, Tasks

  "Face to faith" by Gene Robinson, www.theguardian.com. July 11, 2008.

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• Only God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Church has always been changing.

  Gene Robinson

  Yesterday, Church, Today

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• When you claim to have the truth, as opposed to the truth as you perceive it, then you move us toward a theocratic view of government.

  Gene Robinson

  Moving, Government, Views

  "Gene Robinson, Gay Bishop, Sets Sights On D.C. As Retirement Looms" by Jeffrey Macdonald, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 27, 2012.

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• It is at least a small comfort to me, as a gay rights and marriage equality advocate, to know that like any marriage, gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages between heterosexual couples.

  Gene Robinson

  Couple, Gay, Rights

  "First openly gay bishop Gene Robinson announces divorce from husband" by Martin Pengelly, www.theguardian.com. May 4, 2014.

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• Left to our own devices and passions, we human beings have a hard time seeing beyond what is immediately in front of us.

  Gene Robinson

  Passion, Hard Times, Devices

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• One of the joys of being a Christian or being a person of faith is that you believe deep down that death isn't the worst thing, you know. Not living your life: that's the worst thing. And death is not, it's not all it's cracked up to be. It's not, it's not the end of the world.

  Gene Robinson

  Christian, Believe, Joy

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• I think my election is one of several indications that gay and lesbian folk are being brought more into the center of things. I'd like to think that my election signals my bringing of gay and lesbian folk into the center of the church.

  Gene Robinson

  Gay, Thinking, Church

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• Historically speaking, institutions are slow to change and usually resistant to any sudden moves - churches especially so.

  Gene Robinson

  Moving, Church, Institutions

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• The state's interest in marriage is stability. Generally speaking, polygamy does not work for stability. Inherent in the whole polygamous movement is a deep and abiding misogyny and denigration of women. So polygamy is objectionable on lots of grounds.

  Gene Robinson

  Abiding, Doe, Movement

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• The bees learn where they live by landmarks. If they're moved within their home range, they get confused.

  Gene Robinson

  Confused, Home, Bees

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• I've long been really intrigued with what is the ... proper role of faith and religion in public life.

  Gene Robinson

  Long, Roles, Intrigued

  "Retired Bishop Gene Robinson On Being Gay And Loving God". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. January 10, 2013.

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• I'll be at Lambeth telling my story

  Gene Robinson

  Stories

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• There are enormously gifted Episcopal priests around this church who are gay and lesbian, some of whom are partnered, who would make wonderful bishops and they're going to be nominated and they're going to be elected.

  Gene Robinson

  Gay, Church, Bishops

  24 Copy quote

• Stability is why society has an interest in marriage.

  Gene Robinson

  Stability, Interest

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