Episcopal bishop's column posted on pornographic site

By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, June 8, 2000 Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, who denies the Jesus of the Bible and refutes most of the other Scripture as well, has begun making his pitch from a pornographic web site. Bishop Spong Jack Heidenry, editor of the pornographic site, was quoted by Reuters as saying that Spong was given a one-year contract for a column titled "The Religious Write." Heidenry formerly edited theology books. Spong began his sojourn on the porn site with a column about the Ten Commandments, declaring that they are chauvinistic. "When one looks at the Ten Commandments closely, the anti-female bias is clear,'' Spong writes. Bishop Spong "The Ten Commandments by our standards are not as moral as once thought," he said. "This interesting bit of irony is still not grasped by many religious teachers who continue to quote the Ten Commandments to affirm their own oppressive and usually anti-woman religious standards." Forum in PCUSA churches Despite his views, Spong has been granted a forum in a number of Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations, including Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago where former moderator John Buchanan is senior minister. Buchanan is one of the founders of the Covenant Network, an organization committed to eliminating the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard in the PCUSA Constitution. Heidenry says e-mail response to Spong's column has come from those who believe the bishop is "going to hell" and from those who support his views. Most of the supporters, Heidenry says, are gays and lesbians. The first edition of the pornographic web site listed Spong among "The 100 Most Important People in Sex." He was described as an Episcopal bishop "who pioneered ordination of gay and lesbian priests" and "… challenges prevailing sexual morality." This is not the first incident in which there has been a link between religion and pornography. The National Network of Presbyterian College Women, a PCUSA organization, once sponsored a web site that included links that led to pornographic sites. The Network also published literature that advocated homosexual relations. Network reprimanded The General Assembly reprimanded the group, placed it on probation for three years and prohibited reproduction of its controversial literature. Spong has been outspoken in favor of unfettered sexual expression as a component of religion. He says in his first porn site column, "Everywhere we look sex and religion appear to be linked. Perhaps there is something about these two aspects of our life that go together better than the proverbial horse and carriage mentioned in that song familiar to us all."

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