Smear Tactic

The Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C. should be ashamed. Here, he writes a piece essentially accusing traditionalists of homophobia.

He excoriates the primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria for throwing his influence behind a law that

criminalizes same-sex marriage in his country and denies gay citizens the freedoms to assemble and petition their government. The law also infringes upon press and religious freedom by authorizing Nigeria's government to prosecute newspapers that publicize same-sex associations and religious organizations that permit same-sex unions.

In doing so, the Episcopal bishop is quite right. The law sounds deplorable. Declaring gay marriage invalid -- as many states have done -- is quite different from criminalizing it (if that indeed is true; sadly, many left-wing Episcopal leaders seem to have a history of hyperbole).

That being said, simply because Nigeria's primate is supporting some objectionable laws in his own country doesn't render invalid his objections to the hijacking of the Episcopal Church by radicals. And the bishop's effort to insinuate that American Episcopal traditionalists are sympathetic to a systematic effort to deny homosexuals basic civil rights is unconscionable.

Speaking of intolerance, the bishop of Washington, D.C. should look to himself and his ideological soulmates. For they, too, are attempting to stigmatize any viewpoints with which they disagree -- within their own church.

Oppression is ugly, whether it is being visited upon homosexuals or traditionalists (albeit in a subtler, much less virulent form).