Lambeth must-reads: GQ, Harper's, et al.

I'm in the Berkshires this weekend, and catching up on a some slightly dated Lambeth-related reading. If you're interested in the debate over homosexuality that's roiling the Anglican Communion, it's worth checking out GQ's very intimate profile of New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson (above), whose sexuality has led to talk of schism. An excerpt:

"He knew only that when he was 12 and a buddy produced a Playboy, the half-dozen boys who gathered to gaze were awakened, electrified, and he wasn’t, and that it could be dangerous, perhaps physically, to point out this contrast. The Playboy brought a half clarity: He realized he was afraid, and that—even if he couldn’t name the thing he feared—he had always been afraid."

And in Harper's Magazine, Garret Keizer, once the lay vicar at an Episcopal church in Vermont, takes a deep, thoughtful, and personal look at the fight over gay rights in the church. An excerpt:

"Some will find the idea of American conservatives using foreign bishops to support the interests of a white male hegemony in the Episcopal Church altogether preposterous, though it is perhaps no more preposterous—or less effective—than using the votes and tax dollars of working-class Americans to further the interests of the corporations that take away their jobs. It’s the old drill of building a network, capitalizing on the most divisive issues, and locating the funds."

On the somewhat lighter front, Globe columnist Alex Beam offers a humorous but tough take on Lambeth in today's paper.

And, for those of you who missed it, the Colbert Report also weighed in on Lambeth this week. You can find the clip below.

(photo by Reuters, of Bishop Gene Robinson in the exhibition hall at the Lambeth Conference, where he is spending his time because he has been barred from attending the meetings with the other bishops; he is not allowed inside because he is gay and partnered.)