Subject: PRESS RELEASE

DEATH OF WYOMING MAN PROMPTS BIBLICAL STUDY TO REFUTE ANGLICAN BISHOPS' STAND ON HOMOSEXUALITY.

SAN FRANCISCO (Saturday, Oct. 17)--The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, today called for a new study of the Bible on matters relating to homosexuality.

"When Matthew Shepard was pistol whipped and strapped to a deer fence in Wyoming, allegedly by Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, the Bible is blatantly clear in its judgment," said Bishop Swing.

Speaking to more than 500 delegates to the 149th Diocesan Convention at Grace Cathedral, the bishop said that a literal and uninterpreted reading of Leviticus 20:13 "would find Shepard guilty of an abomination for being gay" and his murderers "justified in their actions." "That's how wrong this is," the bishop said.

Last August a worldwide conference of Anglican and Episcopal bishops overwhelmingly passed a resolution stating "homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture."

"I have a deep conviction that Lambeth erred in its understanding of Holy Scripture and its understanding of homosexual people," said the bishop. "It is important for the Anglican Communion to hear from us on this subject."

While the Anglican bishops affirmed gays and lesbians to be full members of the Church, Bishop Swing said the resolution was similar to saying we must love the sinner but hate the sin.

"Biblical blood lust is stronger than mild resolutions about compassion," said the bishop.

"The Bishop of the Diocese of California does not believe that an appeal to a few passages of Leviticus should take precedence over all (biblical) wisdom," he said.

He proposed to the representatives of the 38,000 Episcopalians in the five county diocese of the Bay Area that a several month theological and biblical study be undertaken. And that at the conclusion of the study a final statement be presented to the diocese and to the 66,000,000 Anglicans worldwide.

"I do not believe that it is right for the Church to side with the forces that dehumanize and demonize homosexuals and rob them of their God-given dignity," he said. "And I do believe that in the life, teaching, and Spirit of Jesus Christ, we will at last be led to wholeness in recognizing heterosexuals and homosexuals as children of God."

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