Evangelicals started to notice Calvin Robinson in 2023, when his debate speech at the Oxford Society went viral:
"The church should absolutely be inclusive. Christ spent time with tax collectors and prostitutes, but it is they who went away changed, not Christ," he pointed out.
"Stop teaching about diversity, inclusion, and equality, and get back to teaching about redemption and salvation. This is spiritual neglect," he said. "You do not have the authority to bless sin. Bishops are promoting the idea of sacramental sodomy. Let them be anathema. Repent."
Robinson has served under five different church jurisdictions across the span of as many years, including the Church of England, the Free Church of England, the Nordic Catholic Church, the Anglican Catholic Church, and now the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Jeff Walton of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) says losing his nine-day-old license to deliver the sacraments to his congregation was just Robinson's latest defrocking.
"When people continue to move through different employers rapidly, that indicates that something might be amiss that we should take a look at," Walton suggests.
In this case, Robinson's knack for saying uncomfortable things – and perhaps his support of Donald Trump – appear to have poisoned his postings. He is accused of not being Christ-like and not meeting the standard of the permanent licensed clergy.
"Ultimately, Calvin is going to have to choose," Walton submits. "Is he going to be chiefly a clergyman, or is he chiefly going to be a conservative media personality?"
Walton thinks the cleric can succeed along either path.
"I hope that in Calvin's next project, as he makes a decision of what lane he's going to function in, that God uses him effectively in that lane," he tells AFN.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Robinson appeared to question whether God is calling him to leave the ministry altogether.
"Perhaps God is sending me a message," he wrote.
