For those of us who grew up lacking a father figure, there’s openly gay Episcopalian bishop Gene Robinson.

Gene always seems to have the right answer to moral questions, and his sermons are inspiring and insightful—even if you grew up hating the tedium and backwardness of Sunday mass. Queerty chatted with Gene and Macky Alston at the Sundance Film Festival last week about helping the gay community to find faith, the landmark decision of the American Anglican Church to allow gay bishops in 2009, and what’s next for gay people and organized religion. Macky has been filming Robinson for the past four years for the documentary Love Free Or Die (right), which premiered at the festival and won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change.

On whether the Catholic Church at large will allow gay bishops anytime soon, Robinson is hesitant to state a timeline, but he does say that Christianity, Islam and Judaism will appear “increasingly irrelevant” if they continue to distance themselves from the LGBT community.

“I’m of the opinion that the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in the church, the mosque, and the synagogue is inevitable,” says Robinson. “All we’re talking about is timing. How long will it take to make that a reality? I believe that’s God’s will, and the church, the synagogue and the mosque may have gotten this wrong for this many years, but God has never gotten it wrong. God has always loved God’s gay children.”

Photo: Gillian Laub