Religious Left

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent Telegraph.co.uk Liberals will be warned that they face being expelled from the heart of Anglicanism unless they respect the ban, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. The American church caused deep divisions between conservatives and liberals when it consecrated Gene Robinson as the first openly homosexual Anglican bishop in 2003. There have been reports that it is prepared to consecrate more gay bishops while the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told this newspaper that he would be willing to do the same. The proposal to ban future consecrations is the most significant move yet over the issue. The paper, which was commissioned by Dr Rowan Williams, will be debated by 650 bishops tomorrow at the Lambeth conference in Canterbury, the once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican Communion. full article

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent The Times UK The Bishop of New Hampshire, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, is to defy the Archbishop of Canterbury by turning up uninvited at Canterbury for the Lambeth conference this week. The Times has learnt that the crisis is likely to worsen, whatever is decided at the conference, because the Episcopal Church of the US plans to overturn its pledge not to consecrate any more openly gay or lesbian bishops. The US church, which will dominate the conference with 125 bishops attending, is expected then to elect rapidly and consecrate a further five or six such bishops. Bishop Robinson, speaking to The Times at St Mary's Church, Putney, before preaching there last night, said “When young men are knifing each other on the streets of London and a billion or more people are living on less than $1 a day, why is the Anglican Communion tearing itself apart over two men wanting to make a Christian family together?” Adding that he was totally orthodox on d...

A row erupted yesterday after it emerged the Archbishop of Canterbury kept the details of a communion service for gay clergy so secret that he failed to inform the Bishop of London it was taking place in his diocese. Dr Rowan Williams reignited the row that is causing divisions within the Anglican Church after agreeing to hold a Eucharist for homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender clergy. Details of the service, attended by around 100 people, emerged yesterday, with the Archbishop said to have spoken openly about the future for gay people in the church. The service was held at the end of last year (2007) in All Hallows by the Tower, a 7th Century church in the City of London, after the original venue, the liberal St Peter's Church in Belgravia, was "outed" on a hostile website.

John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, is a long-standing champion of gay rights in the church and recently caused controversy by criticising the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, over his attempts to find a compromise with conservative elements in the Anglican communion. As well as backing gay clergy, he claims the Virgin Mary may have been a rape victim, believes Jesus was married and says the resurrection should not be taken literally. Bishop Spong will speak on Thursday at 7.30pm at St Mark's Unitarian Church, Castle Terrace. Tickets are £10, obtainable by contacting info@pcnetworkbritain.org.uk

Source: Stand Firm Now that the Church has had some time to absorb and consider the recent meeting of the House of Bishops in New Orleans and its response to the Anglican Communion, I’d like to share with you what I experienced at the recent House of Bishops meeting, and where I think we are as a result. There is NO “mind of the House” nor a “mind of the Episcopal Church.” In fact, we are a House and a Church of many different minds. We are in transition from the Church we have been called to be in the past, to the Church we are called to be now and in the future. We are not there yet. I want to tell you what I said to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the course of his comments, it seemed to me that the Archbishop was drawing a line between fidelity to our gay and lesbian members, and fidelity to the “process of common discernment,” which he had offered as a prime function of a bishop. I heard him saying that gay and lesbian members of our Church would simply have to wait until ther...

Peter Akinola, Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), yesterday rejected assurances by U.S. Anglican Bishops to halt ordination of gay bishops. Akinola described the assurances as "not a whole-hearted embrace of traditional Christian teaching. Instead of the change of heart (repentance) we sought, what we were offered was a mere temporary adjustment," he said in a statement. In a bid to save its members in the U.S. from churches who support homosexuality, Akinola floated a branch to cater for them. The branch known as Convocation of Anglican in North America (CANA) will consecrate an additional four bishops this December.

U.S. Episcopal bishops, fed up with Anglican criticism of their support for gay priests, implored the Anglican spiritual leader to hear their side of the story -- in person. Starting Thursday, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will be in New Orleans for that private talk, hoping he can hold together the increasingly fractured world Anglican family. Williams arrives in the U.S. facing a real danger that the global Anglican Communion could break up on his watch. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-anglican-crisis,0,7650946.story .

Sept. 6, 2007 Dear Rowan, I am delighted that you have agreed to meet with the House of Bishops of the American Episcopal Church in September, even if you appear to be unwilling to come alone. It has seemed strange that you, who have had so much to say about the American Church, have not been willing to do so before now. Your office is still honored by Episcopalians in this country, so our bishops will welcome you warmly and politely. We have some amazingly competent men and women in that body, many of whom have not yet met you. There is clearly an estrangement between that body and you in your role as the Archbishop of Canterbury. I want to share with you my understanding of the sources of that estrangement. First, I believe that most of our senior bishops, including me, were elated, at your appointment by Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Most Americans are not aware that yours is an appointed, not an elected position. Those of us who knew you were keenly aware of yo...

The openly gay Bishop V Gene Robinsonin the US has accused African critics who describe homosexuals as "worse than beasts" of using the kind of language once employed in the United States to justify slavery. Bishop Robinson's 2003 consecration in the US Episcopal Church has deeply divided the worldwide Anglican Communion on the issue of homosexuality. "Coming out of the experience of the United States where we treated people who came from Africa as less than human and used scripture to justify slavery and bondage, it is painful to me. But we did repent," Robinson said in an interview broadcast by BBC radio on 28 August. "I think some people in Africa are using the same thinking, in some sense, about gay and lesbian people." Bishop Robinson said, however, "I believe Peter Akinola believes he is following his call to God as best he can. I just wish he could believe that I am following my call as best I can." Some bishops from the Global South ...