split break away

theist · August 4, 2003

Gay Bishop Row May Spark Worldwide Schism

The leader of the biggest church in the worldwide Anglican communion yesterday deepened the crisis over homosexuality when he threatened to split with the Church of England if it proceeds with the consecration of its first gay bishop. Archbishop Peter Akinola, leader of the 17.5...

By Guardian Newspapers, 6/19/2003

The leader of the biggest church in the worldwide Anglican communion yesterday deepened the crisis over homosexuality when he threatened to split with the Church of England if it proceeds with the consecration of its first gay bishop.

Archbishop Peter Akinola, leader of the 17.5 million-strong church in Nigeria, who has declared homosexuality to be an abomination, warned he would precipitate a schism if Canon Jeffrey John becomes suffragan bishop of Reading.

There were fears last night that more than a dozen other churches in developing countries would follow Nigeria's lead if it divides the 70 million-strong worldwide communion between the developed and the developing world.

The Church Mission Society has warned that its missionary work could be threatened in such circumstances.

The prospect of a schism within months of taking office is a huge challenge for Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is also head of the worldwide communion.

Known to be personally sympathetic to gays, he is pledged to uphold church rules and has so far kept his head down, apart from issuing a statement three weeks ago regretting the division caused by a decision by the Canadian diocese of New Westminster to authorise a same sex blessing service.

Archbishop Akinola's outburst represents an extraordinary interference in the affairs of a national church by a primate of another country and came despite an assurance from Canon John that, although he remains in a 27-year partnership, he is now celibate.

Archbishop Akinola told BBC radio: "We claim we are Bible-loving Christians. We cannot be seen to be doing things clearly outside the boundaries allowable in the Bible. This is only the beginning. We would sever relationships with anybody, anywhere... anyone who strays over the boundaries we are out with them. It is as simple as that."

Nigeria and 12 other provinces from developing countries have already declared themselves to be in "impaired communion" with the Canadian diocese and they may take similar action against New Hampshire in the US, which elected the first bishop in an openly gay relationship.

The provinces include the West Indies, the Southern Cone (South America), Central Africa, Kenya, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Uganda, West Africa, the Indian Ocean, Congo and Sudan.

Canon John's declaration wrong-footed his English critics. Nine Church of England diocesan bishops said they would "rejoice" if the canon was merely in a same sex relationship of companionship and sexual abstinence - precisely how he has now described himself. He said of his relationship: "We have been together for 27 years and we will remain together. But the relationship has not been sexually expressed for years."

The vicar of the parish of Pangbourne, outside Reading, where the bishop will have his home, also expressed strong reservations about his arrival. The Rev John Staples told the BBC: "It raises the question of the authority of the church... I think there is a real danger of splitting the communion."

The threat of a split will alarm church leaders who have struggled to retain a facade of unity on the issue of homosexuality.

Archbishop Akinola himself came under fire from the pages of the Church Times newspaper last night when a correspondent with a shared parish in Nigeria pointed out local tribal practices of polygamy and human sacrifice. The Rev Mark Williams wrote: "The archbishop's faithfulness to scripture at home is far more a cause for question and concern than anything going on here or in Canada... We cannot be held hostage to such double standards."

Jewish Liberal Synagogues have agreed to sanction blessing services for gay Jewish couples. The Jewish Chronicle today says the liberal movement has agreed to sanction synagogue commitment services.

I_love_krishna_ · August 4, 2003

Why can't they realize that it is time for people to stop giving attention to homosexuality.

Blame the media, it is reason for these sorts of issues to come up and plague the church.

If there is no light given to this issue, then it will not shine in this world and will not get attention.

With out any one paying attention to it and with free conscience , the abnormal condition will cease to exist.

If there is more attention payed to it, then more homosexuals will pop up in the future and the whole society will fall.

But why can't the media realize that they are serving the snake by putting these issues in front of the public?

theist · August 5, 2003

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 4 — Episcopal bishops indefinitely postponed their vote Monday on whether to approve the church’s first openly gay elected bishop while last-minute allegations of inappropriate conduct are investigated.

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‘My personal experience with him is he does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men.’

— E-MAIL ACCUSING BISHOP-ELECT

THE ADVANCEMENT OF the Rev. V. Gene Robinson to bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire had been approved Sunday by the church’s House of Deputies, a legislative body composed of clergy and lay people, setting the stage for Monday’s final vote by the 106-member House of Bishops.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold postponed the final vote Monday afternoon, saying in a statement that he had appointed the bishop of Western Massachusetts, the Rev. Gordon B. Scruton, to investigate “questions [that] have been raised and brought to my attention regarding the bishop-elect.”

E-MAILED ACCUSATION

Griswold said nothing about the nature of the allegations, but in an e-mail message obtained by NBC News, Robinson was accused Sunday of “homosexual harassment” by a Vermont man.

“My personal experience with him is he does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men,” said the message, which was sent to Bishop Thomas Ely of Vermont by a man identified as David Lewis. “I believe this is an alarming weakness of character that alone makes Gene unsuitable for the office of bishop.”

In the message, the man identified as Lewis says of Robinson: “He put his hands on me inappropriately every time I engaged him in conversation. ... I am a straight man reporting homosexual harassment by a gay male priest from another diocese.”

James Solheim, director of the church-run Episcopal News Service, told MSNBC TV that Griswold was apprised of the message Sunday.

Solheim said the church’s investigation would also include scrutiny of separate concerns raised about the Web site of Outright, a secular outreach program for gay and bisexual youth that Robinson helped found, which was accused of linking to pornography.

Bishops learned of that claim from David Virtue, a conservative Anglican activist and writer who has been among the harshest critics of Robinson and of Episcopal gay activists. Virtue told The Associated Press that a bishop whom he would not identify alerted him to the link.

Mo Baxley, a member of the board of directors of Outright, which is based in Concord, N.H., said Robinson had not been involved with the group for several years and had no role in developing its Web page.

The Web site, which is targeted at users in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, did not appear to carry any material that could be described as pornographic when it was reviewed Monday by MSNBC.com.

The areas devoted to Central Maine and Concord, N.H., had identical home pages, except that a link to a page of external organizations on the Maine page was not on the New Hampshire page.

A Robinson supporter, the Rev. Susan Russell, told Reuters that the links showed up six months ago without Robinson’s knowledge and had been removed.

The version of the page on the Maine area does include links to other Web sites, including one that features profanity on its home page and another that can direct users to sexually explicit material, which appeared to be the specific link that Virtue found objectionable. Those links were still available Monday night in some of the site’s Maine pages.

SUPPORTERS STUNNED

In New Hampshire, other supporters of Robinson said the accusations left them flabbergasted.

‘If any of this proved true I would be stunned. To me it sounds like dirty politics. This is so close to the end that I don’t know.’

— THE REV. DAVID JONES

Co-chairman of screening committee The Rev. David Jones, rector of St. Paul’s Church in Concord and co-chairman of the search committee that reviewed Robinson’s background, told The Associated Press that all candidates for bishop underwent an extensive check.

“If any of this proved true I would be stunned,” Jones said. “To me it sounds like dirty politics. This is so close to the end that I don’t know.”

The Rev. R. Cassius L. Webb of St. Luke’s Church in Charlestown and Union Church in Claremont called the announcement “a desperate delaying tactic. It’s one of those things where sometimes people in the church think they’re doing God’s will and will do strange things.

“I cannot imagine that there’s anything in it,” Webb said.

Hopkins told reporters earlier that he was disappointed but hoped the eleventh-hour accusation would not derail Robinson’s installation, which was already uncertain.

Informal surveys of the bishops had indicated that Robinson would be ratified and that as many as a quarter of the bishops would walk out or otherwise protest his advancement.

Like-minded bishops in the worldwide Anglican Communion have said they, too, would consider severing ties with the U.S. church over Robinson. A large exodus of conservatives could weaken the denomination and spark a bitter fight over parish property and funds.