A conference of
Anglican leaders opened Wednesday in Dar Es Salaam,
Tanzania, as the 77 million-member church
struggles with a potentially disastrous fight over the
Bible and sexuality. ''I anticipate this will be a
very difficult meeting,'' said Canon Jim Rosenthal, a
spokesman for the conference of the world's third-largest
church body. ''The basic issue here is what to do
about those who decided they don't want to stay in the
main Anglican body.''
Splits between Anglican liberals and
conservatives have been growing for years. The
struggle reached a crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church,
the U.S. wing of the global Anglican Communion, consecrated
its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New
Hampshire. The problems mounted in 2006 with the
election of Katharine Jefferts Schori, who supports
ordaining gays and is the first female leader of the U.S. church.
Conservative Anglicans are demanding that the
group take a stand against homosexuality, and some
have threatened to refuse to sit with Jefferts Schori
at this week's meeting. The six-day conference has drawn the
presiding bishops of 38 provinces in the worldwide Anglican
Communion. Some of the bishops, known as primates,
have already broken their ties with the American church.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams,
the spiritual leader of the communion, has struggled
to hold off one of the biggest meltdowns in
Christianity in centuries, but he lacks any direct authority
to force a compromise.
Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible's
social justice teachings take precedence over its view
of sexuality. However, most Anglicans outside the
United States believe same-sex relationships are sinful, and
they are distancing themselves from the U.S. church.
(Elizabeth A. Kennedy, AP)
