Episcopal Diocese Secedes over Role of Gays

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17049512

[NPR] 17 Dec 2007--An Episcopal diocese in central California voted Saturday to split with the national church over disagreements about the role of gays and lesbians in the church.

Clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173-22 at their annual convention to remove all references to the national church from the diocese's constitution, according to spokeswoman Joan Gladstone.

The Fresno-based congregation is the first full diocese to secede because of a conservative-liberal rift that began decades ago and is now focused on whether the Bible condemns gay relationships.

David Steinmetz, professor of the History of Christianity at Duke University, talks to Andrea Seabrook about the rift.