Episcopalians vote today on split from U.S.

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/146092.html

[The Modesto Bee] 8 Dec 2007--The Red Church looks quaint and picturesque in its location at the end of Sonora's main street. But its two-year-old sign replacing the word "Episcopal" with "Anglican" -- St. James Anglican Church -- signifies the battle heating up throughout the country regarding homosexual bishops and biblical interpretation in the Episcopal Church USA.

The fight will get hotter today. Lay and clergy delegates to the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin are expected to vote this morning on constitutional amendments that would position the diocese to become the first in the country to leave the oversight of the Episcopal Church USA and align instead with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

In the Episcopal Church, constitutional amendments must be voted on at two conventions. Last year's vote, which required only a simple majority, passed overwhelmingly, by about 86 percent. But this one could be closer. Today's second vote requires a two-thirds majority among clergy and lay delegates. If either group fails to reach that margin, the amendments fail.

"I think the percent is going to be less this time," said the Rev. Wolfgang Krismanits of the Sonora church. "I do think we'll have enough votes, but anything can happen. It's too close to call at this point."

Krismanits supports Bishop John-David Schofield's lead in moving away from the national body, which in 2003 ordained an openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire, and last year selected Katharine Jefferts Schori as U.S. presiding bishop. Jefferts Schori has stated publicly that she approves of homosexual priests and bishops, that the Bible may not be the inerrant word of God and that there is more than one way to heaven than through Jesus.