Lambeth 2008: Negotiating the terms of divorce

http://geoconger.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/lambeth-2008-negotiating-the-terms-of-divorce-ird-72908/

[George Conger] 1 Aug 2008--The Anglican Communion has foundered and is ready to sink beneath the waves, bishops attending the 14th Lambeth Conference tell the IRD.

Charges of dishonesty and ignorance were exchanged during the first week of the conference, a gathering of the bishops of the Anglican Communion in Canterbury, England, that occurs every ten years. Attempts by the leader of the 80-million member church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, to steer the church clear of the shoals of schism appears to have failed.

While a week remains for the bishops to put aside their differences and come to a common mind on the issues dividing the church, there is little indication that either side is ready to sacrifice its principles for the sake of political expediency.

Liberal American bishops have urged the church to give it an opportunity to explain its evolving stance on homosexuality, while conservatives have called for the cessation the consecration of gay clergy and a halt to blessings of same sex unions or gay marriages.

“I’d like to expect a miracle,” said Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina, a leader of the evangelical alliance at Lambeth, but said he feared the prospects for the church holding together were slight.