For world Anglicans, a semi-schism

From World Magazine:

THIS WEEK | "Home again" July 12, 2008

Religion: Conservative bishops form breakaway movement at last | Richard N. Ostling

The Anglican Communion, one of the world's largest Christian bodies, is veering in an unpredictable but potentially historic new direction as the result of conservatives' Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem.

The proximate reason for the June 22-29 event was approval for same-sex relationships in two of Anglicanism's 38 self-governing provinces, the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, and Anglican leaders' failure to impose any discipline. The situation exploded with the consecration of partnered U.S. gay Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003. However, Jerusalem participants insisted, the fundamental issue is not homosexuality but rejection of "the authority of God's Word written" and of Christian tradition.

But GAFCON is no limp compromise. The declaration rejected bishops and churches that proclaim a "false gospel" in which "all religions offer equal access to God" and "a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behavior" are treated as human rights. Because existing "instruments" that unite and lead Anglicanism have failed, GAFCON stated, the crisis requires "realignment."

The new movement will be led by a council of the primates (bishops) who head conservative Anglican provinces, starting with Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, West Africa, southernmost South America, and probably Tanzania, with hopes to enlist other nations. Australia's large Sydney diocese is solidly on board. Right after GAFCON, nearly 800 Church of England clergy and laity met in London to discuss joining the movement, which is backed by England's prominent, Pakistan-born Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali.

Dramatically ignoring Anglican tradition against overlapping jurisdictions, GAFCON hierarchs will jointly establish a new North American province to rally some 300 dissenting congregations that recently quit The Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada, plus hundreds more from earlier breakaways. These fellowships will include those who both allow and forbid women clergy.

The spiritual leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, personifies what GAFCON considers an outdated "colonial structure." GAFCON acknowledged Canterbury as "an historic see" but added, "We do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury."