Anglican sees 'unilateral departure' from tenets of faith

Via TitusOneNine (the back-up site):

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 7/17/2009 4:30:00

A conservative Anglican theologian says the new theology being embraced the Episcopal Church is leading young people astray and solidifying the denomination's break with Anglicans across the globe.



The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States voted overwhelmingly this week to allow the appointment to all orders of ministry of people in same-sex relationships, a move that further distances the denomination from the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

Dr. Kendall Harmon, Canon Theologian for The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, calls the vote a "unilateral departure from the Christian faith and practice."

"It's a continued intransigent insistence on their own way in the face of repeated requests by all the Anglican instruments of communion, most recently the Archbishop of Canterbury [Rowan Williams], who in the midst of the debate said after the House of Deputies voted and before the bishops voted, that he thought it was an unfortunate vote because it was going to further hurt the unity of the Communion," he notes. "And nevertheless, the bishops went ahead and clearly overturned any kind of meaningful moratorium."

Harmon says the Episcopal Church is creating further confusion about the nature of the Christian life at a time when many young people need "examples of wholeness and how to use the gift of sexuality properly."