Conservatives Protest Gay Bishop

Immediate and repeated threats of schism in the worldwide Anglican Church were the result of the U.S. Episcopal House of Bishops' 62-45 vote to confirm the openly gay Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop coadjutor of the diocese of New Hampshire on Tuesday.

An American faction led by Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh spoke to the House of Bishops after Robinson's confirmation, rejecting the action and calling upon the high officials of the Anglican Communion, to which the U.S. Episcopal Church belongs, "to intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us."

A statement released Wednesday by the Anglican Church's leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, seemed to ask individuals not to react too quickly. "It is my hope that the church," Williams said, "... will have the opportunity to consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made in response."

The Episcopal Church has 2.3 million members. It is the U.S. branch of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion of churches in 164 countries. Since Robinson's nomination in June, threats of a church split have been heard most vocally from conservative Anglican dioceses in Asia and Africa, where church membership is growing most quickly.

Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, is one of Robinson's most outspoken critics. "We are astonished that such a high-level convention ... should conspire to turn their back on the clear teaching of the Bible on the matter of human sexuality. The present development compels us to begin to think of the nature of our future relationship," he stated.

Robinson's spokesman, Mike Barwell, told the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network that Robinson consistently said he "doesn't see any reason for anyone to leave the church," and has been making efforts to speak with anyone who wanted to discuss the issue.

Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion, argued during debates that when she was consecrated, there were similar threats of schism.

"I remember the dire predictions made at the time of my own election," she said. "And while there has been some impaired communion," the church has held.

"I've said before it's not God who is on a learning curve," Robinson said in his first statement after his confirmation. "It is we who are on a learning curve, and today the Episcopal Church said that one of the things it's beginning to learn is that gay and lesbian people have a place in this wonderful church of ours."