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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Riazat Butt

The Anglican Communion is in mighty flux

A revolving door policy at the Anglican Communion means there are more comings and goings than Piccadilly Circus.

Bitter wrangling between Macca and Mucca at the Royal Courts of Justice has entertained the papers for months.

But for an even more acrimonious, public and protracted break-up, however, look to the Anglican Communion, which has been teetering towards the brink of schism since 2003, when the US Episcopal Church had the nerve to ordain a gay man, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire.

The last five years have seen hostilities flying between conservative factions and their liberal brethren. But, with crunch time approaching in the form of the Lambeth conference, the defections and u-turns are coming thick and fast.

At the start of this week it was reported that the Ugandan church threatened to leave the Communion if the Americans refused to condemn homosexuality, now the Ugandans have said they were misrepresented.

The proposed anti-Lambeth conference, GAFCON, was to be held in Jerusalem but organisers have now 'rearranged' the event, possibly because of Bishop Dawani's intervention and thinly veiled ultimatum.

This week some Canadian churches have turned their backs on their national Anglican family and aligned themselves with the Southern Cone, which is not an ice cream but a cabal of conservative Anglican provinces that are, broadly speaking, in the southern hemisphere although anyone opposed to homosexuality can join.

The bishop of Brazil has rubbished the new conservative movement and has reiterated his support for the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Church Society, on the other hand, has snubbed Rowan. There are five months left until Lambeth, but will anyone be talking to each other?

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