Conservative U.S. Episcopal leaders head to Dallas this week for a meeting that could split the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion -- churches spiritually tied to the Church of England -- over the American church's acceptance of gay rights.
Members of the American Anglican Council -- an alliance of bishops, clergy, and more than 400 American Episcopal churches committed to "preserving biblical orthodoxy" -- will gather Tuesday through Thursday to map out a plan to disassociate themselves from the 2.3 million member Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA).
The group also plans to draft an emergency appeal to international Anglican church leaders, known as primates, to discipline the American church.
In August the Episcopal Church voted at its convention in Minneapolis to approve as bishop-elect of New Hampshire the Rev. Gene Robinson, a 56-year-old gay priest who is divorced and the father of two grown daughters.
The convention also approved a resolution acknowledging that gay union ceremonies are being conducted throughout the United States with the approval of some bishops.
Conservatives believe that homosexuality is uniformly condemned in the Bible and therefore the Episcopal Church in its votes abandoned 2000 years of Christian tradition. "What people need to understand is that we haven't gone anywhere, but the Episcopal Church has left us, they have left the apostolic faith, and they have left the Anglican communion," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon of South Carolina, an AAC member and conservative leader at the August convention.
Liberal Episcopalians believe the Bible is not to be taken literally, said the Rev. Susan Russell, who heads two groups working to fully include gays and lesbians in the Church.
"Our tradition tells us that our understanding of God's revelation has indeed changed on a number of issues over the years. There was a time when biblical passages were used to (approve of) slavery and the oppression of women," she said.
THREAT TO SEVER TIES
Following the American vote several of the world's 38 international primates -- mostly from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America -- threatened to sever ties with the American church and threw their support behind the AAC.
The primates have been called to London for an emergency meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams on Oct. 15 and 16 to discuss the issue.
Williams, who serves as the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, predicted after the convention, "Difficult days lie ahead for the Anglican Church. It is my hope that the church in America and the rest of the Anglican Communion will have the opportunity to consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made in response."
Williams has no direct power to impose sanctions on the Episcopal Church, control its finances, or reverse its decisions. He does, however, ultimately choose which Anglican churches are in communion with him. He can also ban the American Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold from meetings and committees, experts said.
Robinson, who is scheduled to be consecrated as New Hampshire's bishop in early November, has rejected calls from conservatives that he withdraw from consideration to prevent a breakup of the church, as a gay clergyman, the Rev. Jeffrey Johns, did recently in England.
Griswold voted in favor of Robinson's consecration and has said publicly that he does not believe the Bible uniformly condemns homosexual behavior. In a letter to primates issued Friday, Griswold said he believed the controversial vote related to same-sex unions "simply recognizes the reality of a variety of local pastoral practices, without either endorsing or condemning" them.