Nigerian Warns of Split From British Church
Rift Between Anglicans Over Homosexuality Could Be Mended, Archbishop Says
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 30, 2005; Page A14

ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 29 -- Nigeria's top Anglican Church official warned Thursday that his 17.5 million members would have to sever their historic ties to the Church of England if it followed the lead of the U.S. Episcopal Church by accepting a gay bishop or otherwise condoning homosexuality.

Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, the leader of traditionalist forces in the Nigerian church, said its constitution had been rewritten this month in order to give its officials the freedom to break away if the British church adopted what he called a "revisionist agenda on homosexuality."

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