Saturday, January 05, 2008

Asian Episcopalians Face Growing Church Splits
By: Doug Chan
Jan 04, 2008

The
Episcopal Church, which traces its roots to the Church of England, is one of the oldest Christian denominations serving the United States and the Bay Area Asian community. For years, comedians made fun of the church, calling it the denomination of “Republicans praying together.”

But over the past several decades, the church has shed its image as the exclusive province of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Citing the growing liberalism of the national church in tolerating the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy (including the nation’s first openly gay bishop, Eugene Robinson of New Hampshire), some dioceses and parishes in conservative parts of the United States have talked openly about breaking away from the nation’s Episcopal Church and affiliating themselves with more conservative elements of the worldwide Anglican Communion, particularly in Africa. The rumblings about the departure of churches in Savannah, Ga., and Pittsburgh, Pa., and Texas have made national headlines during the past year.
the rest

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