Bishop accuses church of manipulating summit over 'tolerance guide' to gay clergy

Riazat Butt/religious affairs correspondent
The Guardian
Friday July 25 2008

A US bishop yesterday accused his own church of manipulating the Lambeth summit by providing its 125 representatives with briefing notes explaining how to promote liberal attitudes towards gay clergy.

The US Episcopal church has the largest presence at Lambeth, a once-a-decade gathering of the world's Anglican bishops in Canterbury, and has provided each prelate with a "messaging strategy" that tells them how to present a cogent, persuasive argument in favour of diversity and tolerance in their discussions with other bishops.

Liberals form the majority voice in the US church and are eager to liberalise attitudes towards sexuality, given the divisive furore that has ensued following the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.

The document handed out to the Episcopal church's Lambeth contingent encourages bishops to promote the idea of diversity by using examples from the Bible and scripture.

"God made a diverse creation who reveals many gifts but the same spirit. Jesus calls a diverse witness into being and sends them into witness. St Paul called a diverse church to unity in Christ." the rest