Purple-shirted flatulence: Schism is better than heresy

Saturday August 9, 2008
Mark Dawes, Religion Editor

Five years ago this week, V. Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual clergyman, secured enough votes from the Episcopal Church in the United States to become the Bishop of New Hampshire.

It was a landmark decision. But that appointment also served to create serious and seemingly irrevocable splits in the Anglican communion worldwide.

That infamous anniversary happened this year during the 2008 Lambeth Conference of (Anglican) Bishops, July 16-August 3. The conference, which is held on the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent, is a forum where Anglican bishops and archbishops from all over the world meet once a decade to fellowship principally in prayer and Bible study. At the end of the meeting a release was issued reflecting the thoughts of the bishops. Resolutions are also passed, but these are non-binding. the rest