Coastal Episcopal diocese votes for distancing from national church

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009
By Adam Parker
The (Charleston) Post and Courier

CHARLESTON -- Episcopal officials voted Saturday to distance the Diocese of South Carolina from the national church and engage other disaffected orthodox Episcopalians in response to recent church actions affirming the rights of gays and lesbians and to other theological concerns.

The resolutions presented at the special convention, held at Christ Episcopal Church in Mount Pleasant, were meant to reinforce the autonomy of the Diocese of South Carolina and assert a theology that, in the words of Bishop Mark Lawrence, rejects “the false gospel of indiscriminate inclusivity.”

Four of the five resolutions passed overwhelmingly, including one that calls on the bishop and standing committee “to begin withdrawing from all bodies of The Episcopal Church that have assented to actions contrary to Holy Scripture, the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this Church has received them.” the rest