The Anglican Communion may be slowly heading towards a serious schism. At the heart of the problem is acceptance of homosexuals in non-celibate relationships. This is not a new controversy for the Anglican Communion, the collective name for members of the Anglican faith throughout the world, but it is a matter of exponentially increasing concern.
The election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay and non-celibate priest, to the rank of Bishop in 2003 is considered the catalyst for the emergence of this doctrinal split, though is certainly not the only cause. Many feel the appointment speaks to a broader trend of Church ‘inclusion’ regardless of obeisance to traditional Anglican ethics as opposed to ‘welcoming’ members of the church to adhere to tradtional social rules and regulations.
This has become such a point of contention that fully one quarter of the bishops in the Anglican Communion refused to attend the Lambeth Conference, an Anglican meeting which takes place every ten years. An alternate meeting, The Global Anglican Future Conference, was established by dissenting conservative bishops. Dr Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, commented that he did not see this conference as act of rebellion, because it, ”would not have any official status as far as the Communion is concerned.”
Several communities within the Church have succeeded from their local authority structures. The Anglican Realignment, as the movement has come to be called, includes members of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Anglican Church of Canada. The disaffected members of these groups seek to answer to a different authority within the Anglican Communion, one more in line with their socially conservative views.
