Gay Bishop Says Church May Split

  • Oct 10 2005
  • Written by Benjamin Cohen
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Gene Robinson (pictured), the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Church has predicted that the communion may be split by the issue of homosexuality.

“This is at least as much about power and control as it is about theology and Scripture,” New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson said. “It’s about who’s going to be calling the shots, and who’s going to be in and who’s going to be out.”

The Bishop was appointed under strong criticism from across the Anglican Communion with church leaders in Africa openly calling for a split from their US brothers.

Bishop Robinson claims that until six months ago, he was optimistic that the church would over come the schism that followed his appointment. However, he said that following a private meeting of American bishops in Los Angeles several months he sensed what he considers a conservative power grab. “I said ‘I’m here to talk about how we can live together.’ And three or four of them said: ‘I’m not

here for reconciliation. I’m here to divvy up the property from this divorce’,” he said.

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, counters Bishop Robinson’s claims, “this is not a power play,” Duncan said, “except in the sense that Bishop Robinson’s position in the church is a total innovation in the life of the church and what we face are two positions that can’t be put together.”

The Nigerian church has in the past weeks changed its constitution to remove words linking it to the Church of England and replacing them with a call to communion with churches that “hold and maintain the historic faith.”