Church splits over gays

2008-06-30 21:09

London - A new Christian orthodox movement that rejects a liberal stance towards homosexuality and claims to represent half the world's 80 million Anglicans has been formed following a conference in Jerusalem.

The group, calling itself the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, will sever ties with the main churches in the United States and Canada, accusing their leaders of ignoring biblical teachings.

The members are mainly from churches in the southern hemisphere - Africa, Asia, Australia, South America - but disgruntled evangelicals from Canada, England and the United States also support the group.

Conference boycott planned

The timing of its creation after the Global Anglican Future conference in Jerusalem, which ended on Sunday, comes just weeks before bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion hold their 10-yearly meeting at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England.

Many of the bishops who attended the Jerusalem meeting plan to boycott the Lambeth Conference, which starts on July 16, in protest at the ordination in 2003 of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the US Episcopal Church.

In a 14-point declaration, the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans accused the US church of proclaiming "false gospel".

'The unchangeable standard of Christian marriage'

The declaration continued: "We acknowledge God's creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family.

"We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married."

The fellowship also indicated it would challenge the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, saying: "We do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury."

- AFP