Although many articles link the split to The Episcopal Church’s ordainment of gay Bishop Gene Robinson, in an article published by Rev. Jim Lewis he states, “Virtually all the articles suggest our diocese left because TEC ordained a gay bishop. That’s just not true.”
“The diocese separated last year, nine years after TEC elected its first, non-celibate, gay bishop – and only after the denomination tried to strip all authority from our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence,” he said.
CBN News spoke to Rev. Lewis to find out why he thinks the judge showed them favor.
“We didn’t go after anyone asking for penalties or sanctions,” Lewis said. “We simply asked the court to confirm what we believed all along to be the truth, that we continued to be the Diocese of South Carolina and our congregations and this diocese have a right to the property that we do ministry with and the names and identities that we have been doing ministry under for in some places close to 300 years.”