Amid the confusion caused by their divisions over what the Bible teaches about homosexuality, Anglican bishops meeting for the Lambeth Conference have come to realise one thing – that the Anglican Communion cannot continue as it is.
Information from the bishops’ discussion of the subject shows an awareness of the enormous gulf in how each side views the very nature of Anglicanism.
For Anglicans, as the bishops’ reflections document explains, “in some parts [much of Africa, for a start] homosexual and lesbian relations are a taboo; in others [the United States, for example] it has become a justice issue”.
There’s a growing acceptance that divisions are likely to intensify, and that the Episcopal Church in the United States is likely to ordain another gay bishop before very long.
Meanwhile the conservative alliance set up in Jerusalem last month – the traditionalist church-within-the-church that thumbed its nose at the Lambeth Conference and at the Archbishop of Canterbury – will continue to recruit and organise inside the Episcopal Church’s territory.
The official group set up to find a way out of the crisis acknowledged it faced “a long and arduous road” in rescuing the Communion.
In fact, if things simply stay as they are there might not even be another Lambeth Conference.