Robinson’s presence outside the Canterbury meeting didn’t lead to violence. Inside the tent, Williams didn’t challenge the 650 church leaders to vote on any resolutions involving homosexuality, averting a meltdown – for now – but also forestalling a true attempt to wrestle with a problem that seems nearly unsolvable:
Will the liberals acquiesce to Williams’s urging that they reject gay clergy? What if they don’t? Can Anglican leaders persuade the conservatives to stick around? What if they can’t? Will Robinson continue to be treated as a second-class bishop?
Among the Anglicans interviewed by reporters outside the Lambeth conference in recent days were several who expressed frustration with the focus on Robinson and the issue of homosexuality. They said they wished their church leaders could simply settle it once and for all and move on to issues of war and global poverty and environmental degradation.
Chances are, Archbishop Williams would second that sentiment. But the Lambeth Conference brought Anglicans no closer to that day.