Anglican unity could be shattered by gay bishop row

Anglican unity could be shattered by the consecration of a gay American bishop that has revealed a far greater cultural divide within its ranks than the ordination of women priests ever did.

US liberals hailed Canon Gene Robinson's installation as an end to hypocrisy but African bishops railed about the Devil taking over the church.

"I think it is going to be very messy," said Church Times editor Paul Hanley. "For the first time, in the not too distant future we might be having to use that word - split."

But analysts said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams may have won some breathing space by setting up a commission to study one of the thorniest issues in the Anglicans' 450-year history.

With the sound and fury raging over Canon Robinson's appointment, any new church leaders will be put on the spot over the burning issue that divides 70 million Anglicans.

"The questions used to be about their attitude to women priests. Now it is 'what is your line on gays?' It has become a touchstone of people's orthodoxy," Mr Hanley told Reuters.

Anglicans have never had the rigid hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church where the Pope can wield excommunication as a very real threat.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is "First Among Equals" who can offer spiritual guidance but never wave the big stick. Consensus rules - which is both the strength and weakness of a church stretched over 164 countries.

Archbishop Williams, not Canon Robinson, is the man in the spotlight now. A bearded ascetic more versed in theological doctrine than raw passion, he has been thrust once more into the furious debate over homosexuality.

Earlier this year he saw first-hand how divisive the issue can be when he was engulfed in a row in England over Canon Jeffrey John, a celibate gay priest who had been appointed Bishop of Reading but who later stepped down.

"He has not shown himself to be that dynamic so far," said religious commentator Clifford Longley. "His total effort so far has been to march them to the top of the hill and then back down again. That does not bode well for the future."

So how do churches split from the Anglican communion and what can Archbishop Williams do about it?

"If Nigeria decided to break away, it can just do so. It is autonomous. Archbishop Williams has no legal powers whatsoever to stop them," Longley said.

A breakaway in the United States, however, could provoke ugly confrontations between American liberals and conservatives.

"There could be major rows over property, investments, salaries and pensions. The lawyers would have a field day," he said.

But the yawning gaps are already there, with Longley arguing that an Episcopalian from the United States would not be welcomed today in Nigeria as a fellow Anglican.

For the two sides are more than just oceans apart. Kenya's Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi said "The devil has clearly entered the church. God cannot be mocked" while Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement leader Richard Kirker insisted: "We may disagree but Anglicanism is resilient, it has a spirit of inclusivity that will not be destroyed."

British vicar Giles Fraser, who runs a grassroots network of Anglicans campaigning for inclusivity, said the likely outcome is a looser Anglican Communion rather than a split.

Conservative churches in America who did not want their liberal leadership might prefer to have an African bishop, he said. This would break down the geographical structure of the church and make it more ideologically based.

Canadian bishop Michael Ingram, whose diocese became the first in Anglican history to sanction blessings for gay and lesbian couples, said both sides were fed up with duplicity.

"The former way of doing things in the church was 'nudge, nudge, wink, wink, don't ask, don't tell'," he told Reuters.

"There has been a paradigm shift in the West over the past 40 years over homosexuality and that's not happened in Africa."

So the game comes round full circle back to the Archbishop of Canterbury and this is where analysts really do sympathise with Archbishop Williams over the insoluble equation.

"What the hell is he supposed to do?" asked Clifford Longley.

"There is no magic formula. He has inherited a mess. The best score he can hope for is 0-0. There is no winner."