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WGNNews.org Posted 11:25 P.M. June
22, 2003
We could fall apart over
gays, says Archbishop
By David Millward and Jonathan Wynne-Jones
(Filed: 23/06/2003)
The divisions over the
appointment of the Church of England's first openly homosexual
bishop widened yesterday when a leading evangelical warned
that the Anglican movement could fall apart over the issue.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen,
said in a joint statement that the decision to name Canon
Jeffrey John as Suffragan Bishop of Reading represented a
"watershed" in the Anglican movement.
This broadside came as the
Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Rev Peter Akinola, who
represents 17 million of the Anglican Church's 70 million
communion, stepped up his
opposition to Dr John's appointment.
Dr Jensen, who is regarded as
an outspoken evangelical, said the appointment of Dr John, and
that of the
Rev Gene Robinson, a clergyman living in a homosexual
relationship, as bishop in New Hampshire, created a "tragic
disruption of fellowship".
He and his fellow bishops continued: "For
our part, we cannot welcome into our diocese those who have
abandoned the teaching of Scripture in such a flagrant manner
Dr Jensen himself said: "We look to the
Archbishop of Canterbury to provide strong leadership in obeying
what Scripture says. What we have here is leaders compromising
with secular culture
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