Gay bishop report 'toothless'

The commission was set up after Gene Robinson was consecrated

A key report into the division within the Anglican church over the ordination of openly gay bishops is "toothless", says the Church Society.

The Lambeth Commission report called for an apology from US church leaders over their appointment of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.

The report emphasised it was not a judgement but part of reconciliation.

However, the society criticised such emphasis, saying "unity is seen as more important than truth."

The commission was set up after the appointment of Canon Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire in November 2003 prompted outrage from conservative sections of the 70 million-strong worldwide Anglican church.

The Church Society's Rev David Phillips said the 121-page report provided little clear direction over the issue of homosexuality.

ANGLICAN CHURCH FACTS 70 million baptised members worldwide 38 self-governing Churches 500 dioceses, 30,000 parishes, 64,000 congregations in 164 countries 26 million members in the United Kingdom 17.5 million members in Nigeria 2.5 million members in the US Windsor Report in full (517K) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here

"I am pretty disappointed with this," he said.

"My impression overall was that it was very ambiguous."

Mr Phillips said under the current Anglican Communion, actively gay clergy were not acceptable, but the report suggested no suitable redress when people broke that Communion.

Anglican groups in the US and Canada who opposed the consecration of gay clergy would find "no comfort at all".

As well as calling for an apology from the 50 bishops who attended the ordination of Bishop Robinson, the report said there should be a moratorium on the consecration of candidates from same-sex unions.

Critics

African church leaders, fierce critics of the ordination, welcomed the report.

"Ordaining homosexuals is heresy, unbiblical, should never have been done and should be reversed," said Archdeacon Oluranti Odubogun, Secretary General of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, the African church's most strident anti-gay voice.

"Homosexual behaviour is deviant, unbiblical, un-Christian and unnatural," he added.

His Nigerian church is the second-largest Anglican community after Britain.

Lord Bishop of Dar es Salaam, Valentine Mokiwa, echoed his words: "We are calling on homosexuals in the church to stop what they are doing, it's unbecoming and it is sin."

There is plenty to digest and there should be no rush to judgement Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who commissioned the report, said the church should consider the report carefully.

"There is plenty to digest and there should be no rush to judgement.

"We want voices round the Communion to be heard and we will be putting in place a careful and wide-ranging process for gathering responses."

The report was welcomed by the UK's Lesbian Gay and Christian Movement.

"The tenor of the document is itself conciliatory - this is a document we can work with, this is a Church we want to continue to be a part of," said spokesman Rev Martin Reynolds.

"We see this as the beginning of the real debate, we look forward to engaging fully with the issues the report poses fully."

He did, however, criticise the proposed moratorium and said the group was "pained" by the suggestion that the bishops involved in the consecration of Bishop Robinson should step down from church councils.

The report said that until there was an apology from the 50 US bishops, they should consider whether to withdraw themselves from functions of the Anglican Communion.

Chris Sugden, a member of an orthodox network of Anglicans - Anglican Mainstream - said the report was clear about the apology.

"It is a very English slap on the wrists, saying that we'd rather you didn't turn up."

Mr Sugden said the groups in America and Canada which had promoted same-sex unions within the church would be expected to make amends.

"If they do not pull back, if they do not express remorse, then they are no longer part of this church - that is very clear."