At www.getreligion.org, perhaps the best religion journalism blog on the Net, two stories on the the latest spasms in the Anglican Communion. First, Broken Communion notes how some Anglican clergy now "refuse to share Holy Communion" with their diocesan bishop. The equivalent in American Baptist Polity, I suppose, would be a Church refusing to give money to denominational powers. In other words, grave disagreement. Second, Everyone Loves Justice notes that the Episcopalians (the American branch of the Anglican Communion) have voted a one-year moratorium on the election of new bishops, the best way they could think of, it seems, to honor the Anglican request to avoid approving any "noncelibate homosexual bishops" until the Anglicans of the world can figure out where they stand on this troubling issue.
It is interesting to note the distribution of frozen bishops in the second article. The five frozen straight bishops are from the South (led by bishops who voted against Robinson's consecration as a bishop). The two frozen gay bishops are from California. Gay issues are only the tip of the iceberg and there not fading slowly into the night. They will continue to arise in US and European political and ecclesiastical contexts. The handwriting is all over the wall. Gay issues will ultimately bring the Church and the ABC/USA to a place of biblical and theological clarity.
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