US: The Episcopal Church in the US was expected yesterday to confirm the appointment of the country's first openly gay clergyman to be elected bishop.
Church activists who oppose the election of the Rev Gene Robinson to bishop of New Hampshire say the move could force a break between Americans and the worldwide Anglican Church.
The battle over gay rights is coming to a head at the national Episcopal convention in Minneapolis, where some delegates also faced a vote on gay unions. The house of deputies, which consists of both lay and clergy Episcopalians, approved Mr Robinson's appointment yesterday. It is highly unusual for the national convention to reject a locally elected bishop.
Anglican leaders are set to decide in October whether the US denomination will be allowed to remain part of the international Anglican community.
"In most of the rest of the world, this is a non-negotiable issue," said Mr Bruce Mason, a spokesman for the American Anglican Council, which opposes the bishop's ratification. "It bothers me that the people who are voting don't seem to realise this would begin the process of shattering the Anglican communion."
The disagreement over the gay Episcopal bishop and gay unions comes at a moment of fierce US political and religious debate on homosexual rights. The US Congress is considering a law that restricts the term marriage to heterosexual relationships, as the state of Massachusetts awaits a state Supreme Court ruling that may allow it.
Mr Robinson, a popular New Hampshire clergyman and divorced father-of-two, has been in a homosexual relationship for 13 years. Last month Jeffrey John, a gay Church of England priest, rejected the post of Bishop of Reading because of criticism from within the church. - (Financial Times)