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Archbishop of Canterbury takes it from both sides over homosexuality
Nazir-Ali
Bishop Nazir-Ali leads boycott of the Lambeth Conference over gays in church
"I'm not going because those who've torn the fabric of the Communion have been invited"
Having put on his stern headmaster's face over the recent "gay marriage" furore concerning two of his clergymen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, is now facing the complete breakdown of his first Lambeth Conference. The reason? Conservative bishops feel he's not taking a hard enough line on the subject of homosexuality.
At the forefront of a boycott of the Conference, which is held once a decade, is the Bishop of Rochester, who is leading two other British bishops and 250 others from other countries in refusing to attend the do due to the inclusion of the American bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man to be ordained in the States. Michael Nazir-Ali, the man who goes under the title Bishop of Rochester has made a name for himself for his opposition to any progress for gay men and lesbians and has also fallen foul of the Muslim Council of Great Britain who dubbed his comments on "no-go areas" as worthy of the BNP, despite the fact he is the only Asian Bishop in Britain.
Bishop Benn of Lewes, one of the other two snubbing bishops, explained in florid terms the reason for his no-show. "I'm not going because those who've torn the fabric of the Communion have been invited, and bishops from the missionary groups in America haven't."
Meanwhile, a group of 1,000 parishes called Reform (though they are rather against reform than for it) are threatening to split from the Anglican church, along with the African bishops whose opposition to any tolerance of homosexuality dominates their relations with more liberal Western church figures.
