Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams won't back down: neither gay bishop Gene Robinson, nor turn-coat Martyn Minns can attend the Anglican's Lambeth Conference next year:

The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he will not reverse his decision to exclude a gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglican gathering next year.

Archbishop Rowan Williams' office said he had also not changed his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a traditionalist U.S. priest who was consecrated as a bishop in the Church of Nigeria.
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"Given the differences in response to the Episcopal Church revealed in the responses of the primates, we simply cannot pretend that there is now a ready-made consensus on the future of relationships between (the Episcopal Church) and other provinces," Williams said. "Much work remains to be done."

Those Americans are always complicating things, huh?

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams and friends accept the American Episcopal branch's gay restraint.

In a report published last night, the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion writes:

The Communion seems to be converging around a position which says that while it is inappropriate to proceed to public rites of blessing of same-sex unions and to the consecration of bishops who are living in sexual relationships outside of Christian marriage, we need to take seriously our ministry to gay and lesbian people inside the Church and the ending of discrimination, persecution and violence against them.

Not all Anglicans stand behind Williams. Besides Peter Akinola's Global South movement, which would like nothing more than queer banishment, a number of other leaders are disappointed in Williams' soft stance.

Nigeria's Anglican Archbishop had harsh words for his American counterparts.

The Episcopal Church voted this week to "restrain" its gay-welcoming urges. Peter Akinola, the aforementioned Archbishop who's pushing the Americans to abandon gays, says the Episcopals aren't going far enough.

Sadly it seems that our hopes were not well-founded and our pleas have once again been ignored. Instead of the change of heart (repentance) we sought, what we have been offered is merely a temporary adjustment in an unrelenting determination.

As if Akinola would know anything about "heart".

• Whitney Houston and Clive Davis stepped out in New York today. Can we just say we're so happy to see Whitney's given up her crack head ways…

• Anti-gay Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola spoke at Wheaton.

• Miranda Grell fined for gay pedophile smear.

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Episcopal leaders weren't feeling very talkative after Anglican honcho Rowan Williams popped into a New Orleans convention.

Williams flew in and asked the American Anglican branch to abandon their gay-friendly ways. While no one knows what transpired inside, Reverend Robert O'Neill of Colorado described the scene thus:

The general posture was simply one of having a very open and forthright conversation. I don't think anybody was holding back, but everybody was conducting themselves with respect and courtesy and honesty.

Williams' last gasp arrival comes nine days before anti-gay Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola's ultimate deadline. If the Americans don't comply, Akinola will continue his unholy colonial mission.

Anglican leader Rowan Williams has a message for America's Episcopal branch: toss the gays.

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Peter Akinola may be taking a trip to Chicago soon, and the city's highest Bishop wants to make sure we know he does not approve.

Anti-gay Nigerian Archbishop Akinola has apparently been invited by the Anglican Mission in the Americas, a rebel arm of the international Anglican Communion.

The AMiA allegedly invited Akinola to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with them on September 23rd, while most American Bishops will be at a conference in New Orleans.

Sneaky.

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• Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion's head honcho Rowan Williams to hold special "secret" communion with gay Anglicans. A church spokesman said,

It should come as no surprise that the Archbishop is meeting pastorally with clergy and others affected by the current debates in the Church. Such encounters extend across the Church and right across the range of opinions found within the Church. Few of these encounters ever reach the public domain. That is exactly as it should be.

Considering the state of disunion amongst Anglicans, we're sure Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola and his anti-gay brethren will use this against Williams, whom they view as too soft on the pufftas.

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• Ireland gets steamy safe gay sex campaign.

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Can Africans Anglican congregations turn around? Rev Trevor Musonda Mwamba certainly hopes so.

The continent's been getting loads of anti-gay press in recent years. We've all heard of Peter Akinola of Nigeria's never-ending anti-gay crusade - and his recent ultimatum. The ever-vocal Archbishop swears he and his congregation will split from the international Communion if church leaders don't take a harder stand against the homos. Akinola recently received backup from Isaac Orama, also of Nigeria, who called gays "satanic".

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's Bishop Nolbert Kunonga encouraged followers to reject the gay "abomination". With all the drama, one would think every African Anglican's gunning for the gays.

This, of course, would be a gross exaggeration.

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Nigeria's Anglican Archbishop, Peter Akinola just got some anti-gay back up from Isaac Orama, Bishop of Uyo, Nigeria. Here's what Orama had to say about gay people during a September 2nd interview: "Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God's purpose for man."

Insane and satanic? No wonder we can't get a date.

Read what Nigerian gay activist Davis Mac-Iyalla of Changing Attitudes Nigeria had to say in response, after the jump…

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Peter Akinola and other anti-gay Anglicans may soon get a new punching bag. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago included openly gay Rev. Tracey Lind on their shortlist for the Windy City's new bishop.

New Hampshire caused an international - and ongoing - religious incident when they inducted Gene Robinson back in 2003.

Robinson's ascension riled up conservative leaders, such as Nigeria's Akinola, who are urging the international Communion to take a firmer stance on the fagalas.

Gay Bishop Gene Robinson recorded a show for BBC yesterday during which he takes on Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola's anti-gay ways.

In an uneven, yet understandable, comparison, Robinson compares Akinola's mission to America's slave trade:

We in the US treated people who came out of Africa as less than human. We used scripture to justify this slavery and continued bondage. It is very, very painful to have those people in Africa in some sense using the same thinking against gay and lesbian people and against me.

Robinson's careful, however, to express his understanding of Akinola's homophobic perspective:

I believe that Peter Akinola…believes he is following his call to God as best he can. I just wish he could believe that I am following my call as best I can… I will not reject God’s call to me.

Maybe this God character should stop calling and send an email. Then people would have a better idea of what the hell he's talking about…

Peter Akinola will not rest until he's destroyed the Anglican Communion. The Nigerian archbishop and his pals in the conservative "Global South" movement gave North American "brothers" until the end of September to cease and desist in ordaining queer clergy.

If American Episcopals refuse, Akinola and his anti-gay comrades will refuse to attend next year's Lambeth Conference, thus striking another blow to the already tenuous, 44-million "strong" Christian movement.

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