Anglican leaders are currently in England hammering out their differences. And those differences are immense.

While some Western representatives support gay inclusion, others aren't feeling so welcoming. This, of course, puts spiritual leader Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in an awkward position. Thus, hoping to keep the international communion from crumbling, Williams yesterday came out against homo sex:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has continued his quest for Anglican unity with a strong statement against living in sin and gay sex.

Dr Williams said: "I do not believe that sex outside marriage is as God purposes it."

And he said he remained "committed" to the Church's official stance against gay sex, which aims to preserve Biblical norms.

Williams also dismissed rumors of an Anglican schism, saying, "If it is the end of the Anglican Communion I do not think anyone has told most of the people here.”

Gene Robinson's politics are personal.

The Anglican Archbishop, whose 2003 ascension sparked outrage in the international Anglican Communion, will have a quite a summer as he married his long time boyfriend, Marc Andrews, and then heads to England to protest not being included in the church's Lambeth Conference, an every-ten-year-event during which Anglican leaders discuss their evolution. Robinson, of course, wants the Church to expand its guidelines to include the gays, but senior leaders are skittish over the idea, which led to Robinson's exclusion.

Now, as we've mentioned, Robinson's headed over to put some pressure on his pious peers:

Bishop Robinson’s decision to be active on the “outside” of the conference will add to the pressures on the Archbishop, who is struggling to keep his church united in line with the Gospel imperative of “one Church”.
…
[Robinson] said that he will enter a legal union with his partner Mark Andrew in June.
…
There is speculation that Bishop Robinson and Mr Andrew will take the opportunity of the Lambeth Conference to “honeymoon” in England. But Mr Andrew dislikes the media spotlight and may prefer to stay away.

We would, too. Who wants a socially aware honeymoon? No one, that's who. Except for Robinson. Obviously.

The Anglican Communion's gay debates continue into the new year. Episcopal leader Katharine Jefferts Schori spoke out this week against the Anglican Communions scapegoating of their American cousins:

[Schori] says her church has been unfairly singled out for criticism because it is honest about consecrating gay bishops.

Jefferts Schori told BBC Radio 4's "PM" program that the New York-based church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., is far from the only Anglican province that has a bishop with a same-sex partner. In 2003, Episcopalians elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, causing an uproar that has pushed the Anglican family toward a split.

"He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop; he's certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop," Jefferts Schori said in an interview broadcast Tuesday. "He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who's open about that status."

Anti-gay Anglicans, meanwhile, will hold a right wing conference to boycott the movement's Lambeth Conference in London. These rabble-rousers are displeased with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' queer double talk.

Rowan Williams continues to cause queer controversy. The Archbishop of Canterbury turned heads earlier this year when he held a clandestine eucharist for gay Anglicans. The meeting probably incensed anti-gay Anglicans, but may also cost Williams his job:

The Archbishop of Canterbury kept a special communion service for gays so secret that he failed to tell the Bishop of London it was happening in his diocese, The Times has learnt.
…
Even his critics have been taken aback to learn that he did so by making an incursion on to the patch of the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres, without giving notice or seeking permission.

Dr Williams now risks being seen as, at best, discourteous and at worst, in breach of canon law, for sneaking into a church near the Tower of London under the Bishop’s nose. Canon law says that only a bishop can authorize services in his own diocese and infringements may result in an intruder being removed from office.

Chartres did not comment on the "discourtesy". No doubt Williams' enemies will use this against him.

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.
…
"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?

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams had tea time with some teenage journalists recently.

Like good little journos, the inquisitive guppies asked the Anglican leader about the potentially schism-causing gay debates, including his thoughts on gay clergy.

I have no problem with gay clergy who aren’t in relationships, although there are savage arguments about the issue you might have heard about.

Our jobs mean we have to adhere to the Bible – gay clergy who don’t act upon their sexual preferences do, clergy in practicing homosexual relationships don’t. This major question doesn’t have a quick-fix solution and I imagine will be debated for many years to come.

Something to look forward to, then…

Williams also tells the kids that he knows at least one gay couple who haven't totally failed and raised a demon, which is quite the confession for the religious leader.

• Japanese scientists have made a "humanoid robot" called Simroid, which can feel "pain".

• It's that time of the year again: Bid 2 Beat AIDS offers 1000s of collectibles on eBay. The eBay charity auction officially begins tomorrow, but they've already posted tickets for Mary J Blige's Tuesday show honoring BET's Stephen Hill.

• Popnography's Shana Naomi Krochmal and NPR "consider" bands who play queer.

CONTINUED »

Talk about timing! Just days after Anglican demi-god Desmond Tutu slammed Anglican leader Rowan Williams for his anti-gay ways, the Daily Telegraph hears murmurs that Williams plans to set pro-gay clergy straight:

The Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to target individual bishops whose pro-gay policies threaten to derail his efforts to avert schism…

In a high-risk strategy, Dr Rowan Williams may even snub them by withdrawing their invitations to next year's Lambeth Conference.

He has told friends he will challenge any bishop he believes is coming to the conference with an agenda "very much at odds" with his attempts to maintain unity in the worldwide Church.
…
[He] has now indicated that he is prepared to scrutinise controversial bishops he had already invited if there is evidence that they are unwilling to compromise their views.

We take it Tutu, gay Bishop Gene Robinson and Katharine Jefferts Schori, America's homo-loving lady leader, will not be invited.

Internal religious tiffs can get bi-tchy!

CONTINUED »

The Anglican drama continues! After coming out against Archbishop Rowan Williams over the American branch's gay ways, England's Evangelicals now say they'll import leaders!

A traditionalist Church of England group has said it is prepared to bring in bishops from overseas to ordain priests rejected by their own dioceses.

The evangelical Reform group has set up a panel to carry out its own assessment of candidates.

The group warned that the falling apart of the Anglican Communion made "irregular ordinations" inevitable.

No doubt Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has helped divide the church, loves hearing this news.