Mixed Media: Church agony over gay clergy

POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION

American Agency - The head of the Episcopal Church has dismissed an appeal by colleagues from around the world to put the brakes on promoting homosexuality. Frank Griswold, who runs the 2.3-million member US branch of the 70 million-plus worldwide Anglican communion, responded with a reaffirmation of the contributions that homosexuals make to the life of his highly fractured denomination. "As presiding bishop I am obliged to affirm the positive contribution of gay and lesbian persons to every aspect of the life of our church," he said . "I regret that there are places within our communion where it is unsafe for them to speak out the truth of who they are."

* United Press International

Anglican website - Only one set of consciences is honoured. Furthermore, I can detect no expression of regret, or even concern, expressed for the suffering of Christians whose sexual orientation puts them outside the ranks of those eligible for certain offices in the Church. We are only told not to hate or kill them. The report can lead a reasonable reader to the presumption that our visible communion has become the highest good. Is there an idolatry here? At the risk of appearing cynical, one might wonder how many ways there are to say "don't rock the boat".

* Paul Marshall on Every Voice

Liberal newspaper - Arguably the roots of the crisis are in the sociological and cultural changes in developed countries such as the US and the UK, where attitudes to homosexual people have, broadly, become less prejudiced in recent years. The result of this has forced organised religions to confront the issue. If this trend continues - and there is every indication that it will - there will be louder calls for openly gay clergy to be permitted and for religious and civic unions that have equality with those of heterosexual couples. At the same time, there is no sign conservative elements in the church will abandon their fight against homosexual clergy and same-sex blessings.

* The Guardian

American website - The Episcopal Church is now faced with serious and difficult choices. They can follow the lead of Bishop Griswold which will ultimately lead to the demise of the Episcopal Church or they can choose to embrace the core covenant recommended by the commission, reject false doctrine and preserve faithful unity. The report itself acknowledged the deep divisions within the Anglican community and even held out the possibility that a split could be imminent. "There remains a very real danger that we will not choose to walk together."

* Christian Post of San Francisco

Looming division BBC report - Nigerian Archdeacon Oluranti Odubogun, whose communion is the second largest Anglican community after Britain, applauded the report's recommendations. "Ordaining homosexuals is heresy, unbiblical, should never have been done and should be reversed," Archdeacon Odubogun said."Homosexual behaviour is deviant, unbiblical, un-Christian and unnatural."

* BBC News

Online comment - The church has skirted the massive cultural gap in its congregation for decades but homosexuality is merely a battleground issue in a deeply schismatic organisation. The report tries to paper over these differences, but the fact is that the Church should split and leaders in different countries should follow their own consciences.

* Eric Westerman, London on BBC World's Talking Point

Scottish newspaper - The Church Society in the UK labelled the report as "toothless" and vague in its conclusions. The society's Rev David Phillips said the 121-page report was ambiguous and provided little clear direction over the issue of homosexuality. "I am pretty disappointed with this," he said. "I was expecting something much more definite and clear." Mr Phillips said that under the current Anglican Communion, actively gay clergy were not acceptable. He said the problem with the report was that there was no suitable redress when people broke that communion.

* The Scotsman

Television news:The report noted that there is no consistency among the national churches on their position regarding relationships with other national churches.

The commission also said that, when electing bishops, national churches should consider whether that appointment would prejudice relations with other provinces and whether that individual would be recognised and received if he or she visited another province.

* CNN