Some people on a.r.c may not be aware of something which has been going the rounds of the Internet recently about this topic.

Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury following the consecration of Canon Gene Robinson as Bishop-coadjutor of New Hampshire

[ACNS Source: Lambeth Palace] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has issued a statement following the consecration of Canon Gene Robinson as bishop coadjutor of New Hampshire. The text is below.

"It was recognised fully at last month's meeting of Anglican leaders that the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop in New Hampshire would have very serious consequences for the cohesion of the Anglican Communion. That meeting requested the setting up of a Commission which would examine these consequences in depth. Last week the membership of that group was announced and I look forward to being in close touch with it as its work develops.

"The meeting also encouraged me to be in discussion with the leaders of the provinces concerned about provisions made for those alienated by decisions which appear to go against Catholic order or biblical teaching. Such discussion has already begun.

"The divisions that are arising are a matter of deep regret; they will be all too visible in the fact that it will not be possible for Gene Robinson's ministry as a bishop to be accepted in every province in the communion.

"It is clear that those who have consecrated Gene Robinson have acted in good faith on their understanding of what the constitution of the American church permits. But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans particularly in the non-western world have to be confronted with honesty.

Here it is, with some irrelevant lines removed.

From a recent letter to the editor in Tennessee:

"The actions taken by the New Hampshire Episcopalians (INDUCTING A GAY BISHOP) are an affront to Christians everywhere. I am just thankful that the church's founder, Henry VIII, and his wife Catherine of Aragon, and his wife Anne Boleyn, and his wife Jane Seymour, and his wife Anne of Cleves, and his wife Katherine Howard, and his wife Catherine Parr are no longer here to suffer through this assault on traditional Christian marriages."

[Note - making the rounds - ed.]

Or is our standard of ethics now different from what it was in the 16th century?

[rest of Archbishop Williams' message deleted]

Salaam Ken Smith -- Dr Ken Smith - Christian, husband, unpaid mathematician, skeptic, ... `He had softly and suddenly vanished away -- For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.' from Lewis Carrol, "The Hunting of the Snark"