First the Episcopalians gave us V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the openly gay bishop who left his wife and kids to have sex with a man and later revealed that he had been a closet alcoholic for years. He was the obvious choice because he is just like Jesus with the minor exceptions of his beliefs and life.
In an effort to continue selecting such fine leaders they have now elected the first female leader in Anglican history. The Bishop of Nevada, Katharine Jefferts-Schori (notice the hyphenated last name), was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopalian church on June 18. It deserves mentioning that the practice of female priests began only thirty years ago as a result of the women's liberation movement.
What's going on here? I'll give you three scenarios to describe it.
First, there are varying degrees of "Christian" feminism and the more hardened variety is the battering ram on the church door that opens the way for homosexuality. What I mean is this: if we deny the basic Biblical tenets that we were made equal but distinct as male and female, with differing God-intended roles in the church and home, then homosexuality is the logical conclusion. This in part explains why the first woman bishop previously supported the election of the first openly gay bishop.
Second, the far-left wing of the Episcopalian Church is, like Judas, in the process of hanging itself. The worldwide Episcopalian communion is widely diverse, with most Anglicans rejecting hard feminism and homosexuality. Additionally, membership in the American Episcopal Church, as in other mainline Protestant groups, has been declining for years and has remained predominantly white. More than a quarter of the 2.3 million parishioners are sixty-five or older.
Third, those in the hardest position are the Bible-believing, theologically conservative Episcopalians who are stuck between a denomination that has betrayed them (but still owns their buildings and assets) and their conscience as bound by Scripture. I have some dear friends who are Jesus-loving, Bible-believing (and even charismatic) evangelical Episcopalian priests, and they have wept openly over the apparent lose-lose situation they find themselves. If/when these pastors and their churches secede from their denomination, the greater body of Christ needs to lovingly support them. This includes allowing them to use other churches' buildings so they can continue to worship together as a church family.
In a curious plot twist, last summer the African bishops of the Anglican Church showed up unannounced at the family feud to condemn their liberal American counterparts as heretics promoting a different religion. American Episcopalians now have their robes in a bind trying to figure out how to spin their defense as Civil Rights nobility: the generally white, educated, and affluent First World American women and homosexuals fighting unjust opposition at the hands of generally black, less educated, and less affluent Third World African heterosexuals.
Admittedly, whatever one's position on the issue you have to admire the Africans' willingness to lean over the plate and take one for their team. In doing so they have exposed three very glaring weaknesses of liberal American Protestantism:
The liberal insistence that all religious beliefs are equally valid is a very white, Western European bias left over from the Enlightenment's concept of knowledge and values. This bias has no right to be preeminent over other views, including heterosexual black African fundamentalism.
The Bible's stance on homosexuality and feminism is "offensive" because of cultural prejudices held by white Americans; the controversy is not universal and is therefore little more than a form of cultural discrimination masquerading as tolerant open-mindedness.
The moral outrage expressed by liberals in defense of feminism and homosexuality is hypocrisy because while they espouse tolerance of all views (especially those from the Third World), they disdain the African position. They've exposed themselves as equally narrow-minded fundamentalists.
As the "open-minded liberals" back themselves into a corner, the battle has become an ironic good cop/bad cop fight between two groups of equally narrow-minded fundamentalists.
First the Episcopalians gave us V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the openly gay bishop who left his wife and kids to have sex with a man and later revealed that he had been a closet alcoholic for years. He was the obvious choice because he is just like Jesus with the minor exceptions of his beliefs and life. 
In an effort to continue selecting such fine leaders they have now elected the first female leader in Anglican history. The Bishop of Nevada, Katharine Jefferts-Schori (notice the hyphenated last name), was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopalian church on June 18. It deserves mentioning that the practice of female priests began only thirty years ago as a result of the women's liberation movement. 
