ABSTRACT
Key words: Anglicanism; Conflict; Denominations; Sexuality; Sexual Orientation; Homosexuality Schism; Evangelicalism.
THE CRISIS IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
Since the mid^ 1990s, the global Anglican Communion has been caught up in an increasingly intense conflict over the role of gays and lesbians in the
church. In the lead-up to the Lambeth conference in 1998 (a decennial confer ence of Anglican Bishops from across the globe), the dispute began in earnest at the international level (Bates 2005:158ff; Hassett 2007:55ff). The confer ence drafted Resolution 1.10, which was intended to serve as a compromise res olution but did little to quell the conflict. It identifies “homosexual practice as incompatible with scripture” while it also “calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals” (Lambeth 1998:1.10(d)). Since the resolution left the more militant parties on both sides feeling dissatisfied, it may well have intensified the situation.
