GAFCON - Level 2

At the end of January a group of 20 Anglican Evangelical bishops issued an open letter to the conservative primates who have publicly declared that they will not attend this summer's Lambeth Conference. This week those primates responded in an open letter, which is posted on the Church of Nigeria's web site. Note that while the letter from the British bishops is addressed directly to the five primates by their titles, the conservative bishops' response is posted as "GAFCON Response to English Evangelical Bishops." In the letter itself the five bishops identify themselves "as GAFCON Bishops and primates."

The GAFCON bishops are quite clear that two major reasons for their absence are (a) the presence of TEC bishops who participated in the consecration of Gene Robinson, and (b) "the presence in some form or other of Gene Robinson and his male partner, and of 30 gay activists." They continue, "We would be the continual target of activist campaigners and media intrusion. In these circumstances we could not feel at home."

There it is in black and white, they are afraid of being around lbgt folks. They are afraid they will have to answer questions about their stance on lbgt folks in the church in public. They are holding a separate conference (the Global Anglican Future CONference) largely due to their desire to not be around lbgt folks and their supporters. They have raised their GAy Fear CONdition up another level.

So while these bishops "emphasise [sic] that this action is not intended to signal that we are walking out of the Communion," by naming themselves GAFCON Bishops they have signaled their intent to separate themselves from the larger Communion by boycotting the Lambeth Conference in July and organizing the June conference. They have even given up on the great hope of so many conservatives, the Anglican Covenant:

Currently the prospects do not seem good for what is proposed in any way to engage with our current difficulties or relate to the facts on the ground. The state of our broken Communion is not mended by the Covenant.

It is difficult not to view their separate conference as a major step toward realignment of, if not a splitting of, the Anglican Communion. All because they are afraid...

Peace,
Jeffri