Anglican meeting looks to be a doozy

Bishop Robinson

Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade meeting of Anglican leaders, is less than a week away, and it’s going to be ugly. The church already is so torn over internal politics and differing readings of the Bible that one bishop said Jesus is “weeping in the streets.” Last week, the Church of England, the Anglican flagship, split over the issue of female bishops; the week before, and in response to acceptance of homosexuality, a conservative faction of the liberal denomination voted to form their own governing body.

V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, who last spring was not invited to Lambeth, will be there and generating plenty of media buzz, nonetheless:

“When I think about being banished to the marketplace, it occurs to me that that’s where Jesus would be. Jesus would be with the marginalized. He was always in conflict with the religious authorities of his day. He was always preaching that people trump rules…

“I’ll be at Lambeth and I’ll be telling my story and I will be witnessing to the God that I know as powerfully as I can muster. Then I’ll let the Holy Spirit do the rest.”

And people think religion reporting is boring? In light of all the drama, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sat down for a no-punches-pulled interview with the AP, posted after the jump: