Video: Gay rights debate deepens schism in Episcopal Church
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Leaders of the Anglican church have told the U.S. Episcopal Church that blessing same-sex unions and anointing gay bishops must cease by September 30th. Episcopal leaders have responded to the demands of the Anglican leaders.
The Episcopal Church, with 2.4 million members, is one of the smallest branches of Anglicanism. The Archbishop of Canterbury recently said, "The teaching of the Anglican Church remains that homosexual activity is not compatible with scripture."
Margaret Warner of PBS Newshour interviewed two leader of the Episcopal church with different viewpoints on support for gay rights in the Episcopal Church. Canon Kendall Harmon, chief theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, believes that the toleration of differences must have boundaries and the scriptures say that gay rights are beyond the boundary of what can be tolerated.
Talking about the inclusion of gays within the church, Harmon says, "The difficulty here is that Anglicans believe in the importance of tolerating differences, but Anglicans also believe in boundaries. Otherwise you can't have any community to discuss differences in.
