Anglican Bishops Urge U.S. Church Split

By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press
Friday, November 11, 2005; 9:59 PM

PITTSBURGH -- An international panel of Anglican archbishops called upon a gathering of their conservative American counterparts Friday to split from the rest of the U.S. Episcopal Church.

"Yes, we will stand with you as long as you remain faithful, biblical, evangelical and orthodox," said Bishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung, who represents South East Asia.

The article makes these points:

  1. The Conference was organized by the Anglican Communion Network.

  2. The conference was entitled: "Hope and a Future"

  3. Some refer to Bishop Duncan, the leader of The Anglican Communion Network, and his backers as "neo-Puritan" Protestant fundamentalists.

  4. Seven biships from Africa, Asia, & The West Indies attended. [The Article does not say who bought the Airline tickets.]

  5. Archbishop Drexel W. Gomez of the West Indies said the Episcopal Church is teaching a "new gospel." He argued that the new gospel is unclear about God's nature and affirms cultural values, even when they run counter to historic Christianity.

  6. Peter Akinola, one of the seven bishops said: "Many of you have one leg in ECUSA and one leg in the network. You must let us know exactly where you stand _ are you ECUSA or are you network?"

  7. Lionel Deimel, president of PEP, the Pittsburg affiliate of Via Media USA, said that the archbishops' remarks could be read as an invitation to leave the American church, and at the conference he heard statements on the floor such as: the Episcopal Church "has been taken over by a pagan religion" or is "the enemy."

  8. Deimel also remarked: "My preference is that we all stand together and work out our differences and in some cases accept our differences."

  9. [Although not mentioned in the article,the non-Episcopal speakers featured at the conference drew a large crowd.]