NY Times: "A Divorce the Church Should Smile Upon."

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Regarding the split between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion
Op-Ed Contributor
A Divorce the Church Should Smile Upon
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By JACK MILES
Published: March 1, 2007
Los Angeles

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THE decision of the global Anglican Communion to threaten the Episcopal Church, its American affiliate, with expulsion is about much more than the headline issue of homosexuality. Yes, the impending divorce has been precipitated by the decision of the Episcopal Church to consecrate a gay bishop and to allow individual congregations to decide whether or not to allow gay marriages. But as so often in religious history, the deeper issue is one of church governance. In effect, the Episcopalians left the Church of England more than two centuries ago.

The problem dates back to the time of the American Revolution, when the Church of England in America was just what that name says: it was the Church of England, merely in America. Since the 16th century, when King Henry VIII made himself, in effect, the pope of England, the English king had been the supreme church authority. Time had somewhat eroded this authority by 1776, thanks in part to the Puritan revolution in the mid-17th century. Nonetheless, the authority structure within the church remained officially monarchical.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/opinion/01miles.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin