Conservatives form Rival Group to Episcopal Church

By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

NEW YORK – Theological conservatives upset by liberal views of U.S. Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans formed a rival North American province Wednesday, in a long-developing rift over the Bible that erupted when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop.

The announcement represents a new challenge to the already splintering, 77-million-member world Anglican fellowship and the authority of its spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The new Anglican Church in North America includes four breakaway Episcopal dioceses, dozens of individual parishes in the U.S. and Canada, and splinter groups that left the Anglican family years, or in one case, more than a century ago.

Its future status in the Anglican Communion is unclear.

It is unprecedented for an Anglican national province to be created where any other such national church already exists. But traditionalists say the new group is needed to represent the true historic tradition of Anglican Christianity.

Bishop Robert Duncan, who leads the breakaway Diocese of Pittsburgh, is the proposed new leader of the new North American province, which says it has 100,000 members.

"The Lord is displacing the Episcopal Church," Duncan said in a news conference in Wheaton, Ill., where the proposed constitution for the new province was drafted. He noted that membership and worship attendance in the U.S. denomination have been declining for years.

"We are a body that is growing, that is planting new congregations, that is concerned to be an authentic Christian presence in the U.S. and Canada," Duncan said.

The Rev. Charles Robertson, adviser to Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said in a statement that "there is room within The Episcopal Church for people with different views and we regret that some have felt the need to depart from the diversity of our common life in Christ."

Williams has been striving for years to find a compromise that would keep Anglicans together, but he lacks the power to force a resolution.

The Anglican Communion links 38 self-governing provinces that trace their roots to the missionary work of the Church of England. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S., while the Anglican Church in Canada represents the communion in that country.

Anglicans have debated for decades over what members of their fellowship should believe. Tensions boiled over in 2003 when Episcopalians consecrated New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who lives with his longtime male partner.

Around the same time, some Canadian Anglican leaders began authorizing blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions, saying biblical teachings on social justice required them to do so. The actions pushed the Anglican family to the brink of schism.

A London spokesman for the Anglican Communion did not respond to a request for comment.

Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, said the new province leaders "really have no standing with the Anglican Communion at this point."

Robertson underscored that the U.S. and Canadian churches are "the recognized presence of the Anglican Communion in North America."

The impact of Wednesday's announcement on the 2.1 million-member Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church of Canada, with has about 640,000 people on its rolls, was unclear.

There are conservatives in both countries who will not join the new province and instead have vowed to stay within their national denominations despite theological differences.

The new province will not be fully formed for months, or perhaps longer, as it goes through the process of approving a new constitution and leadership. Members of the new church also must overcome their own theological differences, over ordaining women and other issues.

In the four breakaway Episcopal dioceses, legal challenges over property will likely take resources away from building the new province. The four dioceses are Fort Worth, Texas; Pittsburgh; Quincy, Ill.; and San Joaquin, based in Fresno, Calif. National Episcopal leaders are helping local parishioners reorganize those dioceses.

The new conservative province already has the support of seven leaders of Anglican national churches, called primates, including the archbishops of Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya and the Southern Cone, based in Argentina. Duncan and others are soliciting more support from the overseas archbishops. However, it's not known whether that will lead to full acceptance by the communion.

Episcopal Church Dissidents Move Toward Division

By Michael Conlon, Religion Writer

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Conservatives who have left the U.S. Episcopal Church took the first step on Wednesday to form a separate Anglican Church in North America, following years of division over gay rights and scriptural interpretation.

Meeting at Wheaton College near Chicago, the Common Cause Partnership, referring to itself as the "Anglican Church in North America" and claiming 100,000 followers, published a constitution. Its bid for separate status requires global church approval.

The document said members were "grieved by the current state of brokenness within the Anglican Communion prompted by those who have embraced erroneous teaching and who have rejected a repeated call to repentance."

Long-standing divisions between liberals and conservatives had already fragmented the Episcopal Church by 2003 when it consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop known to be in an openly gay relationship in more than four centuries of Anglican Church history.

That act further roiled the 2.1 million-member U.S. church and the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion of which it is part. In recent months, four dioceses, out of a total of 110, have split from the Episcopal Church in California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Illinois. The church says that fewer than 100 of 7,100 congregations had left or voted to leave before the recent diocesan defections.

The dissidents who met on Wednesday want to become a province within the Anglican Communion -- on equal footing with the Episcopal Church. Achieving that status would require approval from two-thirds of the primates -- the heads of national churches -- in the Anglican Communion and ultimate recognition from the Anglican Consultative Council, another church body.

Bishop Martyn Minns, a leader of the dissidents, said earlier he thought more than half the primates would support the breakaway group.

The Episcopal Church issued a statement on Wednesday saying it did not know what would come from the meeting of dissidents but it "along with the Anglican Church of Canada and the La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, comprise the official, recognized presence of the Anglican Communion in North America."

It said it wanted to "reiterate what has been true of Anglicanism for centuries: That there is room within the Episcopal Church for people with different views, and we regret that some have felt the need to depart from the diversity of our common life in Christ."

The Anglican primates meet in February and, if they approve, the matter would go to the consultative council when it meets in Jamaica in May, according to church publications.

Minns, a former Episcopalian and leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, believes the new province if approved could count on 100,000 people as its average weekly attendance. The Episcopal Church says its average weekly attendance is about 727,000.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Poll: Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Driven by Religion

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO – Voters' economic status and religious convictions played a greater role than race and age in determining whether they supported the Nov. 4 ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California, a new poll shows.

The ban drew its strongest support from both evangelical Christians and voters who didn't attend college, according to results released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Age and race, meanwhile, were not as strong factors as assumed. According to the poll, 56 percent of voters over age 55 and 57 percent of nonwhite voters cast a yes ballot for the gay marriage ban.

People who identified themselves as practicing Christians were highly likely to support the constitutional amendment, with 85 percent of evangelical Christians, 66 percent of Protestants and 60 percent of Roman Catholics favoring it.

The poll also showed that the measure got strong backing from voters who did not attend college (69 percent), voters who earned less than $40,000 a year (63 percent) and Latinos (61 percent).

The proposition, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, overturned the state Supreme Court's May decision legalizing gay marriage in California. The measure inserts language into the constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

The poll found that, overall, 48 percent of voters oppose the idea of making gay marriage legal. Forty-seven percent support it, while 5 percent are undecided.

The results mirror previous PPIC polls from the last three years, suggesting that the $73 million spent for and against the measure did not do much to change public attitudes on allowing gay couples to wed, said survey director Mark Baldassare.

"At no point in time, before or after the election, did we have a majority of Californians saying they supported gay marriage," Baldassare said. "My takeaway from this is that until there is a major shift in public opinion one way or another, it's going to be another issue where voters are deeply divided."

Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California, said the PPIC poll demonstrates that same-sex marriage advocates "need to make inroads in every category. If 2 percent of voters had voted differently, we would have had a different result," he said.

The poll was based on a phone survey of 2,003 California voters in the Nov. 4 election who were interviewed from Nov. 5-6. The sampling error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Prop. 8 Protests In West Hollywood

7 Arrested In Protest Over Calif. Gay Marriage Ban
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 6, 2008

(AP) Authorities say seven people were arrested in a sprawling, hours-long protest against the likely defeat of California's gay marriage ban that blocked several Los Angeles-area streets.

Police officer Jason Lee says marchers were mostly peaceful in the protest against Proposition 8 that began Wednesday in West Hollywood and continued into Thursday morning.

But four people were taken into custody at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland when they tried to cross a line of officers.

Television cameras showed one of the protesters jumping on top of a police car. He was quickly wrestled to the ground by police.

Sheriff's Sgt. Kristin Aloma says two people were arrested in West Hollywood for disturbing the peace, and another was arrested for public drunkenness.

She says one deputy had minor injuries when he was hit by a car as he prepared to close an intersection before protesters arrived.

Prop. 8 Protests Head To Salt Lake City

Demonstrations Planned At Mormon Headquarters Over Church's Funding Of Gay Marriage Ban

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 8, 2008

(CBS/ AP) A group of protesters plans to rally in front of the headquarters of the Mormon church over the faith's support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in California.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged its members to work to pass Proposition 8 by volunteering their time and money for the campaign. California voters approved the measure Tuesday.

The Friday evening protest comes a day after people demonstrated outside a Mormon temple in Los Angeles. About 1,000 gay-marriage supporters waved signs and brought afternoon traffic to a halt.

On Thursday, outside the gates of a Mormon temple his father helped build, Kai Cross joined more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates in a chorus of criticism of the church's role in the likely passage of a statewide ban on same-sex marriage.

Once a devout Mormon who graduated from Brigham Young University, the 41-year-old Cross was disowned by his family and his church after he was outed as a gay man in 2001.

"They are on the losing side of history," Cross said Thursday of the church's opposition to gay marriage. Cross and other protesters blame leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for encouraging Mormons to funnel millions of dollars into television ads and mailings in favor of Proposition 8.

The ballot measure was sponsored by a coalition of religious and social conservative groups, would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as a heterosexual act. It would override a state Supreme Court ruling that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed.

According to the CBS News Election and Survey unit’s analysis, black voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prop. 8 - by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin. Hispanic voters overall favored the measure as well but only by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. White voters were slightly on the side of approving it, 51 percent to 49 percent.

There is disappointment that the African-American community, which just saw the election of the first black president, voted overwhelmingly against same-sex marriage, reports CBS Early Show correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

The protest came amid questions about whether attempts to overturn the prohibition can succeed and whether the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California over the past four months are in any danger.

For Cody Krebs, 27, four months was not enough time to fulfill his "intense hope" to marry one day; he and his boyfriend have been together for little more than a year, so they aren't ready to wed.

On Thursday, Krebs dodged eggs hurled at protesters from an apartment building. He said he'd seen worse growing up in Salt Lake City.

"It's important to come out like this because it gets the gay community into the public eye," Krebs said. "I feel like this has started a lot of conversations that had to get started."

The demonstration began outside the temple in the Westwood section of Los Angeles and noisily spilled through the western side of the city, with chants of "Separate church and state" and "What do we want? Equal rights." Some protesters waved signs saying "No on H8" or "I didn't vote against your marriage," and many equated the issue with the civil rights struggle.

Two people were arrested after a confrontation between the crowd and an occupant of a pickup truck that had a banner supporting Proposition 8. One demonstrator ended up with a bloody nose in the fracas. Seven arrests occurred during Los Angeles-area street marches late Wednesday.

The temple protest was organized by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Its chief executive, Lorri Jean, announced a Web-based effort dubbed InvalidateProp8.org to raise money to fight the constitutional amendment.

Gay-marriage proponents filed three court challenges Wednesday against the ban. The lawsuits raise a rare legal argument: that the ballot measure was actually a dramatic revision of the California Constitution rather than a simple amendment. A constitutional revision must first pass the Legislature before going to the voters.

Andrew Pugno, attorney for the groups that sponsored the amendment, called the lawsuits "frivolous and regrettable."

"It is time that the opponents of traditional marriage respect the voters' decision," he said.

The high court has not said when it will act. State officials said the ban on gay marriage took effect the morning after the election.

"We don't consider it a `Hail Mary' at all," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "You simply can't so something like this - take away a fundamental right at the ballot."

With many gay newlyweds worried about what the amendment does to their vows, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said he believes those marriages are still valid. But he is also preparing to defend that position in court.

The amendment does not explicitly say whether it applies to those already married. Legal experts said unless there is explicit language, laws are not normally applied retroactively.

"Otherwise a Pandora's Box of chaos is opened," said Stanford University law school professor Jane Schacter. Still, Schacter cautioned that the question of retroactivity "is not a slam dunk."

An employer, for instance, could deny medical benefits to an employee's same-sex spouse. The worker could then sue the employer, giving rise to a case that could determine the validity of the 18,000 marriages.

Supporters of the ban said they will not seek to invalidate the marriages already performed and will leave any legal challenges to others.

A 2003 California law already gives gays registered as domestic partners nearly all the state rights and responsibilities of married couples when it comes to such things as taxes, estate planning and medical decisions. That law is still in effect.

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Gay Marriage Supporters Take To Streets

Protesters Rally In California, Utah Over Proposition 8
LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov. 8, 2008

(CBS/AP) Thousands of protesters angered by the passage of a state measure banning gay marriage took to the streets Friday in San Francisco and Long Beach, while thousands more protested outside the headquarters of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City.

The marches were the latest of several demonstrations held throughout the state this week after the passage of Proposition 8, which would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The measure overrides a state Supreme Court ruling in May that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed.

In Salt Lake City, a crowd of about 2,000 chanted "Separate church and state" and waved rainbow flags outside the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which encouraged its members to work to pass the amendment by volunteering their time and money for the campaign.

Some protesters held signs with messages like, "Mormons: Once persecuted, now persecutors." Church officials offered no statement on the rally and march Friday night, but had called for civility and respect before and after Tuesday's vote.

The protest in Long Beach attracted about 2,000 people who were escorted by police as they marched through streets chanting and holding signs in support of gay rights.

Police said the march was peaceful, though there were some verbal clashes between gay rights activists and supporters of Proposition 8. Three people were arrested for trying to lead protesters past police lines.

The demonstration in San Francisco included about 1,000 protesters escorted by police who marched down Market Street during rush hour and ended at City Hall. No arrests were reported.

Lisa Davis, 42, among the protesters on Market Street, held a sign that read, "You gave rights to chickens and took away rights from human beings." The sign referred to the passage of Proposition 2, which requires better treatment of farm animals.

As the protesters made their way southwest on Market Street towards Castro Street around 6 p.m., some joined hands across Market at Ninth Street, reports CBS affiliate KPIX-TV in San Francisco. The barrier stopped traffic for more than an hour, causing honks from vehicles, some in support and others in annoyance and an urgency to get past.

Those who made it to Dolores Park chanted, played music and danced, prompting the temporary closure of Dolores Street at 19th Street.

Police Lt. Neville Gittens said three people were arrested for being drunk in public but added that they did not appear to be part of the protest, just observing.

Gittens said that by about 8 p.m. the protest broke up peacefully.

Davis said she planned to propose to her girlfriend during the march.

According to the CBS News Election and Survey unit’s analysis, black voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prop. 8 - by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin. Hispanic voters overall favored the measure as well but only by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. White voters were slightly on the side of approving it, 51 percent to 49 percent.

There is disappointment that the African-American community, which just saw the election of the first black president, voted overwhelmingly against same-sex marriage, reports CBS Early Show correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

Gay rights groups and same-sex marriage proponents have filed at least three court challenges against the ban.

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Gay Marriage Ban Ballot Backlash

CBS Evening News: Californians Who Opposed Proposition 8 Are Outraged Over Its PassageSAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 9, 2008

(CBS) The passage of Proposition 8 - California's initiative banning same sex marriage - is sparking protests and division across the state, CBS Evening News correspondent John Blackstone reports from San Francisco.

Some voters who joined forces, just last week, to elect the President, now find themselves on opposite sides.

For the third straight day thousands of people marched in California, protesting the election night passage of Proposition 8 - banning same sex marriage.

Crowds continued to target the Mormon church, which poured millions into promoting the same-sex marriage ban and encouraged members to cross state lines to join the campaign. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - who opposed the bill - says gay rights supporters were outmanned.

"They had a very strong campaign, the pro-proposition 8 people, and I think, they people who tried to defeat it and they did not have as good of a campaign or as much money behind it," Schwarzenegger told CNN's Late Edition.

But the breakdown of who voted for the bill is starting to raise concerns for some in the gay community. Exit polls show that while blacks made up 10 percent of the total vote, 70 percent of African-American voters supported Prop. 8. Whites, Hispanics and Asians were virtually evenly split.

African-Americans are historically more socially conservative and proponents of the ban tapped into that sentiment by seeking out black church leaders for support.

"It's not a civil rights issue, because as African-Americans we can't change the color of our skin," says pastor Edward Smith, who supported the ban on gay marriage.

The fact that African-Americans turned out in record numbers to vote for Barack Obama while overwhelmingly voting yes on Proposition 8 created personal conflict for some.

"I think the basis of my conflict comes from my upbringing in the church," says Jacquelynn Hawthorne, an Obama supporter.

That frustrates some civil rights leaders - they compare the struggle to the 1967 Supreme Court case of Richard and Mildred Loving, who were arrested in Virginia because interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states.

"Once we present this in the right way and we do the education we should do, I'm not worried at all because African-Americans believe in justice," says Alice Huffman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Gay rights advocates say they'll fight all the way to the Supreme Court, meaning protests like these may not end anytime soon.

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Prop. 8 Anger Spurs Donor Blacklists

(CBS) For supporters of same-sex marriage, the Election Day loss in California seems to be energizing their campaign rather than ending it.

Demonstrations against Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage, have been growing, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

Now the anger is moving to the Internet, where supporters of same-sex marriage are posting blacklists - the names and businesses of those who gave money to help Proposition 8 pass.

Chris Lee, an engineer who is an immigrant from China, was shocked to see his name on the Web site AntiGayBlacklist.com after he gave $1,000 to the campaign to end same-sex marriage.

"I was completely disgusted," Li said. "This sort of blacklist should only appear in communist countries, should not be found in the United States."

In Los Angeles, demonstrators called for a boycott of a restaurant whose manager made a personal donation of $100 to the "Yes on 8" campaign.

"She didn't think it would be public record," said Jeff Yarbrough.

Anger over the blacklists brought out demonstrators in Sacramento, where Scott Eckern resigned as musical director of a local theater when he was identified as a donor.

While it isn't clear who is behind the blacklisting Web sites, political donations are public record and publishing them is legal. But this campaign is making even many supporters of same-sex marriage uncomfortable.

"I understand the anger, but I think we need to channel it," said Molly McKay of Marriage Equality USA. "Into conversations, into moving forward because, you know again, hate vs. hate produces more hate."

Those campaigning to end same-sex marriage drew up their own blacklist, sending letters to large donors to the campaign to save same-sex marriage, demanding equal money or threatening to publish their names.

The Internet has made open political financing even more open - and perhaps more intimidating.

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Mormons Targeted for Role Supporting Prop 8

Critics Question Church's Role in Lobbying; Accuse Mormons of Bigotry

In Connecticut today, a judge cleared the way for same-sex couples to marry, creating a day of truly remarkable contrasts on one of the most divisive cultural issues in America: gay marriage.

The ruling comes just over a week after voters in California passed Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment to limit marriage to between a man and a woman, putting an end to same-sex couples marrying in the state and spawning protests from activists nationwide.

In New York City this evening, protesters gathered outside a Mormon church, to show their support for same-sex marriage, and express anger about what they dubbed "religious-based bigotry" in America.

These protests are not isolated, but rather, a wider trend of demonstrations from New York to Los Angeles targeting Mormons. Groups are focusing on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because its members poured in tens of millions of dollars to defeat gay marriage in California.

Mormon leadership, normally reluctant to engage in politics, sent a letter calling for the preservation of what it called traditional marriage and families, to be read aloud in every Mormon congregation in California.

"The Church's teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal," the letter said. "...We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman."

Opponents say that church leaders went too far in organizing their members and asking them to donate time and money to getting the proposition passed. Those critics of the church even started an online campaign to identify and embarrass Mormons who supported the amendment.

They launched Mormonsfor8.com, a Web site that lists the name and hometown of each Mormon donor, in an attempt to expose how much influence the LDS church played in the campaign.

Critics charge Mormons with hypocrisy, given their troubled history with polygamy.

"They are a group of people who have experienced bigotry and religious bigotry in this country," said Michelangelo Signorile, a gay writer and talk show host. "They should understand what it is like to be a minority in this country and to know that other people are trying to take your rights away."

Mormons Say Protestors' Anger Is Unfair

"Well, let's not fudge the issues here. We're not talking about what kind of marriages that Mormons were involved in, in the 1800s," said Michael Otterson, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. "That's not the issue. Let's keep focused on where we are with marriage today."

Mormons say they're being unfairly singled out since many different faith-based organizations, including Catholics, evangelicals and black Protestants, banded together to help pass Proposition 8.

Denying accusations that the church stepped outside of its traditional role, Otterson said it's wrong to target a place of worship for speaking up on what it considers an important issue.