Canon Gene Robinson has made much of his being a symbol of inclusivism and an initiative to bring people on the margins into the centre of Church life. He and those who share his view need to appreciate that being inclusive must also involve the majority of Anglicans throughout the world who are distressed by the action of the American Church in the face of the stated position of the Anglican Communion and advice of its senior leaders.
ECUSA has failed both within its own jurisdiction and beyond its borders to persuade the wider church that it is expressing a legitimate understanding of Scripture. Indeed it seems scarcely aware of the need for dialogue. We urge other Anglicans not to mirror this introverted attitude and break fellowship. It is important that the Archbishop of Canterbury's Anglican Communion Commission is given the chance to meet and report before drawing firm conclusions about what the future course of action might be.
It is regrettable that ECUSA by its actions has impaired communion, 'torn the fabric at the deepest level'. It is essential that this tear is not allowed to extend further. The representative Anglican today is young, poor, is located not in North America or Britain but in Africa or Asia and lives daily with political marginalisation, the spectre of war, famine and the ravages of preventable disease. For such a person a unified global Anglicanism is a lifeline, an essential system of global collective support. ECUSA's action has now put this in jeopardy.
Fulcrum wishes to assure US Anglicans who oppose what has happened in New Hampshire of our support and prayers as they seek to understand how some kind of re-alignment might be accomplished in discussion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. We are particularly concerned to hear of legal action threatened against clergy, bishops and congregations who have upheld the historic teaching of the church and have questioned the rightness of Canon Robinson's election. We cannot see how such threats are consistent with the clear teaching of the New Testament that Christians should not take one another to court and that differences should be reconciled before God.
The 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution 1:10, which the Primates reaffirmed as Anglican teaching on sexual ethics, is clear that homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture. It is also clear that the church must minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and listen to the experience of homosexual persons. It is only when taken as a whole that the resolution will enable us to bear witness to God's grace and truth and deepen our own understanding of the mystery of human sexuality. The relevant section of the Fulcrum values states: "We will participate in debates on issues in sexual ethics arising today in the life of the Church and we identify as key references the C of E document Issues in Human Sexuality and Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference and True Union (a document shared with the Anglican Primates' Meeting, Brazil 2003). Fulcrum will seek to play a full part in fostering debate, dialogue and discussion, mindful of the imperative of gospel mission which is incumbent on the whole church of God.
