WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- Eighteen Anglican archbishops representing more than 55 million people worldwide are urging the Episcopal Church to "repent" its pro-homosexual policies.
"This deliberate disobedience of the revealed will of God in the Holy Scriptures is a flagrant departure from the consensual and clearly communicated mind and will of the Anglican Communion," said the letter, which was dated April 16, but not released until this week, the Washington Times reported Thursday.
Should the denomination refuse to comply, the letter from predominantly African and Asian bishops said the Episcopal Church eventually could be suspended, then expelled from the 70-million-member Anglican Communion, the worldwide church body of which the Episcopal Church is part.
Specifically, the Episcopal Church was asked to revoke the Nov. 2 consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the world's first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop.
Asked if the Episcopal Church could be expelled from world Anglincanism, church spokesman Dan England said he didn't know "how that would happen."
