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Imagine yourself an average Methodist or Episcopal congregant. (Maybe no imagination is needed.) Then read this report from a conference on Queering the Church. Now perhaps you understand the concern many have. UPDATE: the link is correct but is opening very very slowly if at all. If and when I can open it again I'll try to paste the report in the extended section. Hat tip to MM for noticing.
CONCORD – The Rev. V. Gene Robinson’s elevation as the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop divided the Anglican community worldwide, but in New Hampshire he just wants to be one of the many gay couples uniting with his partner under a soon-to-be-signed civil unions law.

“My partner and I look forward to taking full advantage of the new law,” Robinson told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Article here.

The world Anglican communion, especially the Third-World bishops will take this as a glove to the face.
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, asserts that "I don't believe that there is any will in this church to move backward," and that the election of a practicing homosexual bishop was "a great blessing". Article here. The bishop compares the struggle for gay rights with those of women and the anti-slavery movement. Some context for the current Episcopal situation, in respect of the world-wide Anglican Communion here.

I think the comparisons are false. Regarding slavery: nowhere in Scripture is slavery enjoined, instead it is regulated; and, although slavery is nowhere condemned in the Bible, the implications of the creation stories in Genesis 1 & 2, and the implications of the gospels count against slavery.

Evangelicals come down on both sides of the women's rights question. Regarding women's rights: clearly the Old Testament especially is patriarchal, though women are to be treated justly and there are several examples of women who were heroines; in the gospels Jesus treated women with respect, though he chose only male apostles; and, although the New Testament prohibt women from teaching in the churches, or having authority in the churches over men, in the epistles we see women in various areas of service, including as deacons. Most importantly, the instructions for family relationships enjoin mutual submission that means treating women with respect.

Regarding same-sex practice, the Scripture is unanimously against it, with explicit prohibitions. And, same-sex practice contradicts the statements and the implications of the creation stories in Genesis 1 & 2.
More congregations leaving the (formerly) Mainline denominations.

Presbyterian. Episcopal.
A Chicago church has become the first congregation in that diocese to split from the Episcopal denomination. Article here. The pastor of this parish confounds the usual stereotype of conservative religious leaders.

The Rev. George Byron Koch, a former civil rights leader and corporate executive, leads a West Chicago church that proudly welcomes creative types, free-thinkers and people who don't worry about dressing up.
. . .
A longtime member of the NAACP and a former member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Koch rejects the view that his church's stance is bigoted.


The issues are Episcopal blessing of same-sex marriage and practice, and the opinions of prominent Episcopal leaders that the Resurrection may be merely a metaphor.
The Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, is splitting over the issue of same-sex sex. Now, it appears that the world-wide Anglican Communion may itself be split by the U.S. and Canadian liberal positions. Story here.