NEW YORK -- Three decades of debate about the role of gays in the Episcopal Church have created rifts that could finally split the denomination and global Anglicanism this week when church leaders gather for their national meeting.
Delegates to the Minneapolis convention will decide whether to approve blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples and confirm the church's first election of an openly gay bishop -- V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
The outcome could splinter the 77-million-member global Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. member. A 1998 gathering of Anglican leaders, called the Lambeth Conference, approved a resolution calling gay sex "incompatible with Scripture."
Conservatives from the United States have warned that if the church approves either Robinson's election or same-sex blessings, they will align themselves with like-minded bishops from Africa,...