Gay bishop snubbed by Anglican conference

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - The Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual head of 77 million Anglicans worldwide, has not invited two wayward bishops to a major conference next year, a move likely to stir controversy in the deeply divided communion.

Archbishop Rowan Williams has sent invitations to more than 800 Anglican bishops asking them to attend the Lambeth Conference in July and August 2008, but has not invited two American bishops, Gene Robinson and Martyn Minns.

Robinson has caused division since he was consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 and became the Anglican Church's first openly gay bishop.

Robinson said he was deeply disappointed by Williams's decision. "How does it make sense to exclude gay and lesbian people from the discussion?" he asked in a statement.

"Isn't it time that the bishops of the Church stop talking about us and start talking with us?"

Minns, a deeply conservative Episcopalian, was installed last year as the head of a new Nigerian-based church branch in the United States designed as a refuge for orthodox believers. The Anglican Communion does not recognize his position.

"This crisis in the Anglican Communion is not about a few individual bishops but about a worldwide Communion that is torn at its deepest level," Minns said.

Williams said in his statement: "I have to reserve the right to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion."