Anglicans lock horns over gays as rift deepens

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Conservatives and liberals locked horns over homosexuality at a Church of England synod on Wednesday as the worldwide Anglican communion faced the grim prospect of schism.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, had warned the synod that people now think Anglicans are "obsessed with sex."

After listening to a robust morning of soul-searching debate over the role of gays and lesbians in the deeply divided church, few would argue with his conclusion.

Speaker after speaker highlighted the divisions that have rent the 450-year-old church, founded when Henry VIII broke with Rome so he could divorce his first wife.

Bishops succeeded in toning down a liberal motion on homosexuality, arguing that this could have upset delicate negotiations.

Bishop of Gloucester Michael Perham told the synod: "It is very clearly the wrong moment to shift our former position and give any sense of winners and losers on an issue on which we are finding it hard to reach consensus."

"Does the Synod want an outcome that will be perceived, perhaps misperceived, in the Anglican Communion as the Church of England shifting its ground in one direction or another?" he asked.

AMENDED MOTION