Laurie Goodstein, religion writer for The New York Times framed the issue on National Public Radio Tuesday, by saying that it is the "conservatives" who is pushing everyone else to adopt their "orthodoxy" that is threatening to split the communion.

The liberal newspaper would never entertain, for a moment, that Episcopalians would have any viewpoint other than that espoused by Mrs. Schori. Ms Goodstein would never concede that orthodox Episcopalians might have a point of view steeped in history, tradition and the Holy Scriptures. God forbid.

Mrs. Schori, despite calling for a Lenten fast from same sex blessings and perhaps, even sodomy itself, said, "We are being pushed toward a decision by impatient forces within and outside this church who hunger for clarity. That hunger for clarity at all costs is an anxious response to discomfort in the face of change."

Fascinating. We have had clarity since God created male and female and reaffirmed in the Torah. For the last 2,000 years, no Council, Church or Creed has ever had any problem with clarity on sexuality issues. Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI have never had a problem with clarity - just a church (Episcopal), traumatized by post-modernism and the need to conform to the 'spirit of the age'.

Astonishingly enough, liberal and revisionist Episcopal bishops seem to have amazing clarity when it comes to adultery, but absolutely no clarity on heterosexual fornication (see GC2000 General Convention resolution D039) or sodomy (C005). Even bi-sexuality and transgender behavior gets a pass, but lo, if thou dost step over the line as a married man, Tom Shaw, the Bishop of Massachusetts (and bishops like him), will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Meanwhile, his actively homosexual clergy can switch partners with a letter to the bishop, and sodomy is as acceptable as a change of clothes.

Suddenly, revisionists are challenging centuries-old traditions. The leaders of the Episcopal Church have the audacity to ask - with straight faces - who is doing the pushing!Like her predecessor, Frank Griswold ("my door is open to all"), Mrs. Schori is trying to stand in the middle and hold The Episcopal Church up like a latter day feminist Atlas.

On Wednesday she argued against Gene Robinson's (Bishop of New Hampshire) call to ignore the rest of the church and move on. Instead, Mrs. Schori called for understanding and healing. Healing what? If you don't think anything is broken or hurt, how can you heal it?

The Primates issued a time line for action by The Episcopal Church. It is NOT healing they are calling for but repentance and amendment of life. Healing comes AFTER confession and repentance not before. If the church's pan sexualists, like Susan Russell and Michael Hopkins, believe and have said, publicly, that what they are being asked to do is less than their understanding of the gospel, then nothing is going to change. Nothing.

Mrs. Schori said, "To live together in Christian community means each member takes seriously the concerns and needs of other members." It is apparent the Episcopal Left has absolutely no interest in doing that. None. They want no cessation of same sex blessings, or homosexual behavior; no going back on what they regard as justice/love/inclusivity on sexuality issues. Mrs. Schori has about as much chance of convincing her left flank that she can hold it together as the orthodox believe the Episcopal Church is suddenly going to change course. It isn't going to happen.

Furthermore, liberals now believe that resolution B033, passed at GC2006, was a total betrayal of their cause. They blame Griswold for trying to push it through as a sop resolution to the Windsor Report's call to do something in order to placate orthodox Global South primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cries of outrage on liberal Blogs is deafening. The evangelical Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir Ali, saw what was going on but was powerless to say or do anything about it.

Now Mrs. Schori is faced with an attack from her left flank, while orthodox bishops and clergy sit on the sideline and just watch. Mrs. Schori does seem to understand that both sides are pushing, but it is those on her side of the ecclesiastical bed who seem bent on tearing the sheets of the church apart. Don't blame the orthodox, They just keeping singing the same old song...you moved, we didn't. It is up to you to come back, not for us to move towards your "progressive" view of the Christian Faith.

For "dissenters," like Gene Robinson, the cards are in his and Integrity's court. It is not orthodoxy's hand to fold. The "impatient forces" on this side of the Atlantic will have to make up their mind whether they really want to stay in the Anglican Communion or not.

Perhaps, it is time for them to take their sawhorses and timber as well as those who will follow them, and build a new sandbox. The orthodox will never join them. If it all ends up in court, as it increasingly seems to be doing over property issues, then the Episcopal Church will be shown up to be what it is - a body not for the 'faith once delivered to the saints' but an entity of bricks and mortar for succeeding generations, who will no longer be around to worship in them.

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