The Episcopal Church has moved decisively closer to full acceptance of gay men and lesbians, taking steps toward recognizing same-sex marriage and gay bishops.
Gene Robinson is the Episcopal Church's first -- and so far only -- openly gay bishop.
A key committee voted overwhelmingly Monday to start putting together blessings to be used in same-sex marriages, the church's official newspaper reported.
Separately, the House of Bishops voted by a wide margin to allow gays and lesbians to become bishops, Episcopal Life reported.
Both measures must be approved by the church's General Convention before taking effect, but expert Mark Silk said there is "little reason" to think the changes will not "sail through."
"They basically decided to move forward on all fronts with regularizing the status of gays and lesbians within the church," said Silk, director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Connecticut.
The Episcopal Church created controversy in 2003 with its decision to ordain Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as a bishop. The move raised the possibility of a split within the worldwide Anglican Church, the third-largest Christian denomination with about 70 million members around the world.
The Episcopal Church -- the U.S. branch of the Anglican Church -- has not ordained another openly gay bishop since Robinson.
"The decision has been to kind of chill out on a bunch of things," Silk told CNN.
But Monday's vote ends what had been, in effect, a moratorium, he said.
It was the Episcopal Church saying that "this wasn't an anomaly when we elected Gene Robinson. We affirm that partnered gay people do have callings [to be clergy] and we have to recognize them.
"It is bringing the church's position in line with the civil society's," Silk said.
Should the church's position be line with civil society's? Or should the church's position be line with the Bible?
HT: CNN
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