Episcopal Church Closer To Full Acceptance of Gays and Lesbians

The Episcopal Church is decisively closer to fully accepting gays and lesbians by working toward recognizing same-sex marriage as well as gay bishops.

In a vote taken by a key committee on Monday, an overwhelming decision was made to begin creating blessings for use in same-sex marriages, according to the church's official newspaper report. 

The House of Bishops, in a separate decision, voted for gays and lesbians to become bishops by a large margin. Before going into effect, both of these measures need approval from the church's General Convention.

However Mark Silk, director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Connecticut, stated there is "little reason" to doubt 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," he explained. 

The decision by The Episcopal Church in 2003 to ordain Gene Robinson as a bishop caused a lot of controversy because he is openly gay. That decision created a possible split between the worldwide Anglican Church, third-largest Christian denomination, and approximately 70 million church members.

Since Robinson was ordained, no other openly gay bishops have been ordained by The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church's US branch.

"The decision has been to kind of chill out on a bunch of things," Silk told CNN. He also said the vote from Monday ends what was, in effect, a moratorium.

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."

Silk said "It is bringing the church's position in line with the civil society's."

The head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, expressed "regret" on Monday following the vote, according to Episcopal Life. His spokesman said he declined to comment on the vote when reached out to on Tuesday.

"I regret the fact that the will to observe a moratorium is not the will of such a significant part of the church in North America," he said according to the paper.