The Church of England is going through some very difficult times over the failed appointment of Canon Jeffrey John to be Bishop of Reading. A General Synod of the Church had to be halted because gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and six activists burst came in, revealed a banner stating "Church of hate stop crucifying queers" and challenged those in attendance to put him to death as required by Biblical teaching.

Tatchell, like many others so far, accused Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, of caving in to pressure from conservative evangelicals within the Church and pressuring John to withdraw. According to the Independent:

Senior liberals in the Church of England are blaming American evangelicals for the "fifth column" campaign of dissent which sabotaged the appointment of Jeffrey John, Britain's first openly gay bishop... [P]rominent figures at Southwark Cathedral, where Canon John still works as Canon Theologian, and from the Diocese of Oxford, which sought to make the controversial appointment, were warning that the evangelical network at the centre of the campaign wants to establish a church within the Church. ...The Very Reverend Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark Cathedral ...accused evangelicals from America and Australia of making substantial cash handouts to third world bishops who support their views, particularly at the time of the Lambeth conference in 1998, which produced a strong Anglican statement backing traditionalist teaching on sexuality.

What is happening in the Church of England is not at all unlike what happened with the Southern Baptist Convention, a religious organization that was taken over by a concerted effort by conservatives, evangelicals, and fundamentalists. What does the future hold for the Church of England?

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• Southern Baptist Convention