Despite repeated pleas from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Communion during most of this fracturing period, to remain together in grace, unity has proved impossible, given that the conservatives see the liberals’ position as heresy and the liberals see the conservatives’ as hate. “I don’t see unity as a great virtue if you’re unified in allowing something that’s evil,” says retired Episcopal bishop John Spong, a liberal-church hero and, to conservatives, a theological goat. “You don’t unify the church around unity. You unify it around what’s right. The Episcopal Church
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