THE new Archbishop of Wales yesterday stepped into the row over gay bishops. The Most Rev Barry Morgan warned the Anglican Church it must end bitter in-fighting over the issue. "We are in danger of making this sexual and relational issue, the only real issue that counts - almost the defining issue for who is and is not an Anglican or even a Christian," he said. "If we do that we are in danger of failing to take seriously both the central values of our gospel and the traditions of the Church." The 80m strong worldwide Anglican Church faces fundamental divisions after openly homo-sexual Gene Robinson was confirmed as a bishop in New Hampshire in the United States. Gay priest Jeffrey John refused to take up the post of Bishop of Reading in Berkshire this year after an outcry. But Mr Morgan told the Church in Wales governing body in Lampeter yesterday that it was time to calm the heated debate over same sex relations. The former Bishop of Bangor, in his first presidential address as Archbishop, said the church had a great deal to learn about face to face conversation to settle disputes. "No real communication or conversations have really taken place - just assertion and counter assertion of differing viewpoints," he said. "In an attempt to state views stridently on this one topic we have missed something fundamental on the core values of the Gospel...we seem to have forgotten that we live in a world ravaged by bloodshed, poverty and disease." Archbishop Barry - who succeeded the new Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in April - warned against a simplistic interpretation of the Bible. "You might think that if we want to know what the Bible says about a particular topic all we have to do is just look it up, see what it says and then apply it," he said. "The snag is that method of reading scripture can lead to problems." "The church has done no more than Jesus did in his own day by ignoring parts of the Old Testament that required lepers, prostitutes, gentiles, sinners and other regarded as unclean to be excluded from God's presence." The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has summoned all primates of the Anglican Church to a summit meeting next month to discuss the US appointment of Gene Robinson, warning of "difficult days ahead for the church". Some leaders have warned the issue could" split the church". | 
