COMMENTARY: Anglican Church Is Now at the Crossroads

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has taken the correct course in vowing last week to defend the Anglican Church's traditional stance on marriage, against moves by the British government to introduce homosexual weddings in churches.

Dr. Williams -- the head of the world's 80 million Anglican worshipers -- told members of the British Parliament that he is not going to allow the British government to tell the Church how to behave.

He said, in effect, that the Church of England will not bow to pressure to allow its buildings to be used to conduct same-sex civil partnerships.

Dr. Williams -- who is scheduled to officiate at the wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton next month -- has been under a great amount of pressure in recent years by liberal segments of the Anglican Church to make several liberal and even un-Christian changes. Some of these changes adopted by the Anglican Church -- which is called the Episcopal Church in the United States -- have resulted in the loss of a significant number of its members.

In fact, in October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI -- well-aware of the plethora of disappointed Anglicans due to these changes -- eased the process for Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism. The Pope's decision enables Anglicans to affiliate with the Catholic Church while keeping elements of their Anglican identity.

Among other beliefs, Anglican traditionalists have been opposed to women priests, openly gay clergy, and same-sex unions. Thousands of Anglicans are believed to have converted to Catholicism, since the Pope eased the process for them to do so in 2009.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, then, has decided -- and rightly so -- that traditionalism must now prevail over the recent trend of liberalism in the Anglican Church.

Indeed, the path of the Anglican Church -- now approaching a critical crossroads -- must be one of a conservative preference on controversial issues, if the Anglican Church wants to retain its renowned position in the Body of Christ.