The resolutions are a reaction to a decision during last spring's 2003
General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA to elect the Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. The vote has prompted some Episcopalians to leave the denomination or curtail contributions to their churches, requiring budget cutbacks.

The disagreements are a sign of the splits within the Anglican communion worldwide that have become more visible since the election of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire last year.

The bishops had not intended that the issue of homosexuality would be raised at the Synod but several delegates were provoked into speaking when Dr Joan Turner of the Church's marriage council pleaded for a re-consideration of the Church's traditional teaching on homosexuality.

The focus of "Plano-West," to be held June 3-4 at the Long Beach Convention Center, is on mission and evangelism, said the Rev. Tony Baron, an Oceanside priest and one of the organizers.

But a key element will be an opportunity for like-minded conservative Episcopalians to support each other. "This is a chance for us to see who's out there and who does feel the same," said Baron, who is rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church.

“I am talking rather about a sharp ideological tension that separates the West from another world, that we call Islamic,” he said. This Islamic world, he went on to argue, “does not reflect the true values of Islam”.