The Anglican bishops of the Church in Uganda are to boycott the Lambeth Conference in protest at the liberal direction the Anglican Church is taking on homosexuality.

The province, which has more than 30 bishops, joins Nigeria in boycotting the ten-yearly gathering, which takes place in Canterbury this summer. The diocese of Sydney in Australia has also decided not to attend.

A similar announcement was expected this week from Kenya, also a member of the Commonwealth, but the post-election violence there has postponed the decision until later this year.

Rwanda will also stay away, meaning that nearly a quarter of the Church's 880 bishops worldwide will be absent.

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Background

• Gay weddings flourish in a religious stronghold

• Pope to discuss influx of Anglicans

• US Church pledges not to consecrate gay bishops

• Bishop defects to Catholic Church in gay row

Background

• Pro-gay agenda pushes Church closer to schism

• Archbishop of Canterbury's 'secret gay communion'

• Archbishop faces clash over gay marriages of 50 priests

The history of the Lambeth Conference

Our historical guide traces the origins and issues that dominated the agenda at past Lambeth conferences

From the Times Archive, 1867

The first Lambeth Conference had its issues, but participants hoped future meetings would evoke the same fraternal spirit

• 1920 Conference: Birth Control

• 1958 Conference: Family Planning

• 1978 Conference: Ordination Of Women

Multimedia

• Full coverage of Lambeth Conference 2008

• Articles of faith: Ruth Gledhill's blog

• Video: Archbishop of Canterbury on Lambeth 2008

Related Links

• Row over gay clergy threatens to divide Church

• Pope urges Anglicans to "avoid schism"

• Archbishop fires 'exclusion' warning on gay agenda

Instead most of the dissenters will attend a “rival” Global Anglican Future conference organised by conservative evangelicals in Israel in June.

The Times understands that the Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, who heads a church with more than nine million members, has written personally to the Queen to explain why he and his bishops will not be at Lambeth.

The Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and traditionally holds a tea party during the Lambeth Conference at which she welcomes the bishops and archbishops from throughout the Commonwealth and other provinces of the Anglican Communion.

Although the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has not invited the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, in an effort to appease conservatives, they are still refusing to turn up because he has invited the US episcopal bishops who took part in his consecration in 2003.

In a statement, Archbishop Orombi said: “The Primates of the Communion have asked the American Church to halt further consecrations of practising homosexuals and ceremonies for the blessing of same-sex unions. Regretfully, The Episcopal Church has continued to bless same-sex unions, in ceremonies that were presided over, among others, by two Bishops.”

Alison Barfoot, assistant to the Archbishop of Uganda for international relations, said: “It's true that the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda is not going to the Lambeth Conference this summer. Our bishops in the church of Uganda had advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that the crisis in the Communion needed to be resolved before he convened bishops for the Lambeth Conference, but that didn't happen.

“They made the decision a long time ago that if the crisis had not been resolved they would not attend.”

The executive committee that governs the Church of Uganda endorsed the decision of the House of Bishops this week, and it was supported by the whole church, she said.

Referring to north America, Ms Barfoot added: “The way the Anglican Communion has tried to address how one province in the Communion could move forward and make such a change without wider consultation has also involved issues around Anglican identity and authority.”

A Lambeth Conference spokesman said that he was unaware of the boycott and could not comment. He said: “We have not received any official notification of any action by the Church of Uganda concerning their attendance at the Lambeth Conference.”

The General Synod of the Church of England gave its backing yesterday to the new Anglican covenant, the document intended to unite the warring factions of the Church.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said the controversy over homosexuality had “exposed an ecclesiological deficit that needs urgently to be addressed”. He continued: “Bonds of affection, important though they are, are not enough to maintain our relationship as a communion.”

Provinces that sign up to the covenant will be expected to refrain from from actions such as gay episcopal ordinations or the consecration of bishops that transgress established boundaries. They will retain their traditional authority, because the covenant will not be legally binding.

Dr Sentamu said: “The covenant is not erecting a great Anglican wall of exclusion. As I see it, its purpose is to hoist the sails to empower the boat of communion to sail again, unafraid of the storms.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams said the covenant was about “self-giving”. He said: “You can say that a covenant relationship between Christians is a promise to be willing to be converted by each other. I think that works ecumenically and in the communion as well.

“Our Anglican family might just find new life and new vigour if it were prepared very consciously and prayerfully to make the sort of commitments to each other within the family that involved the willingness to be converted by each other.”

This attitude would help Anglicans to see their relationships with each other as “something deeper” than power struggles, he said.