It has long been seen as the issue which could split the Church Of England - and now that prophecy looks likely to come true. Nick Morrison looks at how the appointment of the first gay Anglican bishop could tear a 450-yar-old institution apart.

IT wasn't born out of any great clash of beliefs. There were no fundamental issues of doctrine at stake, nor was there the distaste at corruption which provoked Martin Luther to begin the Reformation. What inspired the creation of the Church of England was political necessity, in the shape of Henry VIII's desire to marry again. The Pope refused to give him permission, so Henry made himself the head of his own church.

More than 450 years later, the Church of England now commands some one and a half million active followers in this country, and around 26 million nominal members, and is part of a worldwide Anglican Communion numbering some 80 million people. But it is also facing the most serious threat to its unity since its creation.

The role of Anne Boleyn in this drama is taken by a 56-year-old divorced father-of-two, a man who has been in a relationship with another man for the last 13 years. Canon Gene Robinson's appointment as the next bishop of New Hampshire was confirmed yesterday, making him the first openly gay Anglican bishop.

His elevation has already led to talk of splits and divisions. Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh said the Episcopal Church - the US branch of the Anglican Communion - had "distanced itself from millions of Anglicans throughout the world". Anglican leaders in Asia and Africa have denounced the appointment as contrary to the teachings of the Bible, and the American Anglican Council, a splinter group of the Episcopal Church, said the church had "departed from the historical Christian faith".

Canon Robinson's appointment comes just weeks after Canon Jeffrey John was forced to turn down the job of Bishop of Reading under pressure from Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. Dr John had been in a relationship with another man for 27 years, although he said for much of that time the relationship had been celibate. Dr Williams acted in the face of a threatened split in the church - now it seems the stay of execution was only temporary.

But such a split need not be seen as a bad thing, says David Phillips, general secretary of the Church Society, the senior evangelical body in the Church of England and implacably opposed to gay priests. Rather than signalling the demise of the church, it could herald a purification, he says.

"Some people feel dismayed that this means the church could be fractured, but I think it could turn out for the best," he says. "If the consequences are that we do divide, I don't think that would necessarily be a bad thing, it could have a positive side-effect.

"We're not going looking for a split, but it is hard to see how it can be avoided. There are enough people who have already warned of the consequences, and I would not regret it if it happened."

He says the underlying issue for Christians is the authority for what they believe: whether it is their own view, or the Bible. The Bible's condemnation of homosexuality makes being gay incompatible with being a Christian, much less a priest, he says.

"Once you start saying there are things you can take from the Bible and things you can't, you start saying 'these are my ideas'. This liberalism is the willingness to ignore parts of the Bible.

"People will say, 'how on Earth can you belong to a body that permits the things it does?' What we say is compromised by the fact that we tolerate views that are completely at loggerheads with what we teach. The Church of England is a broad church, but how broad is broad? There must be some boundaries. The boundaries have been passed and it is about time we did something about it."

Earlier this year, the diocese of New Westminster in Canada authorised a service of blessings of same-sex unions, causing the Anglican province of Nigeria, the biggest with 17.5m members, to break off contact. And this step, and the aborted promotion of Jeffrey John, would have been unlikely without the appointment of the liberal Dr Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury, according to Mr Phillips.

"Some of these things have happened because people perceive that Rowan Williams agrees with them and won't make a real fuss about it. With Jeffrey John, he did make a fuss in the end, but I don't think we would be in this position if he had been a conservative," he says.

"My feeling is the appointment of Rowan Williams has led to this."

But for the Reverend Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, the threats to found a breakaway church are not to be taken seriously. And even if any such split occurs, it will be condemned from birth.

"If they want to found a church which is based on dislike of homosexuals, then that church will become known as a gay-hating church. What church has a future if it comes into existence with the rallying cry of 'We have no gays here'?," he says.

"If people see it is more important to discriminate than to acknowledge the qualities and skills of homosexuals, then so be it."

He says far from putting the Anglican Communion at risk, the Episcopal Church has done it a great service. The vote in favour of endorsing Canon Robinson, by 62 votes to 45, after he had been elected by the New Hampshire diocese, was a significant but compassionate step, he says.

"To have done anything other than endorse the choice of the diocese, would have been to send a signal to all who believe in an inclusive church that, in fact, the church believed in discrimination rather than love, and homophobia rather than hope.

"The American church has ventured into harsh territory, in the belief that it was the right thing to do, and that was more important than rejecting someone of Gene Robinson's calibre," he says.

But he plays down suggestions that a split is inevitable. If homosexuals such as him, he argues, have existed in the Anglican Church for 30 years when they were condemned by the church's official view, then those who disagree should not break away now the shoe is on the other foot.

"The most consistent thing for those who disagree with us is to do what we have had to do for the last 30 years, which has been to suffer their dislike of us," he says. "They have made life extremely uncomfortable for gay Christians who have sought to live honest and open lives."

He says gay Christians are now looking to Rowan Williams for the sort of leadership he failed to supply over the Jeffrey John affair, on the assumption that Gene Robinson may be the first, but he will not be the last.

"This will become the norm in the Anglican Communion, and it is better to recognise that early, rather than be a Johnny-come-lately, when it doesn't cost very much to show your support. One has to question the quality of leadership if you only wait until it is safe to air your opinions.

"The really strong leadership could be exercised by saying the Americans had every right to make this decision, and they have done the Christian thing," he says.

How Rowan Williams resolves his dilemma will certainly have a profound influence on the future of the Anglican Communion. While it was founded out of necessity rather than principle, it is a question of principle which now threatens to throw it into its most turbulent times since its birth. Whichever way he jumps, it seems the church will never be the same again.

"There is no doubt in my mind that something will happen, and the initiatives will come from lots of different provinces around the world," says David Phillips. "We're seeing the end of the Anglican Communion as we know it. We could see some provinces refuse to recognise his authority, and the end of the Archbishop of Canterbury's role as head of the worldwide Anglican Church."