The bishop whose consecration sparked a near schism throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion has made comments that have outraged conservatives around the world. Though the Communion is trying its utmost to ensure a complete split of the denomination does not occur, in a recent address, Bishop Gene Robinson has been interpreted by some as suggesting that Jesus might have been homosexual.

The first openly gay Anglican Bishop, from the New Hampshire diocese, and of the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA) has seemingly made comments that have angered and upset a huge proportion of the Anglican Communion.

He commented that Jesus was an unmarried, "non-traditional man" who did not uphold family values, "travelled with a bunch of men" and enjoyed an especially close relationship with one of his disciples.

The comments came at a recent address at the Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham in Massachusetts, USA and was entitled, "Homosexuality and the Body of Christ: Is There a New Way?"

A question was raised to Robinson regarding how the acceptance of homosexuality could be squared with the scriptural emphasis on the redemption of sins. The Bishop replied in a way that have disillusioned many other clergymen: "Interestingly enough, in this day of traditional family values, this man that we follow was single, as far as we know, travelled with a bunch of men, had a disciple who was known as 'the one whom Jesus loved' and said my family is not my mother and father, my family is those who do the will of God. None of us likes those harsh words. That's who Jesus is, that's who he was at heart, in his earthly life."

A spokesperson for the evangelical Anglican organisation Anglican Mainstream, Canon Chris Sugden was reported by the Telegraph newspaper as saying, "He's really selective in what he's addressing. He makes no mention of Jesus' teaching on marriage, for instance. And he does not acknowledge that nowhere in the text or in ancient literature is there any suggestion of any form of sexual impropriety among Jesus or the disciples. Jesus broke the cultural traditions of the time and has women mixing with men in public and having them teaching. Those of us who put scripture as a priority are called on to obey the scripture even when that is in conflict with our culture.

"Bishop Robinson is saying that the culture has moved in his direction and that it's all becoming accepted, so he's looking for ways to interpret scripture to support that instead of realising that scripture asks us to do the unpopular thing and stand against the prevailing culture."

However, a spokesperson for Bishop Robinson, Mike Barwell said, "Jesus was a non-traditional person who broke all the rules and hung out with all the wrong people. Anything else that people infer from the Bishop's comments is all speculation."