Split imminent in the Anglican Church
While addressing a churchmen's conference at Oxford in 1967, Canon Montefiore caused a storm when he reportedly said that "Jesus may have been a homosexual".
To justify his claims, Montefiore, who was then the Cambridge Anglican vicar, said: "That is perhaps why most of the time he had only men in his company."
This earned him enough brickbats from Christians across the divide. In Kenya, a daily newspaper even wrote an editorial condemning Montefiore's remarks as blasphemy.
A reader wrote: "The Oxford address is a revelation of the ebbing spiritual moral which is a challenge to every Christian to fight with prayer. Clergymen of the calibre of Canon Hugh Montefiore need our prayers for God's grace and wisdom in their career.
"The speaker under scrutiny may have been pursuing the myth of freedom of spiritual _expression_ ... but this carries the one danger that it may carry religion adrift into nonsense and nonsense of the highest order in the eyes of both men and God."
But the man utterly refused to give in to calls that he withdraw his remarks. Sadly, that is the path Robinson has taken.
Like Montefiore, Robinson has turned a deaf ear to a hue and cry not only from the Anglican Church but from other Christian denominations the world over not to proceed with his ordination as the bishop of New Hampshire early next month.
Whereas Montefiore's remark was only seen as a sign of spiritual bankruptcy, Robinson's defiance threatens the very unity of the Anglican Communion.
It is this impending ordination on November 2 that prompted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to call the 38 heads of the Anglican Church worldwide for a two-day crisis meeting at Lambeth Palace this month.
The meeting, which failed to take direct action against Robinson, rekindles memories of the church's own battle over 10 years ago that pushed it to accept the first female priests in 450 years.
Despite predictions that this would break up the 77-million strong Anglican Communion, women won the battle in 1992. There are now around 2,000 female priests in the Church of England.
Eleven years on, the issue of homosexuality has caught up with the church. Opponents of female ordination used the same justification as opponents of gay bishops today � that both are against biblical teaching.
Proponents of female ordination were right because the Bible does not prohibit women from preaching to save souls.
But perverted sexual practices are regarded as the vilest of sins by most Christians the world over. Indeed, no religion sanctions homosexuality.
The audacity with which the Episcopalian Church � the US chapter of the Anglican Church � has ignored calls not to go ahead with Robinson's ordination is tantamount to announcing their withdrawal from the Communion.
When the American church took the decision to elect Robinson, a 56-year-old father of two who divorced his wife of 20 years in favour of a man, many believed they had actually kicked themselves out of the Communion.
The Church's stand on homosexuality, according to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth conference, is clear. The Church cannot advise the legitimising or blessing same-sex unions or ordaining those involved in same-gender unions.
Biblically, when you are a Christian, you are no longer expected to live as you please. The Bible becomes the final authority on any matter. That is why liberalism should only be an attitude advanced in the sense of tolerance, but when it comes to issues of the gospel, it cannot be tolerated.
In other words, if Robinson would like to enjoy his sexual proclivities, he has to do it elsewhere because it's an abomination in the Anglican Church.
As things stand now, only Robinson can save the church from splitting by stepping down. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury cannot stop the split. He has no authority to discipline any of the national churches (the 38 provinces) because each is autonomous. He can only withdraw recognition.
Mr Ayieko is editor of EndTime News, a monthly Christian publication.
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