That, in a nation so much smaller than the United States, is notable. For the U.S. Episcopal Church - the denomination of so many of the founders of the United States - has now shrunk to 2.3 million - from what was in the 1960s 3.5 million.

The Post reports:

"Some conservatives in the Episcopal Church, the U.S. wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, believe the church abandoned Scripture by installing a gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003, among other things. Those feelings of alienation were strengthened when Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori - who supports the New Hampshire bishop - was elected this summer to lead the national church.

"Three other churches in the 193-congregation Virginia diocese - the nation's largest - are also voting this month. And Saturday, the Associated Press reported that leaders of the San Joaquin, Calif., diocese voted to affirm their membership within the Anglican Communion, a slap to the U.S. church that some see as a first step toward a later vote to separate. That would be the first entire diocese to leave the mother church.

"Although some orthodox congregations have been leaving since 2003 - as some did in the 1970s, when ordinations of women began - advocates think they are getting closer to creating a new, U.S.-based umbrella organization that would essentially compete with the Episcopal Church. And the two Fairfax churches are on the vanguard of the movement, which could lead to massive changes in the 226-year-old denomination, years of painful litigation or both.

"'In one sense there is a sadness because this feels like a death,' said Mary Springmann, a soft-spoken stay-at-home mother who worships at Truro and plans to vote to split when a week of voting begins Sunday. 'Like someone who has been gravely ill for a long time, you keep hoping there's going to be a recovery. And at some point you realize it's not going to happen. Right now ... there is a feeling of hope and expectancy about where God is going to lead us next. It's kind of exciting.'

"If the votes at The Falls Church and Truro succeed, as their leaders predict, the 3,000 active members of the two churches would join a new, Fairfax-based organization that answers to Nigerian Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, leader of the 17 million-member Nigerian church and an advocate of jailing gays. The new group hopes to become a U.S.-based denomination for orthodox Episcopalians.

"How many congregations will take this route is unknown, with the likelihood of costly litigation over historic, valuable properties and bitterness infecting a holy space. Even church centrists estimate that 15 percent of U.S. Episcopalians would leave the national church if their congregations could keep their church buildings and remain in the Communion."

And that should surely and quite justifiably bring up the First Amendment of the United States Constitution's guarantee of the freedom of religion.

If the amount of money sent by Truro and Falls Church to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia headquartered in Richmond is added up over the more than two centuries that this has been done, these two parish churches - both incorporated - have contributed far, far more money to the Diocese of Virginia than the Diocese ever invested in financial support of these two churches toward purchase of land, erection of buildings and paying of clergy salaries.

Therefore, how in the name of constitutional justice and basic equity can a diocese claim to control the land and buildings of a local church - when the beliefs of the majority of the people of the church differ from new beliefs adopted by the diocese in defiance of so much Holy Scripture?

Where in the world is there any freedom of religion in such a religious dictatorship that requires all congregations to adhere to new beliefs - or have their church's land and buildings taken away from them?

What if the majority of Episcopal bishops had voted to accept adultery, rather than to accept sodomy - because sodomy surely has a higher AIDS (and syphilis) rate than adultery?

Can we imagine Episcopal bishops publicly approving adultery - despite the commandment "Thou shalt not commit" it?

Surely, there is a great deal of biblical condemnation of both adultery and sodomy. But the majority of Episcopal bishops have voted to approve sodomy, but not adultery.

Why?

Can we imagine the argument for such?

* "Variety is the spice of life!"

* "King Solomon was a polygamist. He had both wives and concubines. What's wrong with concubines?"

* "Love makes the world go round. So why confine sexual love?"

The Washington Post reports:

"Some conservatives were taken aback by a letter issued Friday by Bishop Peter James Lee of the Diocese of Virginia, reminding voting churches that they could be in for a costly fight over property and clergy pensions and health care, rather than a peaceful settlement.

"'If your church decides to leave,' the letter says, 'I believe your successors in the future will regret that decision and its destructive consequences for the whole church.'

"[Jim] Pierobon said he thought that Lee was trying to intimidate congregants from voting yes on the split.

"Other religious denominations have been roiled in recent years by the issue of homosexuality, but a major schism would be unprecedented in the Episcopal Church, which remained united even through the Civil War.

"'The difference between the Episcopal Church and the others is that Episcopalians are really loath to split about anything,' said Diana Butler Bass, a U.S. church historian who believes politics, not theology, has been driving divisions in the Episcopal Church since the 1980s. 'What will win now? This politicized culture, or that old Anglican, spiritual way of being in the world?'

"The size of the division in the U.S. church is hotly debated on blogs across the spectrum. About 140 dissident churches have joined a splinter group called the Anglican Mission in America, said the Rev. David C. Anderson, an orthodox advocate. After Jefferts Schori's election this summer, seven of the 111 U.S. dioceses rejected her authority. Since 2003, the U.S. church estimates that it lost nearly 115,000 members. Its membership is now about 2.3 million.

"As the San Joaquin vote approached, Jefferts Schori announced Thursday she would formalize the creation of a high-ranking position to oversee the seven dissenting dioceses - a move some saw as conciliatory, others as a last-ditch effort."

Once more, the question: why not - especially in view of our Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion - why not let all Episcopalians have the freedom to worship as they see fit - in what they believe is truthful adherence to the Christian faith - as stipulated in Holy Scripture?

Related special offer:

"Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity" http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53348

---Les Kinsolving hosts a daily talk show for WCBM in Baltimore. His radio commentaries are syndicated nationally. He is White House correspondent for WorldNetDaily. His show can be heard on the Internet 9-11 p.m. Eastern each weekday. Before going into broadcasting, Kinsolving was a newspaper reporter and columnist - twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary.