Four explanations come to mind:

The 2003 election and consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, as bishop of the New Hampshire diocese. This was a dramatic event that for many conservative Episcopalians was the last straw in what they believe has been a steady abandonment of Scripture and tradition by a liberal majority.

An added international dimension as the 77-million-member World Anglican Communion condemns the Episcopal Church (and to some degree the Canadian diocese of New Westminster) for its inclusive attitudes regarding homosexuality.

Schism seems more real than in other denominations as it deals with defecting parishes and what increasingly appears to be an inevitable separation from the Anglican Communion.

And there is an aggressive push to "rein in" an Episcopal Church that many of the world's Anglican leaders judge to be downright apostate.

The latest step toward reining in the American church is an ultimatum from primates of the Anglican Communion that the Episcopal Church cease and desist from authorizing blessings of same-sex unions and from consecrating gay bishops. It also directed that a parallel leadership structure be created to govern the minority who oppose the church's policy on homosexuality. The proposed structure would include a "primatial vicar" and a "pastoral council" composed of a majority membership chosen by the primates. Not to obey the edict would lead to the American church's removal from the Communion. The deadline for the Episcopal House of Bishops to decide is Sept. 30. The pressure is on.

It is not clear that the Episcopal Church can officially respond without a General Convention. It normally meets every three years, the next one scheduled for 2009. Its national form of government, church polity, actually is presbyterian rather than strictly hierarchical. It is a tiered representative democracy in which a House of Bishops shares authority with an 800-member lay-clergy House of Deputies. The House of Bishops, meeting this week, flatly rejected the idea of a parallel leadership. On the other matters, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is urging Episcopalians to be patient and to refrain from electing gay bishops and blessing the unions of gay couples "for a season."

Underlying causes of the conflict, as well as some of its predictable consequences, goes beyond the war over homosexuality. Conservatives, who have appropriated the name "Anglican" (as in the American Anglican Council and the Anglican Communion Network), have a different interpretation of the authority of Scripture and tradition, reason and experience from that of their more liberal brothers and sisters. Consequences of the struggle will probably be an Anglican Communion with more power vested in bishops; a more doctrinally confessional church based on a covenantal statement that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has proposed be prepared; and, finally, greater influence, not to say dominance, of the Anglican Communion by primates of the African provinces.

The conflict has played out locally as five Episcopal churches in Tallahassee have experienced defections over the issue. (Only Holy Comforter Episcopal Church and St. Michael and All Angels have avoided schism.) Approximately 15 percent of the Diocese of Florida's membership has separated from the Episcopal Church.

On local and regional as well as national and international levels, motives for action are complex and mixed. Thus it has ever been. But a common conviction expressed by proponents on both sides is that, finally, conscience trumps unity when push comes to shove.

Both sides probably are right.

---Leo Sandon is professor emeritus of religion and American studies at Florida State. E-mail him at lsandon@garnet.acns.fsu.edu.