So at the risk of reviving unhappy quarrels around the supper table, here it is:

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Let's face it: the Anglican Communion is breaking up. Statements about "breaking ties," "impaired communion," and "loose federation" are commonplace since the election and consecration of Gene Robinson last year.[*] Call it what you will, Anglicans throughout the world are going through a divorce.

This article met my convictions about Anglicanism and, in the words of Archbishop Emeritus Dr. Rowan Williams, they gain a very special weight, obviously, after all, we all know of their theological potential and their importance in world Anglicanism.

Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population -- a group also known as religious "nones" -- have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S.

We actually had three events to attend at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina: a member-care workshop for Anglican Frontier Missions (Monday--Wednesday), the AFM pre-conference (Thursday), and the New Wineskins conference itself (Friday--Sunday). All in all it was seven days in a row in the attractive but secluded Southern Baptist enclave.