The leaders of the Uniting Church of Australia voted Thursday to allow homosexuals to become priests, drawing protest from within the congregation and opposing church leaders.
The controversial decision has provoked criticism from Sydney's Anglican Church and risks splitting the country's third largest Church, after the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

The issue of ordaining gay priests gay has been an international battle within the Christians worldwide. Last month, several Anglican bishops in Sydney condemned the appointment of gay bishops in the United States and Britain.

After two decades of agonising and two days of heated debate, some 90 per cent of the 267 delegates at the Uniting Church's national assembly in Melbourne raised orange (affirmative) cards.

Australia's Uniting Church president, the Reverend Dr Dean Drayton, said the Church had been living in what he called "the messy middle" for six years, and the vote formalised unofficial tolerance of gay priests.

The Rev. Dr. Dean Drayman said it was "inevitable" that Thursday's decision would cause division, but urged church members to keep an open mind.

"We want our members to read what the proposal is, to see that nothing has changed for their congregation," he said.

The UCA has some 1.3 million adherents, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The decision to accept homosexual ministers was the brave and mature thing to do, lesbian and retired minister the Reverend Dr Dorothy McRae-McMahon said.

"This is not primarily about sex," the 70-year-old told the assembly. "This is about love. It's about the freedom for me and people like me to love another person with body, mind, heart and soul. As a lesbian, I am not in moral decay. I am in a loving relationship that has enriched my Christian life."

She warned that the consequences of rejecting homosexuals could be grave. "Suicide is a real risk for people who are rejected by their families and by the church."

"People die over this - that is moral decay."

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Mary Hawks, a spokeswoman for a conservative faction opposing gay clergy, said the church was now "horribly close" to a full-blown split.

"God does not have two minds on sexuality," said Hawkes, warning that some members may well decide to "pack their bags and go."

McRae-McMahon said she would be sad if the move did prompt some to leave.

"But there are many times in the history of the church where decisions are made and people cannot live with them," she was quoted as saying.

"When the church fought against slavery, people left the church."

The UCA, which is Australia's third largest Christian denomination, was formed in 1977 by a merger of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational denominations.

A spokesman for Sydney's Anglican Church said that the UCA, which has links with the Anglican Church, would create problems for the recognition of its Uniting Church brethren.

The Sydney Archdiocese has since joined the conservative forces in the worldwide Anglican Communion's battle over the issue of gay priests and same-sex blessings.

A celibate gay priest in the Church of England, Dr Jeffrey John, whose nomination caused the furore, withdrew his application last week after a world-wide debate over his longstanding gay relationship.

On Thursday, Dr John wrote that he was saddened the chance to prove himself had been taken away. In a letter to his local paper, the Reading Chronicle, he acknowledged the support of thousands of people, many of whom told him they were tempted to leave the church in disgust.

He urged them not to but to continue to build a church that will "truly be a home to all God's children".