During the summer, the Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy III and the Rt. Rev. John Rodgers returned from a meeting in Amsterdam with Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda and Yong Ping Chung of South East Asia. Joining them were the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, and the retired Bishop of Quincy, the Rt. Rev. Edward MacBurney, Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda and Archbishop Harry Goodhew of Sydney, Australia. The group met to discuss what would be the next step for the First Promise Movement, a group formed in 1997 that threatens to split away from the Episcopal Church.

Meeting at an open forum on the following Sunday at his church, All Saints', Waccamaw, in Pawleys Island, S.C., Bishop Murphy explained the intent of the Amsterdam meeting to his congregation. He informed them that his American colleagues and he had asked the two foreign archbishops for "permission to move from an interim status in our First Promise Movement to a movement that is official and more permanent in nature. We got it," explained a gleeful Bishop Murphy, making a big checkmark on a piece of paper indicating that the group received their request.

"Then we asked for permission to change our name to something like the Anglican Mission in America and we got it," he said, making another checkmark on the paper. "We then asked for permission to continue planting new congregations in dioceses that will not officially welcome and allow us to enter their diocese. We also got that." In between points, Bishop Murphy made disparaging comments about the national Episcopal Church, a frequent target of his sermons. He informed his congregation that the national church had decided to "crush" the three dioceses which refuse to ordain women.

What Bishop Murphy failed to tell his parish was that at the 1997 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, bishops, clergy and lay delegates voted overwhelmingly in favor of requiring the three dissenting dioceses to work in conjunction with dioceses favorable to ordination of women so women in their diocese could pursue ordination. Unfortunately, two of the three dioceses chose to ignore the national church resolution.

What's clear is that Bishop Murphy is an outstanding orator. He is a convincing communicator, though one who rarely shows both sides of the argument. He is a spiritual visionary, but one who is unfortunately consumed by a desire to rebuild the Episcopal Church based on his own vision.

First Promise, now the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), now threatens to join a long list of breakaway groups that over the years have left the Episcopal Church. If the AMIA wants to leave the Episcopal Church, it should go. The Episcopal Church will be stronger and healthier for this group's departure.

The fact of the matter is that the followers of this movement base their theology on sola scriptura, scripture alone, which has never been the Anglican way of understanding the world.

During the past decade, Bishop Murphy has built his congregation largely on the basis of standing in opposition to the majority of the Episcopal Church and relying on his rigid reading of the Bible. Now that he threatens to lead a breakaway movement, different points of view should be shared with those who blindly follow him. Unfortunately, most of these followers are never allowed an opportunity to hear opposing views.

I for one was ushered out of a forum at All Saints', Pawleys Island, about the breakaway move, merely for speaking during the question-and-answer time and politely suggesting some of the pros and cons of the group's attempt to break away from the Episcopal Church. The Rt. Rev. Alex Dixon, retired Bishop of West Tennessee who is now bishop-in-residence at All Saints', invited me to step outside for a theological exchange in an effort to suppress any discussion that did not support the First Promise agenda. Ironically, Bishop Dixon's strong desire that no one challenge Bishop Murphy's leadership came after Bishop Murphy preached a sermon on the need to listen. It seems that the AMIA has the makings of an Episcopal cult, complete with a charismatic leader and no toleration for opposing views. Before they jump ship, a few things should be shared:

First, the AMIA consists of less than 0.1 percent of the Episcopal Church. If its members split off tomorrow, the Episcopal Church will barely notice. Indeed, both parties would in all likelihood be healthier.

Second, Bishop Murphy has aligned himself and his movement with Archbishop Kolini of Rwanda. He has refused to accept any notion that homosexual persons might be considered God's children and be able to live in committed, moral relationships. Thus, the AMIA has chosen to align itself with a conservative Episcopal Church of Rwanda, where women are often treated as third- class citizens in society and until recently given almost no role in church leadership.

Third, it's time to admit that Bishops Murphy and Rodgers are essentially fundamentalists in episcopal vestments. Both have elected to attack the collective leadership of the House of Bishops whenever its members' views are not compatible with their own reading of scripture.

What they fail to tell their followers is that while the first promise a priest makes in his or her ordination vows is a commitment to follow the teachings of scripture, the second promise is to obey one's bishop. One parishioner at All Saints' stood up to defend Bishop Murphy during the open forum I attended saying, "where does it say in the Book of Common Prayer that a priest must obey his bishop?" The answer, of course, is on page 526 of the Book of Common Prayer, which ironically is the same page where the AMIA claims to find rationale for its movement. Ordinands are asked to respond affirmatively when their bishop asks them, "Will you be loyal to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them? And will you, in accordance with the canons of this Church, obey your bishop and other ministers who may have authority over you and your work?"

Sadly, the AMIA could make constructive contributions to the national church, if only it could do what Bishop Murphy called his followers to do in his sermon, namely "to listen."

For several years now, another group headquartered in Pawleys Island, which includes many of the same people, the North American Missionary Society, under the leadership of the Rev. Jon Shuler, has been planting churches in dioceses against the will of the diocesan bishops. Some of the priests in these new congregations have no intention of following the bishop. Such a move violates the integrity of provincial and diocesan boundaries. It is ultimately a form of church anarchy.

Clandestine church planting literally destroys the fabric that holds together the Episcopal Church, where collegiality in ministry is valued and where the bishop, not the parish priest, provides overall governance. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the primates of the Anglican Communion do not accept either Mr. Rodgers or Mr. Murphy as bishops. It is time that the wannabee bishops refresh their understanding of Anglican Church history and relearn what it means to be Anglican, or take off their episcopal vestments and be what they are in reality, fundamentalist evangelists with a zeal for the gospel but one which knows no authority other than their personal interpretation of scripture. o

The Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie is the rector of St. Thomas' Church, Fort Washington, Pa.