The Anglican Covenant

In a desperate struggle to reconcile their puritanical and latitudinarian wings (both terms used metaphorically, with lower-case initials), the churches of the Anglican Communion are contemplating adoption of a document which would tighten up the terms of their interrelationship.

The main point of the covenant, at least in many eyes, is that is establishes a standing committee to mull over disputes among churches -- and by "disputes," we mean disputes about sex.  And lest this sound like a just another toothless exercise in church bureaucracy, beware these savage fangs:

The Standing Committee may request a Church to defer a controversial action. If a Church declines to defer such action, the Standing Committee may recommend to any Instrument of Communion relational consequences which may specify a provisional limitation of participation in, or suspension from, that Instrument until the completion of the process set out below.

That's right, baby.  Mess with the Standing Committee, and they just may not let you come to meetings.   

You can read the text, linked above, and decide for yourself whether it is a good thing or a bad one.  We have no opinion; the document strikes as sufficiently mundane, not to mention internal, that offering an opinion from outside would be like commenting on somebody else's choice of socks.