The leader of the international Anglican Communion has ruled out new debate on the teaching that gay sex is incompatible with Scripture.

Looking ahead to a 2008 conference of the world's Anglican bishops, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said he detected little support for re-examining the 1998 conference's resolution that condemned gay sex, clergy ordination of persons in same-sex relationships and church blessings for gay couples.

In a letter to "primates" who lead 38 the Anglican branches, released today, Williams acknowledged "bitter controversy" on the issue. But "in my judgment, we cannot properly or usefully reopen the discussion as if (the 1998 resolution) did not continue to represent the general mind of the Communion."

In a Sunday TV interview with the BBC, Williams warned that the Anglican Communion faces a possible breakup over the U.S. Episcopal Church's acceptance of Gene Robinson, the bishop of New Hampshire, who is the church's first openly gay bishop. If that happens, he said, it could take "decades to restore some sort of relationship."

Williams expressed a dim view of turning the Anglican Communion into a federation of national branches. "If there is a rupture, it's going to be a more visible rupture. It's not just going to settle down quietly into being a federation." He worries that "if the communion is broken we may be left with even less than a federation."

The U.S. bishops will likely discuss the gay issue and global Anglican situation at a closed-door session March 17-22. Williams said "a lot rides on" the Episcopal Church's June convention, which will respond officially to criticism from Anglicans overseas.

Besides the American church's 2003 consecration of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, two of five nominees in the May election for bishop of the California Diocese live with homosexual partners. Conservatives are also vexed by toleration of gay priests and blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples in parts of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada.