Reports on the communiqué issued yesterday by Anglican primates have widelymisrepresented the news as final proof of an Anglican split, and interpreted a request in the document — that the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and the Anglican Church of Canada temporarily and voluntarily withdraw their representatives from the Anglican Consultative Council until the next Lambeth Conference and reconsider their position on homosexuality — as the expulsion of both churches from the Communion. In fact, no decision has yet been made by the North American churches as to whether or not they will comply with the request, and the communiqué may also function as a means to stall any permanent schism by offering more time to liberal churches and appeasement to conservatives. Get Religion has a smart assessment of why the news reports have been so confused: because the resolution is as politically savvy as the concerns that prompted it are politically divisive, and “room for interpretation” is itself the point.