Episcopal bishops postponed a vote at the last minute on Monday on the church's first openly gay bishop to investigate charges of sexual misconduct.
"We have two concerns: one, his relationship to the Web site of Outright.org, and two, an e-mail accusation of inappropriate conduct circulated to a group of bishops," New Hampshire Bishop Douglas Theuner told his fellow bishops after the vote was called off.
"We have full confidence in the presiding bishops' commitment to fully investigate these matters," Theuner said in reference to the Reverend Gene Robinson, who was set to succeed him as Bishop of New Hampshire.
It was not clear if bishops would take up the issue of Robinson's installation -- which threatens to trigger a schism in the 77-million-member global Anglican community -- before the end of the church's convention on Friday.
"Questions have been raised and brought to my attention regarding the bishop-elect of the diocese of New Hampshire," prompting the investigation, the presiding bishop, Reverend Frank Griswold, said in a short statement.
The statement, issued just two hours before the scheduled vote, said Robinson supported the investigation. A highly visible figure during the church's convention over the past week, Robinson was not available to comment.
Church officials gave reporters copies of a recent e-mail sent to bishops by a man identified as David Lewis of Manchester, Vermont, claiming that Robinson touched him improperly "a couple of years ago" and calling him a "skirt-chaser."
"My personal experience with him is he does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men. I believe this is an alarming weakness of character that alone makes Gene unsuitable for the office of bishop," the note, dated Sunday, said.
A Robinson supporter, Michael Hopkins, head of a gay and lesbian church group, said he questioned the timing of the accusations and said questions about Robinson's fitness had been answered before his June election to head the diocese.
"It's frustrating and disappointing," Hopkins said.
The church will also look into a Web site for Outright, a group Robinson co-founded to help gay teens, that both his supporters and opponents say recently had links to pornographic Web sites.
A check of the Web site on Monday, http://outright.org, revealed no links. A Robinson supporter, Reverend Susan Russell, said the links showed up six months ago without Robinson's knowledge and had been removed.
Conservative church member David Anderson said Robinson should have been aware of the links.
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