Opponents of the project, including current and retired bishops and faculty members hostile to President Bush over the Iraq war and social issues, say church rules require that an agreement be submitted to the 290 elected delegates of the church’s South Central Jurisdiction.
The Rev. Andrew Weaver, a research psychologist in New York who said an online petition drive against the project had drawn 11,200 signatures, said about 35 percent of the delegates were “progressives” opposed to the plan. “We need to inform and recruit 16 percent of the moderate delegates to block the project,” Mr. Weaver said.
