Since I always thought (and please correct me if I am wrong) that the Anglican Church is a little more conservative, I find this bit of news a little odd.

The anglican church is mainly quite conservative (With a small c) however, it's also quite a broad church, the religious wing of CND was mainly Anglican, When I was running a local anti poll tax group, we had Militant and Socialist worker, from the left turning up for support, and Black flag (The anarchist group, not the band)  turning up to provide support and give training. however, the most determined and organised protestors, were a group of Anglicans who turned up quite unexpectedly to support the pensioners. Many of the UK Ploughshares campaigners are Anglicans, and if you want to look on the world stage, much of the Anti Apardtheit support movement outside of Southern Africa was run by Anglican priests from the office of an Anglican Archbishop.

does it do the church any good? does it make it more accessible to young people? I don't think that's the point, it's not a PR exercise, they are attempting to live up to the ethics of their religion as they see it.

is it appropriate? certainly. How could it be appropriate for someone to act against the core ethics of their religion.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.