Rift within Church over gays deepens
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent, The Telegrah
(Filed: oct. 3,2002)


The rift in the Church of England over homosexuality deepened last night 
when two mainstream evangelical groups joined the growing chorus of 
criticism of the new Archbishop of Canterbury's liberal stance on the issue.

In a sign that battle lines are being drawn up, the two groups, which 
represent several thousand clergy and which are based in every diocese, said 
that concern over Dr Rowan Williams existed far more widely than among the 
relatively small "conservative" evangelical wing of the Church.

The Church of England Evangelical Council and the Anglican Evangelical 
Assembly backed the move by the conservative evangelical network Reform to 
urge Dr Williams to renounce his liberal views or resign, as reported in The 
Telegraph last week.

In an unprecedented move, Reform called on Dr Williams to condemn sex 
outside marriage or step down as the successor to Dr George Carey, a post he 
will not formally take up until the new year.

Dr Williams, who has admitted to ordaining a practising homosexual, has said 
that he will not abandon his views but he has sought to dampen down the row 
by saying that he has no plans to impose them on the Church.

Evidence is growing, however, that a number of senior bishops are becoming 
increasingly anxious about Dr Williams's views and the effect they could 
have on the unity of the Church.

The evangelical wing is also coming under mounting pressure to take strong 
action from like-minded Anglican bishops in Africa and Asia. In a letter, 
the two groups said that evangelicals across the worldwide Church supported 
the stance of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which overwhelmingly condemned 
the ordination of practising homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex 
unions.




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