Archbishop's views on gay marriage make his job 'untenable', says church leader

The Archbishop of Canterbury's views on gay sex have made his job 'untenable', Anglican traditionalists insist.

They said that Dr Rowan Williams was worsening the crisis in the Church over the issue, after letters emerged yesterday detailing his private belief that faithful gay partnerships can be 'comparable to marriage'.

The two letters  -  written before he became archbishop  -  also suggested that the church may come round to supporting gay rights.

Canon Chris Sugden, secretary of Anglican Mainstream, the most powerful traditionalist Anglican grouping, said: 'Clearly the Archbishop is in a conflicted situation, while holding these personal convictions with the job of the Archbishop of Canterbury to uphold the
teaching of the Church.'

Canon Sugden added that Dr Williams' views 'have led him to do nothing to bring any discipline in the Church on this matter'.

The Reverend Rod Thomas, chairman of Reform, a group of conservative evangelical clergy, said: 'One cannot help but wonder whether his personal views affect the ways in which he tries to resolve difficulties. Instead of leading the Church out of this crisis, we feel the Archbishop of Canterbury is prolonging it because of his personal unhappiness about disciplining a section of the Church with which he personally agrees.' 

Dr Williams' letters were written in September 2000 and March 2001 to Dr Deborah Pitt, an evangelical Christian in his then diocese of south Wales, who was critical of liberal views on sex.

The Archbishop told her that in the early 1980s he came to believe that 'an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if, and only if, it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness.'

He wrote that the Church had changed its beliefs on whether it was sinful to charge interest or use contraception, so he was 'bound to ask if this is another such issue.'

The Anglican Church has come close to splitting over the issue of homosexuality, after the American branch ordained a gay bishop.

This led many bishops to boycott the Lambeth Conference of bishops from around the Anglican world which finished last Sunday.

Those who attended called for a stop to appointments of gay bishops and to the creation of services of blessing for same-sex couples.

Lambeth Palace declined to comment on the letters yesterday. But officials pointed to an interview in May in which the Archbishop said: 'When I teach as a bishop I teach what the Church teaches.

'In controverted areas it is my responsibility to teach what the Church has said and why.'