Religious Left

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent The Times Online UK The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams is facing growing pressure to create a new Anglican province for conservatives after a leading evangelical was effectively defrocked in the US. Six senior Church of England bishops have come out in support of deposed US bishop Bob Duncan, declaring themselves “deeply saddened and shocked.” Headed by the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, the Bishops of Blackburn, Chester, Chichester, Exeter and Rochester joined in declaring their belief that the deposed Bishop of Pittsburgh remains “a bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion.” In an interview with The Times, the Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali said the time had now come for Dr Williams to create a new province for conservatives in the US. full article

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent The Times UK Rowan Williams believes that gay sexual relationships can “reflect the love of God” in a way that is comparable to marriage, The Times has learnt. As Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Williams recommitted the Anglican Communion to its orthodox position that homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture at the Lambeth Conference, which closed on Sunday. However, in an exchange of letters with an evangelical Christian, written eight years ago when he was Archbishop of Wales, he described his belief that biblical passages criticising homosexual sex were not aimed at people who were gay by nature. He argued that scriptural prohibitions were addressed to heterosexuals looking for sexual variety. He wrote: “I concluded 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 faithful...

by Fiona MacGregor The Scotsman Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop, came to Scotland this week to debate homosexuality and religion. He has maintained his dignity in the face of hostility from the Church, but tells Fiona MacGregor his patience may be running out. "I am losing my patience. I have tried to play by the rules and be respectful and sometimes it would be nice to be shown a little respect back. I try to keep my sympathy (for Williams] and I do worry and pray for him. I don't believe this (refusal to recognise homosexual relationships can have a place within the church) is what's in his heart – unless he's changed very much since he became Archbishop of Canterbury." "As more and more Christians make themselves known to us as gay or lesbian, the more we realise they are not outside the embrace of God – I think that will prove itself over time. But I caution people all the time to be very careful of anyone who says they know what God...

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent Times UK A new pastoral forum is to be set up to bring rebel provinces into line in the Anglican Communion. The 650 bishops meeting at the Lambeth Conference in Kent debated proposals yesterday for a body headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that would prevent any more consecrations of gay bishops or same-sex blessings. The forum will also clamp down on "cross-border interventions" such as those where conservative bishops from Africa have consecrated bishops to pastor congregations in the United States. The document says the forum is needed because repeated requests for moratoria on gay consecrations, same-sex blessings and cross-border interventions have not been heeded. The document says the moratoria asked for on a number of previous occasions are to be understood as "retrospective". The strong implication of this is that the openly-gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, must resign if the Anglican...

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent Telegraph.co.uk Liberals will be warned that they face being expelled from the heart of Anglicanism unless they respect the ban, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. The American church caused deep divisions between conservatives and liberals when it consecrated Gene Robinson as the first openly homosexual Anglican bishop in 2003. There have been reports that it is prepared to consecrate more gay bishops while the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told this newspaper that he would be willing to do the same. The proposal to ban future consecrations is the most significant move yet over the issue. The paper, which was commissioned by Dr Rowan Williams, will be debated by 650 bishops tomorrow at the Lambeth conference in Canterbury, the once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican Communion. full article

Riazat Butt, religoius affairs correspondent and Peter Walker guardian.co.uk The Archbishop of Canterbury accused rebel Anglicans who have launched a breakaway faction within the global communion of lacking legitimacy, authority and, by implication, integrity. Breaking his silence over the threat to the unity of the 77 million-strong communion, Dr Rowan Williams warned leaders of the conservative coalition that "demolishing existing structures" was not the answer to their concerns. "It is ludicrous to say you do not recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury or the see of Canterbury - they are the defining characteristics of Anglicanism," one Lambeth palace official said. "By doing away with the role and the place, these people are becoming a Protestant sect." full article

by George Pitcher The Telegraph, UK Leadership in the West is “a mess and unable to understand the post-colonial reality”. The best thing to do would be to “dismantle” the western establishment to usher in a post-colonial world. Who might this be speaking? The increasingly beleaguered Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe in one of his more mild-mannered moments? Actually it is Canon Vinay Samuel, who was yesterday addressing the alternative Anglican conference in Jerusalem, Gafcon, for bishops who feel that they cannot in conscience attend the decennial Lambeth Conference at Canterbury next month, so long as they have to be in communion with openly homosexual bishops. Not that Canon Samuel is a bishop. He is from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. But he reveals what Gafcon is really about. The Global South’s spiritual leader, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, is fond of saying that the post-colonial West demonises him and that a new order must be ushered in. So this conference of Anglica...

U.S. Episcopal bishops, fed up with Anglican criticism of their support for gay priests, implored the Anglican spiritual leader to hear their side of the story -- in person. Starting Thursday, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will be in New Orleans for that private talk, hoping he can hold together the increasingly fractured world Anglican family. Williams arrives in the U.S. facing a real danger that the global Anglican Communion could break up on his watch. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-anglican-crisis,0,7650946.story .

Sept. 6, 2007 Dear Rowan, I am delighted that you have agreed to meet with the House of Bishops of the American Episcopal Church in September, even if you appear to be unwilling to come alone. It has seemed strange that you, who have had so much to say about the American Church, have not been willing to do so before now. Your office is still honored by Episcopalians in this country, so our bishops will welcome you warmly and politely. We have some amazingly competent men and women in that body, many of whom have not yet met you. There is clearly an estrangement between that body and you in your role as the Archbishop of Canterbury. I want to share with you my understanding of the sources of that estrangement. First, I believe that most of our senior bishops, including me, were elated, at your appointment by Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Most Americans are not aware that yours is an appointed, not an elected position. Those of us who knew you were keenly aware of yo...