Article (Telegraph): gays, marriage and Rowan Williams

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spoke up this week for marriage. His words were judged, if not directed, against worldwide divisions among Anglicans on the ordination of practising homosexuals.

Dr Williams's previous intervention – in support of Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor over the refusal of Catholic adoption agencies to facilitate adoption of children by gay couples – had been greeted by many with surprise. For, before his appointment to Canterbury in 2002, Dr Williams was seen as sympathetic to stable homosexual relations.

He had long supported the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. His theological attitude to homosexual relations depended in part upon finding in the Bible a condemnation of homosexual acts performed for gratification, but no biblical distinction between such acts and homosexual disposition. Read more