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LONDON: Liberals criticise Archbishop for handling of gay row in new book
LONDON (1/20/2005)--The Archbishop of Canterbury and other senior Anglicans are to be criticised for weak and dishonest leadership in a book to be published next month, by a group headed by a diocesan bishop, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Dr Rowan Williams and his colleagues are reportedly described as "frightened" or "inept" and are criticised for turning a minor crisis over homosexuality into a "full scale disaster", in The Windsor Report: A Liberal Response to be published on 1st February.
The book has been compiled by the Modern Churchpeople's Union, a liberal pressure group whose president is the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee.
If the Church can't move forward with society and be more inclusive on questions of gender and sexuality, much as it has done in the past on questions like slavery and women's rights, then schism is preferable to unity the new publication will say.
Dr Williams is also criticised for failing to criticise conservatives for their behaviour at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the 10-yearly gathering of Anglican bishops which upheld a traditional line on homosexuality.
Some of the criticism may however be seen as unfair by church observers. The Archbishop of Canterbury was seen as issuing a rebuke to conservatives in the worldwide Anglican Communion for the hostility of their language towards homosexuals.
The new book is the union's response to The Windsor Report, which was drawn up by a The Lambeth Commission on Communion appointed by Dr Williams following schisms over homosexuality.
The Report suggested that those on both sides of the debate should express regret for the hurt their actions had caused other in the global church.
The book, whose contributors include the Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Colin Slee - who labelled conservatives in the church "The Taliban Tendency" - is due to be published next month before the General Synod debates the report.
A few days later, the Church's primates will hold a meeting in Northern Ireland that could determine the future of worldwide Anglicanism.
The book's preface, by the Rt Rev John Spong, a retired American bishop and outspoken liberal, is "scathing" about the leadership of the Church says the Daily Telegraph.
He said that Dr Williams's predecessor, Dr George Carey, had displayed "inept leadership" at the last Lambeth conference while Dr Williams "chose to play it safe" by failing to speak out against anti-gay "bigotry".
Bishop Spong said the Windsor report was "nothing more than a pathetic ecclesiastical attempt at damage control" and was "a dishonest effort to achieve cheap unity by sacrificing reality and truth". He concluded: "The Anglican Communion had a relatively minor crisis as it watched a new consciousness about homosexuality struggling to be born in the face of ancient ignorance and prejudice. This commission, and the leadership that requested its formation, has turned this minor crisis into a full scale disaster."
END
Liberal Anglicans accuse Archbishop of inept leadership
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
THE TELEGRAPH
LONDON (1/20/2005)--The Archbishop of Canterbury and other senior Anglicans have been accused of weak and dishonest leadership in a book by a group headed by a diocesan bishop.
Dr Rowan Williams and his colleagues are described as "frightened" or "inept" and are criticised for turning a minor crisis over homosexuality into a "full scale disaster".
The criticisms are significant because the book has been compiled by the Modern Churchpeople's Union, a prominent liberal pressure group whose president is the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee.
Dr Williams is personally attacked for failing to criticise anti-gay conservatives at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the 10-yearly gathering of Anglican bishops which upheld a traditional line on homosexuality.
The new book is the union's response to the Windsor report, which was drawn up by a commission appointed by Dr Williams in an attempt to avoid schism over homosexuality.
The book, whose contributors include the Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Colin Slee, is due to be published next month before the General Synod debates the report.
A few days later, the Church's primates will hold a meeting in Northern Ireland that could determine the future of worldwide Anglicanism.
The book's preface, by the Rt Rev John Spong, a retired American bishop and outspoken liberal, is scathing about the leadership of the Church.
He said that Dr Williams's predecessor, Dr George Carey, had displayed "inept leadership" at the last Lambeth conference while Dr Williams "chose to play it safe" by failing to speak out against anti-gay "bigotry".
Bishop Spong said the Windsor report was "nothing more than a pathetic ecclesiastical attempt at damage control" and was "a dishonest effort to achieve cheap unity by sacrificing reality and truth". He concluded: "The Anglican Communion had a relatively minor crisis as it watched a new consciousness about homosexuality struggling to be born in the face of ancient ignorance and prejudice. This commission, and the leadership that requested its formation, has turned this minor crisis into a full scale disaster.''
END
