Sir, As bishops in the Church of England, we wish to protest in the strongest possible terms at what we regard as a gross misrepresentation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.<\/p>\n
First, your front-page story (August 7) and the further material inside were presented as though he had just made a fresh statement, whereas the letters now leaked were written, in a private and personal context, between seven and eight years ago (this only became apparent six paragraphs into the report). One can only wonder at the motives behind releasing, and highlighting, these letters at this precise moment \u201d\u201c and at the way in which some churchmen are seeking to make capital of them as though they were \u201d\u02dcnews\u2019.<\/p>\n
Second, Dr Williams did not say \u201d\u02dcgay sex is good as marriage\u2019 (your front-page headline) or \u201d\u02dcequivalent to marriage\u2019 (your inside headline). In his first letter, he concluded that a same-sex relationship \u201d\u02dcmight . . . reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage\u2019. This proposal (whether or not one agrees with it, as many of us do not) is far more cautious in content, and tentative in tone, than is implied by both the articles and the headlines. In the second letter, Dr Williams stresses that same-sex relationships are not the same as marriage, \u201d\u02dcbecause marriage has other dimensions to do with children and society\u2019.<\/p>\n
Third, the Archbishop has said repeatedly, as he did in one of the letters, that there is a difference between \u201d\u02dcthinking aloud\u2019 as a theologian and the task of a bishop (let alone an Archbishop) to uphold the church\u2019s teaching. He has regularly insisted, as he did in his closing address at Lambeth, that the church is right to have a basic \u201d\u02dcunwillingness to change what has been received in faith from scripture and tradition.\u2019 He has spoken out frequently against the \u201d\u02dcfoot-in-the-door\u2019 tactic of divisive innovation such as the consecration of the present Bishop of New Hampshire. As he said in that same closing address, \u201d\u02dcthe practice and public language of the Church act always as a reminder that the onus of proof is on those who seek a new understanding\u2019. Nor, despite regular accusations, is this prioritising of the bishop\u2019s task mere pragmatism or the pursuit of a \u201d\u02dcquixotic goal\u2019 of Anglican unity. It expresses what Jesus himself taught: the fundamental and deeply biblical teaching on the vital importance of church unity and of working for that unity by humility and mutual submission.<\/p>\n