Archbishop takes liberal view on gays

The Archbishop of Canterbury is to support gays who remain in faithful relationships in a new twist to the row over homosexuality that threatens to split the Church of England.

Rowan Williams has sanctioned the republication of an essay he wrote six years ago, which takes a liberal view.

The essay sets Dr Williams firmly against the views of evangelical hardliners who have a strict biblical interpretation of homosexuality.

They cite a passage in Romans I, where St Paul attacks "unseemly" passions sparked by homosexual sex.

By contrast Dr Williams, in his 1997 essay published in the run-up to the following year's Lambeth Conference, backs liberals who support "sexual expression" for gays.

It is thought to promote the view that the Church's ban on homosexual activity should not apply to those in monogamous relationships.

He argues that many homosexual Christians do not recognise themselves in St Paul's condemnation of a society where "God gave them up unto vile affections".

Dr Williams writes that many Christian gays want to live God-fearing lives, and argues that the Church should try to "give encouragement in following Christ" to homosexuals by admitting that the biblical passages cited by anti-gay evangelicals are "not the whole story".

The re-publication of Dr Williams's essay will widen the split between liberals and hardliners who are fighting what they see as sexual liberalism within the Church.

In October, the Primates of the Anglican Communion meet in a special conference in London.

There, the leaders of African and Asian churches are likely to demand some kind of censure against the American Church of the Diocese of New Hampshire, which elected openly gay Canon Gene Robinson as a bishop last week.