 URL evangelicals threat to new archbishop direct action threat over liberal views on sexuality stephen bates religious affairs correspondent tuesday october NUMBER NUMBER the guardian evangelical fundamentalists last night stepped up their campaign to oust rowan williams the incoming archbishop of canterbury before he even takes up his post by threatening to take direct action against him the council of the church society the church of england s oldest evangelical body joined a younger evangelical pressure group called reform which is also opposed to dr williams in calling on him to recant his supposedly liberal views on sexuality or stand down following an emergency meeting the NUMBER year old society whose leaders met the archbishop last week proclaimed their continued opposition to his appointment and called on all anglicans to spurn him the move is the latest stage of an increasingly aggressive attempt to destabilise the new archbishop whose leftwing political views are regarded with deep suspicion by the conservative fringes of the evangelical movement some evangelicals object to dr williams s acknowledgement that he has ordained a gay priest something many bishops have done and that those who have sex outside marriage need not necessarily be spurned the new archbishop has repeatedly assured them that he respects the canons of the church nevertheless the society said it is clear that he prefers his private judgment to the voice of scripture to the voice of tradition and to the common mind of the church as such he can only be a focus of disunity the council called upon loyal anglicans to pray specifically that rowan williams would see the error in his teaching change his views or stand down it said the society claimed to have drawn up an action plan including calling on bishops and primates of the NUMBER million worldwide anglican communion of which archbishops of canterbury are the leaders to distance themselves from dr williams s doctrinal and ethical position it promised it would be taking steps towards appropriate direct action it added that dr williams remained on the editorial board of a journal called theology and sexuality which six months ago published articles allegedly commending homosexual behaviour despite its claim the society does not represent the common mind of the church dr williams currently archbishop of wales was chosen by the crown appointments commission of church members including evangelicals and his appointment was endorsed by the prime minister and the queen he is due to succeed george carey who retires this month and will be formally enthroned at canterbury cathedral in february asked what form direct action might take the rev george curry the society s chairman said watch this space presumably it could involve a small minority of parishes repudiating the new archbishop and seeking alternative oversight or even demonstrations at services where dr williams is present church of england bishops who have hitherto largely kept their heads down during the row are meeting next week to discuss their response to the evangelical extremists challenge which appears to have grown in the absence of a robust rebuttal a letter by senior theologians in today s guardian however repudiates the evangelicals tactics calling them unseemly and contrary to biblical teaching on the bbc s thought for the day yesterday angela tilby vice principal of westcott house cambridge accused dr williams s opponents of presumption and blackmail it is in fact a thoroughly aggressive way to behave it is attempting to force an issue by emotional violence manipulating to get your way is often preferable to painstaking negotiation she said last week dr williams said he was deeply saddened matters of sexuality should not have the priority or centrality that reform and the church society have tried to give them the archbishop cannot withdraw his appointment since so many including evangelicals have urged him to take the post the archbishop believes it to be his duty under god yahoo groups sponsor sell a home with ease URL to unsubscribe from this group send an email to forteana unsubscribe URL your use of yahoo groups is subject to URL 