Evangelical opponents of the new archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, received support yesterday in an extraordinary intervention by one of the Anglican church's senior Australian leaders.
The archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, who is on a preaching tour of England, called on Dr Williams, the leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, to "espouse the teaching of scripture" and end his personal sympathy for homosexual couples.
The Australian archbishop is the first senior bishop to voice concerns in line with fundamentalist evangelical fringe groups in the Church of England such as the Church Society and Reform, who called on Dr Williams to step down even before his appointment was confirmed last month.
Dr Jensen launched his crusade, offering strategies to convert a tenth of the population to Bible-based Christianity, at St Helen, Bishopgate, in the City of London. This is the first church in the country effectively to declare UDI by refusing to pay its contributions in protest at Dr Williams' appointment.
After the meeting, he told the Guardian: "From what I have read [Dr Williams] takes a view of the blessing of same-sex unions which I think is contrary to that of scripture, and that is a difficulty for me.
"If the archbishop espouses homosexuality, it does not help us but hinders our work ... I would like him to espouse the teaching of scripture, I would like him to change his mind," he said.
Dr Williams has repeatedly said he respects and will uphold the official position of the church on homosexuality.
The archbishop of Sydney, whose visit was arranged before Dr Williams' appointment, claimed to be unaware of suggestions by some evangelicals that he and other like-minded bishops should exercise episcopal oversight of congregations here unwilling to accept the archbishop of Canterbury's leadership.
"It is not a question which has arisen. I do not know what it would mean. I am offering informal leadership as would the archbishop of Canterbury if he came to my country," said Dr Jensen, who is due to meet Dr Williams at the end of next week, following several speaking engagements across England.