Telegraph's Petre Sees Paradox for Williams in CofE 'Paradigm Shift' on Gays

The following excerpts are from Jonathan Petre's March 2 religion blog in The Telegraph, the full story is available by clicking here.

....evangelicals commented that the Church of England was now heading inexorably down the same path as the liberal Episcopal Church, a somewhat paradoxical situation given the firm stance adopted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, following Tanzania.

Liberals also sensed a real shift in the Church of England’s mood on gays and civil partnerships in their direction.

.....

The Rev Giles Fraser, the liberal vicar of Putney in south London, summed up this view. “It seemed to me that the ground shifted,” he said. “There was no appetite in the Synod for going back.”

So what seemed on the surface to be a confusing stalemate might in fact have been be a paradigm shift. It will be fascinating to see how the tectonic plates collide in the coming months, and whether the House of Bishops can contain the shockwaves.