Sir, Ruth Gledhill argues (report, June 28) that Dr Rowan Williams has threatened to “exclude the liberal wing” from the Anglican Communion. The basis is a proposed covenant defining the “biblical standards of Anglican doctrine”.

No covenant has been drafted in the governing synods of the respective Churches worldwide, let alone written. Its content is, accordingly, entirely unknown and will take years to negotiate. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement acknowledges that he has no power to impose any such covenant; the communion has no mechanism for such innovation or for expulsions and inclusions.

At the most, the Archbishop is stimulating the exploration of a route that may lead to a structure capable of greater tolerance and generosity than we have recently seen.

In Southwark Cathedral this week, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, said of the average Anglican: “. . . she would be black, and would not speak English as a first language”. Even that is open to question, as African churches have different criteria for counting membership from Canada, England or the US. His point is, however, valid: England and Canterbury cannot exercise imperial ecclesiology any longer. Two English bishops successfully caused considerable anger in the US last week by their hectoring superiority at the General Convention. Dr Williams is seeking to avoid such presumption.

Your report and leading article make the assumption that the Church of England would be within any covenant. This may be unfounded. There are many congregations, mine among them, which would reject a biblically conservative covenant, arguing that true scholarship and present revelation point towards the full inclusion of women as bishops and gay and lesbian people, just as it has pointed towards the abolition of slavery, confronting racism and respect for people who become divorced.

THE VERY REV COLIN SLEE
Dean of Southwark

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