AT THE gathering of the primates of the Anglican Communion, all eyes are trained on the conservative African bishops. With a little help from their evangelical American brethren, their implacable opposition to gay priests has caused so much of the Church’s recent troubles. But the renewed impetus for a war on gays within the Church of England comes from a homegrown movement — Alpha. Here, at the very heart of the Mother Church, thrives an influential group that has made homophobia respectable.

Alpha is a “back to basics” course in Christianity. Its teachings about homosexuality are clear: gays are not only sinners, they are also sick. The Rev Nicky Gumbel, Alpha’s leading light, is on record calling for their healing, and for gays to lead a life of abstinence. Enrol in the Alpha course, and you will take part in fifteen sessions over ten weeks that drag you into a world full of no-nos: no sex before marriage, no feminism, no abortion and no gay sex.

During the arm-waving services, PowerPoint presentations, weekly suppers and the weekend away that constitute your Alpha immersion, you will receive endless confirmation that the prejudices you have learnt are just. You are no bigot, you are brimming with the Holy Spirit; you are no homophobe, you are virtuous follower of Holy Writ. It is a Calvinist view that delights in the metaphorical stoning of the wicked, while overlooking the compassionate Christ of the Gospels.

Armed with this self-righteousness, Alpha graduates in Britain (1.6 million have attended the course, though the figure includes repeat customers) feel compelled to spread their beliefs within a Church that they are taught to regard as decaying if not downright decadent. And other Anglicans, from the woman in the pew to the bishop in his seat, listen.

For one thing, the tremendous success of the Alpha course commands respect. The rest of the Anglican Church presides over a steady decline of communicants and vocations, but Alpha can point to astonishing growth, accompanied by impressive affluence. Those who swell the Alpha movement are not trailer-trash simpletons but accountants, stockbrokers, lawyers — the eminently respectable professionals who were once the backbone of the established Church.

The Alpha course has clout. A shame it uses it to hound rather than heal, and to exclude rather than embrace.