LIBERALS and evangelicals in the Church of England went to war yesterday in an attempt to gain the moral high ground.

Ignoring the plea of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that there should be “pause for thought” to reflect on all that has happened, liberals and evangelicals issued combative statements over the direction of the Church of England.

The fact that Dr Williams’s plea has been dismissed so lightly shows the extent to which his authority has been damaged by the events surrounding the appointment and subsequent withdrawal by the gay canon Dr Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading. Meanwhile the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, is considering whether, if the Church of England does not want a homosexual Bishop of Reading, it should have no bishop at all.

From his hospital bed, where he is confined for a hip replacement operation, Bishop Harries is considering leaving the post open as a symbol of his discontent. He would then appoint another bishop only when the Church had made up its mind about gay sex, which could be next year.

Bishop Harries was present at the six-hour meeting at Lambeth Palace when Dr Williams spelled out to Dr John the reasons he must withdraw from the appointment. Bishop Harries, who was responsible for the appointment, is chairing the working party that will, at the end of the year, publish a follow-up report to the 1991 document Issues in Human Sexuality.

This was the document that led to accusations of double standards because it demanded celibacy for gay clergy but said that gay laity could have sex. The new report, already seen by the Church’s bishops, has detailed chapters on lesbianism and transgender issues as well as gay sex.

The disclosure that there could now be no Bishop of Reading came as the warring factions in the Church launched into battle.

The most extraordinary statement came from the Church Society, an evangelical pressure group, which demanded that anyone who had ever had sex outside marriage must repent and any group that had promoted extramarital sex must immediately disband.

The organisation was accused by the Very Rev Colin Slee, the Dean of Southwark, of a witch hunt. He is Dr John’s boss at the cathedral where Dr John will now remain as a canon theologian. Meanwhile, evangelical clergy and laity from the Oxford diocese met last night at Greyfriars, Reading’s leading evangelical church, to discuss their next steps.

At the same time, liberals in the Oxford diocese launched a protest campaign with a proposal that all who support Dr John wear black armbands in mourning for his enforced withdrawal at the General Synod summer service at York Minster on Sunday. If there is enough of a protest at the synod, a pressure group will be set up to campaign for a more inclusive Church.

Evangelicals withdrew their demands for a debate at the synod over the appointment of Dr John but some liberals now want a debate over his enforced withdrawal. Clergy began drawing up petitions to send to Dr Williams in support of Dr John. Affirming Catholicism, the organisation founded by Dr John and Dr Williams for liberal catholics, also met yesterday to discuss their strategy, along with the Society of Catholic Priests.

Liberal protesters will meet to plan their campaign for change in the Church at a fringe meeting at the synod being organised by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.

Jim Rosenthal, director of communications for the Anglican Communion Office, said that he had received dozens of telephone calls and e-mails expressing support for Dr John.

Significantly, the Church Society, which has led opposition to Dr John and Dr Williams, is headed by the Viscount Brentford, an evangelical layman.

His wife, Lady Brentford, was one of the evangelicals on the Archbishops’ Council inherited by Dr Williams from his predecessor, Dr George Carey. She handed over to the former newspaper editor Andreas Whittam Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner, when she retired at the end of June.

In its statement, the Church Society said that all Christians should repent of their sins: “The last few weeks have demonstrated that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion are being torn apart by the obsessive promotion of sexual practices which the Church of God has always rejected. The evidence all shows that if the Church of England continues on this path it will decline and disintegrate. Therefore we call on all clergy and laity to uphold the God ordained standard that sexual intercourse belongs solely within the lifelong union of a man and a woman.”

The society added: “We call on those groups that promote sexual intercourse outside lifelong heterosexual marriage to disband for the sake of Christ and His church.”

The Rev Rod Thomas, spokesman for Reform, the most powerful conservative evangelical grouping in the Church, said: “We feel relief over what has happened. We take seriously the Archbishop’s call to take time to review what has happened, but that is not going to be helped at all by his own comments about the hateful correspondence he has received from opponents of Dr John.”

The Rev Joel Edwards, general director of the Evangelical Alliance, said that Dr John’s decision was in the interests of the Church. “We are grateful to Canon Jeffrey John for exercising sensitivity in this matter and we are relieved that his actions have averted a situation which might have had catastrophic consequences for unity within the Anglican Communion and for Christian witness in the United Kingdom,” he said.

“This was indeed a crisis for the Anglican Communion but had wider implications for the Christian Church in general. Commentators who have suggested that pressure on Canon John came from a small but vocal and belligerent minority within the Church have got it wrong.”

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