CHURCH of England bishops are planning to publish a radical report which will argue that gay sex should be tolerated in the church.

The report, entitled Some Issues in Human Sexuality, is expected to face a storm of protest from the church’s evangelical wing, which is in triumphant mood after the decision by the gay priest Jeffrey John to withdraw from his appointment as Bishop of Reading.

The document, which will be published later this year, has been drafted by a Church of England working party headed by Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford, who first nominated John as a bishop. It contains controversial material on transsexualism and bisexuality as well as homosexuality.

Most of the report is made up of lengthy sections of biblical teaching and doctrinal analysis. However, its conclusions, which have been seen by The Sunday Times, will reignite the debate over gays in the church when Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had hoped to move on.

Today, in a sermon at York Minster, Williams will appeal for unity among Anglicans and invite different groups in the church to listen to one another.

Yesterday, proceedings of the General Synod in York received an unprecedented interruption when Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, and a handful of protesters forced their way into the meeting.

While many synod members immediately walked out, Williams and David Hope, the Archbishop of York, listened in silence as Tatchell denounced the treatment of John.

He accused Williams of “betraying his own principles” and told the synod that the archbishop had “bowed to pressure from theological homophobes”, such as Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, who had threatened to break away from the Anglican communion if John’s ordination went ahead.

The protest met with slow hand-clapping and several representatives stood up to debate with Tatchell. The archbishops eventually left the meeting after 30 minutes, but the interruption will not have been appreciated by Williams who had earlier appealed for a pause in the bitter controversy.

The new report argues the Anglican Church already caters for a “legitimate diversity” of beliefs and that opposing factions on the issue of homosexuality should agree to differ and continue to work side by side.

“The principle of accepting and respecting diversity has come to be used particularly within the Anglican communion as a way of enabling churches to live together in spite of differences . . . over such issues as the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate,” it says.

But already there are signs this approach will cause real difficulties. Last night George Curry, chairman of the Church Society, an evangelical group, called the document a fudge and warned of “massive problems” ahead.

“If the bishops publish this, arguing for legitimate diversity, then we’ve got the Jeffrey John affair all over again. This is the liberal agenda. You try to find the middle way but there is no third way on these things. You are either according to the Bible or you are not.”

The document also suggests sexual behaviour is not of central importance to Christian life. One conclusion states: “What makes us Christians is our common relationship with Christ, which is rooted in repentance, faith, baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and not the correctness of our beliefs about matters of sexual conduct or the impeccability of our own behaviour.”

John Oliver, Bishop of Hereford, pre-empted this at the synod by saying: “It is not a matter of first importance and should not divide the church.”

However, George Austin, the former Archdeacon of York, criticised sexual behaviour being sidelined: “Of course the Church of England should welcome all people whether gay or straight, but anyone who knows the liberal mind will realise this document is simply a ploy to push ahead the gay agenda in which all homosexual activity by priests and lay people is accepted in the church.”

There is still puzzlement at the synod over why Williams originally supported John’s appointment and rejected the canon’s offer to resign but later changed his mind. However, there was a flood of opposition from within the Oxford diocese and senior overseas representatives of the church, with about a third of the world’s Anglican churches indicating they might split from the communion.

A key element in his eventual decision to accept John’s resignation is thought to have been two meetings with Gregory Venables, presiding bishop of the Southern Cone of America in Argentina and a member of Anglican Mainstream, a group founded to combat the liberal agenda. “His eyes and body language showed me that he was really taking on board what was being said,” said Venables.

Additional reporting: Sarah Keenlyside

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