Canterbury swings

The Sunday Telegraph reports that Archbishop of Canterbury seems to be changing his position on gays in the Church of England.

Rowan Williams has distanced himself from his one-time liberal support of gay relationships and stressed that the tradition and teaching of the Church has in no way been altered by the Anglican Communion's consecration of its first openly homosexual bishop.

The declaration by the archbishop - rebutting the idea that homosexuals should be included in the church unconditionally - marks a significant development in the church's crisis over homosexuals. According to liberal and homosexual campaigners, it confirmed their fears that the archbishop has become increasingly conservative - and sparked accusations that he has performed an "astonishing" U-turn over the homosexual issue.

Dr Williams seems to saying that orthodox Anglicans are theologically sound; but if the tradition and teaching of the church has indeed in no way been altered, why did he not speak out when the liberal American Episopalians ignored it and consecrated an openly homosexual bishop? Something about a stable door and bolts comes to mind.

Has the Archbishop indeed preformed a u-turn or is it a negotiating ploy, preparing the ground for his September meeting with the Episcoplians? Maybe something along the lines of: saying to the orthodox Episcopalians, you are right but please learn to live with the decisions that have been made and let us work together to try to ensure it doesn't happen again; saying to the liberals, you have got what you wanted so let us work together for unity; and privately hoping that in future the problem will just go away.