Gay relationships 'comparable to marriage', Anglican leader says

by Dave Keating | August 7, 2008 at 12:36 am

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Anglican church, believes that gay relationships are "comparable to marriage" in the eyes of God, according to letters he wrote obtained by The Times newspaper in the UK. Archbishop Williams is the leader of the 77-million strong worldwide Anglican communion, which includes Episcopalians in the United States.

Faithful gay relationships are "comparable to marriage" in the eyes of God, the leader of the world's Anglicans wrote in private correspondence before he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, newspapers reported Thursday.

According to The Times and The Daily Telegraph, Rowan Williams argued in the letters, written in 2000 and 2001, that biblical prohibitions on homosexuality were targeted at "heterosexuals looking for sexual variety in their experience."

"I concluded that an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if and only if it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness," Williams was reported to have written.