Free Republic

The early favourite to become the next Archbishop of Canter-bury - spiritual leaders of the world's Anglicans - is the victim of "naked racism" by critics who are trying to besmirch his name, one of his closest sup-porters said. ..Arora's accusation of an "anonymous whispering" campaign against the archbishop has the potential to be hugely damaging to the church. It recalls the last time the Church sought a new Archbishop of Canterbury, in 2002, when the Michael Nazir-Ali, then Bishop of Rochester, was described as a "Paki Papist" by an unidentified cleric...., two bishops who spoke to the Sunday Telegraph...

The first thing to be said about Dr. Rowan Williams is that he is by common consent a subtle theologian, a sensitive pastoral priest, and a genuinely good and holy man, because a great many less flattering things will be said about him in the next few months, some of them further down this column. Dr. Williams announced last Friday that he intended to resign at the end of the year as Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore as spiritual leader of the Church of England and, by extension, of the 77 million–strong Anglican Communion around the world. His announcement came...

The Archbishop of York has given his backing to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s decision to live together before marriage.The Archbishop of York backed Prince William and Kate Middleton’s decision to live together before marriage, saying that many modern couples want to “test the milk before they buy the cow”. Dr John Sentamu argued that the royal couple’s public commitment to live their lives together today would be more important than their past. But Anglican traditionalists criticised the Archbishop, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, for failing to reinforce Christian teaching which prohibits sex outside marriage....

In a speech in the House of Lords during the debate on the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, has spoken out against proposed legislation saying that the Government was seeking to have “consciences surgically removed” and to introduce a “new hierarchy of rights” where people of faith had become a “new sub-category”. In a wide ranging speech the Archbishop suggested the government had given in to “the emergence of a new kind of secular dogmatism, which seeks to limit the proper sphere of religion to the internal activities of religious organisations”. Quoting...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/14/nmuslim14.xml BBC frightened of criticising Islam, says archbishop By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent Last Updated: 2:21am GMT 14/11/2006 The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has accused the BBC of bias against Christianity and says the broadcaster fears a terrorist backlash if it is critical of Islam. The archbishop, the second most senior figure in the Church of England's hierarchy, said Christians took "more knocks" than other faiths at the hands of the BBC. Dr Sentamu claims Christians take ‘more knocks' at the BBC "They can do to us what they dare not do to the Muslims," he said. "We...