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Dr Rowan Williams 'criticised widely for failing to speak out against a law that could see some homosexuals being executed'
Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury's 'private' response to Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has been revealed to be in "intensive but private" contact with the Ugandan Anglican church over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill currently being debated by that country's parliament.
Writing on her blog, Ruth Gledhill, the Times religion correspondent, said that Williams had been "criticised widely for failing to speak out against the new anti-gay law that could see some homosexuals being executed".
But a statement sent to her by Lambeth Palace said: "It has been made clear to us, as indeed to others, that attempts to publicly influence either the local church or political opinion in Uganda would be divisive and counter productive. Our contacts at both national and diocesan level with the local church will therefore remain intensive but private."
In the Guardian, Canon Gideon Byamugisha, a prominent member of the Ugandan Anglican church, said: "I believe that this bill [if passed into law] will be state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans, however few they may be."
Gledhill said that it could be taken for granted that Williams was "distressed" by the proposed bill, but interpreted his unwillingness to speak out publicly on the matter as concern that it would be seen as "white-led colonialism of the worst possible kind, as a misguided attempt to impose western liberal values upon traditional African culture. It would not help the local Anglican church, which has yet to come out on either side".
