The Anglican church and the gay community

Re “Making the Case for Full Inclusion of Homosexuals,” July 9:

I really enjoyed the profile of the Rev. Susan Russell; it was a refreshing change. Generally, when the media cover gays and Christianity in the same story, they highlight the judgmental views of the religious right so much that I often hide the fact that I’m a Christian.

When my former church refused to marry a wonderful gay couple who had been attending the church together for years, I stopped attending in shame. I didn’t return to church for eight years until I discovered All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, where Russell is one of the priests.

It’s a wonderful feeling to worship with a vibrant group that shares the moral values that I believe Christ symbolizes.

Claudia Pearce

Los Angeles

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The article on Russell wrongly defines the issue that is tearing the fabric of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church at its deepest level. This is not a debate about inclusion but about holiness.

As Archbishop Rowan Williams said in his address to the Anglican Consultative Council in Nottingham: “It is possible to uphold Lambeth ’98 and to oppose the shocking persecution of homosexuals in some countries, to defend measures that guarantee their civil liberties. The question is not about that level of acceptance, but about what the church requires in its ordained leaders and what patterns of relationship it will explicitly recognize as unquestionably revealing of God.”

Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon

Canon Theologian

Diocese of South Carolina

Summerville, S.C.