Stick to the rules
Sir: Most of your outraged correspondents have missed the crucial point that Paul Johnson is making about the Church of England (And another thing, 23 Novem- ber).
It doesn't matter how many Roman priests are fornicators, paedophiles, sodomites or just plain coverers-up, the Roman Catholic Church still regards these activities as sinful. If, however, the Gay and Lesbian Christian Movement gets its way, then the Church of England will have to overturn Christian orthodoxy and give its blessing to something that most Christians still believe to be a sin.
Personally, I am not bothered about what gay Christians do with each other; what I object to is their self-centred and hypocriti- cal desire to have their cake and eat it. All institutions and societies are partly defined by the set of rules to which their members agree to stick. Religious groups supposedly believe their sets of rules to be derived from a higher, supernatural authority and thus to have an absolute, eternal dimension. To claim belief in a divinely revealed moral code, but to reserve the right to alter it if it doesn't suit, is at the least inconsistent.
It is no defence to say that since God cre- ated some people homosexual He does not object to homosexual behaviour. Presum- ably He also created some people adulter- ers, thieves, murderers or coveters of their neighbours' oxen. In Christian mythology, you are redeemed by overcoming your nat- ural inclinations, not by indulging them.
If you are playing soccer and you pick up the ball and run with it you may well score, but you are no longer playing football. If you choose to have sex of any variety out- side the bounds of marriage you may also score, but you cannot claim to be acting as a good Christian.
Roland Tyler
3 Howard Mews, Norwich, Norfolk
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