The opinions expressed by John Blunt are not necessarily those of this newspaper

THE irony could not have been more acute.

For when once the Church sent missionaries to darkest Africa to liberate the natives from their vile customs, now bishops from our former colonies preach the Bible to our accommodating liberal western prelates - and have the Anglican Communion's Lambeth Conference accept that homosexual relationships are contrary to the scriptures.

Not surprisingly, those who condemned the Third World bishops as backward and, so, say what they will, reject the Bible, head off back to their dioceses clinging to the view that this conference decision is technically ignorable - just as the government seems determined to disregard the House of Lords' rejection of the lowering of the age of homosexual consent to 16.

The other irony, of course, is that, as this process is encouraged by the Archbishop of Canterbury's subsequent appeasement of the liberals by stressing that lesbian and gay Christians are "full members of the Body of Christ" and by Jack Straw's pledges to MPs to have another go on legislating for gay sex at 16, both our moral and political leaders pretend they are acting in the name of what most people want.

The "backward" African bishops and the anachronistic peers, thank heavens, know better.

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