Archbishop of Canterbury warns liberals

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The archbishop of Canterbury said in a letter the schism in the U.S. and Canadian churches over homosexuals could mean their exclusion from councils.

Archbishop Rowan Williams said in his long anticipated Advent Letter to church leaders that the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States may face exclusion from the church's top council if they did not curb their pro-homosexual rights rhetoric, The Times of London reported Saturday.

Williams expressed reservations that "provinces or individual bishops at odds with the expressed mind of the communion to participate fully in representative communion agencies, including ecumenical bodies."

The move reflects Williams' desire to regain the 19th century Anglican dogma that comprises the majority opinion of the more than 75 million Anglicans worldwide, the report said.

Williams regarding biblical scripture as the foundation of theistic thought, saying, "Radical change in the way we read cannot be determined by one group or tradition alone."

Critics responded that Williams did not include all voices in the church and condemned his statements, The Times reported, saying he was behaving like "an Anglican pope."