Williams: Gay unions can show God's love

LONDON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The head of the Anglican Communion said eight years ago same-sex relationships can "reflect the love of God," letters leaked to the British press show.

The letters were released as the Lambeth Conference ended. The conference, held every 10 years, brings Anglican bishops from around the world to England.

The leak appeared to be an attempt to undermine the authority of Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, The Independent said. Williams managed to avoid an overt split among Anglicans at the conference.

In 2000 and 2001, Williams exchanged letters with Dr. Deborah Pitt, an Evangelical Christian and a psychiatrist.

"By the end of the 1980s I had definitely come to the conclusion that scripture was not dealing with the predicament of persons whom we should recognize as homosexual by nature. I concluded that an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if and only if it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness," he said.