Letter: Gays and Islam

Sir: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown ("Yes, gays `deserve' to be parents", 29 July) quotes a Muslim acquaintance to the effect that as a result of the Children's Society lifting its ban on fostering and adoption by gays and lesbians, Christians were now assured of a place in hell. It is to the credit of the Children's Society that they have placed themselves beyond the pale of such bigotry.

It was much the same fear of the reaction from Muslims in their own countries that motivated much of the willingness by so many bishops of the Anglican Church worldwide to adopt a formally anti-gay policy at last year's Lambeth Conference. This is a clear case of a Christian church allowing its theology to be determined out of deference to Islamic sensibilities, rather than its own historic foundations of reason, tradition and experience.

This is a very curious state of affairs, bearing in mind the widespread prevalence of homosexual behaviour in Islamic countries, a fact which some Muslims in Britain are beginning to face up to.

RICHARD KIRKER

General Secretary

Lesbian and Gay Christians

London E2