Letter: Turbulent bishops

Sir: Perhaps we should not wonder at the attitudes of the Anglican bishops towards homosexuality if we consider the blindingly obvious fact which is their single uniting feature: they are virtually all men. And modern heterosexual men seem to be innately afraid of homosexual men, for whatever reason.

The bishops themselves may consider that their principal uniting feature is their Christianity. Their comments last week, such as those made in your own "Right to Reply"(5 August) have not shown much evidence of the traditional Christian values of acceptance, love and forgiveness. If man was made in God's image, then so was woman. If this is the case then God has no gender, and therefore neither does He have sexual orientation. We cannot therefore claim that homosexual sex defames God's image.

If we are to believe in God at all, we must believe that God loves everyone equally. Being a Christian is not about who you sleep with and how, it is a moral attitude, and should be one which embraces all of our fellow human beings.

ALISON PICKUP

Keighley, West Yorkshire