I WON'T QUIT, SAYS HOLLOWAY

Leader of the Scottish Episcopal Church says his critics represent the views
of only a minority of members DAVID MONTGOMERY

THE BISHOP of Edinburgh issued a defiant challenge yesterday to critics who
called for his resignation as leader of the Scottish Episcopal Church
because of his controversial views on drugs and homosexuality.

Traditionalists among the 54,000-member Church have become increasingly
concerned at remarks by the Most Rev Richard Holloway, which they say
contradict Christian teachings.

Last week, the churchman admitted experimenting with cannabis and called for
a Royal commission to review the issue at the launch of his book, Godless
Morality.

This led to calls for his resignation, amid criticism that he had turned his
back on trad-itional Christian teaching.

But yesterday Bishop Holloway, 65, said he had no intention of resigning and
stood by his view that the Church had to be an inclusive one.

He said it was now up to his critics, led by the Rev Dr Kevin Scott, the
rector of St Philip and St James' Church in Edinburgh, to decide if they
wanted a church which included people who welcomed change.

Dr Scott claimed he had received widespread support for his criticisms but
the bishop said: "Dr Scott has a perfectly valid point of view and has made
a valid criticism, but the real point is: do we want a Church with Richard
Holloway and Kevin Scott? "I am happy for Kevin Scott to be retained. He
does not seem to want to retain me as bishop."

He added: "I think it's a valid point and I can see they feel very strongly
about it, but the real issue for me is whether the Christian faith is wide
enough to include people of my theological and ethical persuasion."

Bishop Holloway said that he was certain that his critics - whom he
described as an authentic and important voice in the Christian tradition -
represented the views of only a minority of the Church's members.

This interpretation, he said, was underlined by the numerous letters, phone
calls and e-mails he had received yesterday from supportive members of the
Church.

"I feel I have a great deal of support. People tell me I represent a version
of Christianity that keeps them in the Church," he said.

"I also know I upset traditionalists. I do not like that and it saddens me,
but the Scottish Episcopal Church, which I was born into, has always been a
broad Church and an inclusive Church. If it wants to continuein that way,
which I hope it will, views like mine have a place, even if they are
contradictory."

The reaction from clergy and parishioners followed remarks made by the
bishop this year that sodomy between priests ought to be accepted and
sadomasochistic sex should be tolerated, provided it was consensual.

Bishop Holloway said yesterday that, just as the ethical and doctrinal
understanding of the Church had evolved in terms of the ordination of women,
so it would on the issue of relations between gay and lesbian people.

He defended his theological viewpoint, which he said was perfectly
acceptable and an entirely appropriate one for a bishop to hold.

"Many people have left the Church as they cannot, with any integrity, accept
the kinds of opinions expressed by Dr Scott," he said.

"This has created a church in exile out there, but in many ways they are my
parishioners just as much as the people back in the fold."

He said it was an important part of a bishop's ministry to reach out to
these people.

The bishop said he did not think there would be any official attempt to
remove him from office, such as a referendum or "some kind of trial".

Instead he was confident that the Church would be able to deal with the
matter, even if the arguments were never fully resolved.

Dr Scott said that his public criticism of Bishop Holloway had been to show
people that traditional Christian beliefs were still alive in the
Episcopalian Church. He said that a lot of people had contacted him
yesterday expressing appreciation at what he had said.

"What I wanted to do was to make it quite clear to the whole of our Church
that there is still a strong and dependable, more traditional position of
Christian belief," he said.

"The whole faith has not been taken over by Richard Holloway's position. It
was beginning to be thought that the Episcopalian Church was where Richard
Holloway's position prevailed and not much else."

Dr Scott admitted that it would be "fruitless and very destructive" to try
and remove the bishop from his position as head of the Church with a
witchhunt.

Instead, he said his remarks had made people aware that there was a strong
body of the Church that held fast to Christian values.

He added: "I do not believe his remarks are consistent with being a bishop.
I think there's an inconsistency between his recent publication and his task
as a bishop. But the problem will resolve itself anyway."

Dr Scott said by this he meant that Bishop Holloway was nearing retirement
age and it was rumoured that he was "on the move" anyway.

"The Church is quite patient. We are quite happy to wait for a year or two.
In the meantime I wanted to reassure people of the Church's solid
Christianity and that they do not have to give up hope."