So after defaulting on his moral authority as the head of the Anglican communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is starting to talk tough on the rampant liberalism that is destroying the communion:

In a speech that was conciliatory and well as tough, he said the crisis, triggered by the consecration of Anglicanism’s first openly gay bishop, had caused “hurt, misunderstanding, rupture and damage”.

“Part of the cost involved in the repercussions of recent events is that it has weakened, if not destroyed, the sense that we are actually talking the same language within the Anglican Communion,” he said. “Not having a common language, a common frame of reference, has been one of the casualties of recent events and there is every indication that that is not going to get better in a hurry.”

He added: “To put it as bluntly as I can, there are no clean breaks in the Body of Christ.”

It’s one thing to talk tough, but it’s another thing to flex some muscle and make some hard decisions. The bishops in Africa and Asia are starting to take the issue into their own hands, so it may be a moot point by the time Williams gets around to it. It is heartening that N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham, is weighing in on the issue, but it might be too little, too late.