Silence of the Archbishop of Canterbury

My goodness, this Archbishop of Canterbury is clever. Not in the self-conscious way that Rowan Williams was, but in his deft handling of Cole Moreton's sympathetic but crafty questions in our fascinating two-part interview with him. Take the subject which looms over this Easter Sunday, sowing division in parishes celebrating the Resurrection: gay marriage.

Justin Welby addresses this question in the context of a heartbreaking visit to South Sudan, where 6,000 Christians had been killed but only 3,000 buried. He could smell dead bodies in the cathedral – surely a unique experience for an Archbishop of Canterbury. Life is difficult enough for African Christians facing Islamic persecution: it's often been suggested that they will be targeted even more viciously if their mother Church sanctions marriage between two men. What a gift to Islamists, who could then demonise local Anglicans as members of an organisation that blesses sexual depravity – irrespective of the fact that nearly all African Christians oppose gay marriage.