The Archbishop of York delivered a strong warning to delegates at the Church of England Synod against potential schism in his speech giving thanks to the Queen for inaugurating the General Synod.

|TOP|The Most Rev. Dr. John Sentamu urged the churches to be “reformed in response to judgement and renewal”, reports The Church of England Newspaper.

Dr. Sentamu stressed, “We can’t go on as we are,” adding that the tradition of “divide” at Synod votes had now been changed to “decide”.

“When we decide, we don’t need to divide,” he said.

Dr Sentamu’s sentiments were shared by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who issued a sharp warning to the Anglican Communion on the last day of the Synod.

“We have to beware of ‘poisoning the wells’ by doing our business with suspicion and hostility of lack of mutual respect,” he said.

“We have to remind ourselves that the Church’s central focus is not on its own housekeeping, necessary as that is but on its communication of a revealed truth and hope to the world,” said the Archbishop of Canterbury.

|QUOTE|Synod members also debated the current threat of terrorists. The Rt. Rev. Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, voiced concerns over the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, including the recently defeated 90-day plan as well as restrictions on places of worship, which he described as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

“By singling out places of worship partly associated with terrorist activity they defame the religious affiliation of millions of people,” he said.

Rev. Butler was also the voice behind one of the more controversial statements of the Synod, coming out in support of the police “shoot to kill” policy as a last resort.

Synod voted unanimously for a motion which condemned terrorism, criticising aspects of the Government’s policy and called for greater dialogue with the Muslim community.