Canon Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream was quick to see how this reversed a basic value of the Reformation inheritance, saying that the move appeared "to be a reversion to medieval times, when the Bible could be read only by priests in Latin and was not to be defiled by ordinary people reading it".

Sensitivity to those perceived to be members of disadvantaged and minority groups can take an extreme form which becomes amoral. Just today, it has been reported that a teaching pack produced by a local authority in West Yorkshire has been withdraw as a result of public protest; it involved children writing a presentation in which they imagine themselves as the extremists who perpetrated the suicide bombings in London on 7th July 2005 and left 52 innocent people dead. Despite the obvious dangers to young minds, it had been adopted by the Government and used by a number of other local authorities and police forces.

Other current news stories illustrate the paradox of a nation which has had Christian faith at its heart for centuries giving special protection to Islam while undermining the rights and freedom of Christians. The headteacher of a Sheffield primary school was effectively forced out of her job earlier this month when she sought to end the irregular practice of allowing separate religious assemblies for Muslim children and the controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders suffered a last minute ban from entering the UK on 12th February to attend a meeting at the House of Lords called to expose Islamic extremism. Lord Ahmed, a Muslim member of the House of Lords, subsequently claimed that his threat to mobilise a demonstration of 10,000 Muslims was instrumental in securing the ban.

Meanwhile, the Christian Institute has taken up the case of a Christian foster mother who has been struck off the fostering register because she allowed a 16 year old girl in her care to convert to Christianity. Last April officials went so far as to order that the girl should stay away from church for six months.

The reality which these and a steady stream of similar news stories reveal is of a society in which Christianity is being weakened by growing secularisation while at the same time there is an institutional bending towards Islam. Behind this apparent contradiction is the simple truth that in a culture which has lost confidence in its historic Christian inheritance and morality, public values become the result of social negotiation. So in the public square, whether or not the teachings of Islam are benign or malign is somewhat beside the point; growing social and financial strength is what ensures that its voice is given increasing weight.

So if the Church of England is to pursue its rekindled commitment to the uniqueness of Jesus, it is going to meet serious resistance. It will be running counter to two very powerful and, for the time being, mutually reinforcing social trends - secularisation and an increasingly confident Islam. This will require a major adjustment because the Church of England has for centuries been used to being an integral part of the political and social establishment. But now it must start going against the grain.

So perhaps it is not surprising that two of the most powerful contributions at last week's General Synod came from bishops who have lived in church cultures very different from that of the Church of England. It was Bishop Michael Nazir Ali who articulated a robust and courageous Christology in the debate on the uniqueness of Christ, and in a later debate Archbishop John Sentamu asked Synod to turn to silent prayer immediately after Synod was urged not to forget the persecuted church in the UK itself, those Asian British people who are shunned and labeled as traitors when they convert to Christianity

Against this background, the Archbishop of Canterbury's claim earlier this week that there was now 'a drift of understanding' in public opinion towards his controversial proposals made twelve months ago for the incorporation of parts of Sharia law into the English penal code seems particularly inappropriate.

In the current context this is a message of surrender. At home it will cause confusion and dismay, but overseas the consequences could well be direct and brutal. As Dr Tudor Griffiths, Rector of Hawarden and Canon Chancellor of St Asaph warned "Many will simply hear that the Archbishop has reiterated his support for sharia law and it will be used as propaganda and will feed violence in some areas of the world."

To respond with integrity to the rise of Islam in England is a massive task for a Church whose privileges have so far served to protect it from the consequences of ingrained doctrinal indiscipline. To meet this challenge, the Church of England needs the vitality and biblical grip of the GAFCON movement, together with the humility to recognize that while the See of Canterbury has occupied an honoured place in the history of the Anglican Communion - and could do so in the future - Islam is a global phenomenon which needs a properly global response. The Windsor Covenant as proposed is Lambeth Anglicanism writ large - ambiguous, open ended and unenforceable. Only the GAFCON Primates have come up with a form of governance which is robust enough for the tests ahead.

---The Rev. Charles Raven is Senior Minister of Christ Church Wyre Forest which is an independent Anglican congregation but located within Worcester Diocese