I refer to the letter from Bewildered, `Double standards of Malaysian Anglican leaders'.

While I do agree with the assertion that the Church in Malaysia has to maintain a more aggressive stand concerning the human rights situation in Malaysia, I find Bewildered's criticism of the Anglican Church's decision to condemn the election of Canon Gene Robinson and the blessing of same-sex unions to be harsh and unfounded.

The strong objection raised by the Anglican Church in Malaysia should be lauded as a rare demonstration of courage on its part.

Bewildered's letter implies that the Anglican Church's opposition to homosexuality is a bigoted objection to the norms of a foreign culture. This is clearly false; the crux of the protest is scriptural, not cultural.

To clarify this matter once and for all, the Bible states unequivocally that homosexuality is wrong. I hope Bewildered understands that true Christians take the Bible as the perfect and inerrant Word of God. The Malaysian Anglican Church is upholding the integrity of scripture, not the superiority of conservative 'eastern' culture.

The dioceses protesting the decision to bless same-sex unions are acting perfectly in accordance with scripture. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 the Church is strongly warned to disassociate itself with those who proudly uphold sexual immorality.

In breaking communion with the diocese of New Hampshire, this is precisely what the Anglican diocese of Southeast Asia will be doing. From a scriptural point of view, the Malaysian Anglican Church and its allies have undoubtedly made the right decision.

Bewildered gives us a very common misinterpretation of Matthew 7:2-4 . This is the famous passage where Jesus tells his followers not to look at the speck of sawdust in their brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in their own eye. In other words, Jesus tells us not to condemn other for faults we have ourselves.

Bewildered concludes that since the Malaysian Church is lax on human rights issues, we should not be criticising other dioceses when they do wrong. However, while it is true that the Malaysian Anglican Church is not without its faults, this does not make its decision to condemn the Diocese of New Hampshire's stand any less right. It is not as if the Church is criticising the diocese of West Hampshire and at the same time blessing homosexual unions themselves.

Scripture states that every man alive has sinned against God. So, if you take Bewildered's interpretation of this passage, every Christian would be unable to condemn anyone's behaviour, whether they are rapists, murderers or the like!

Rather, scripture teaches that while we should not judge our brother, we also must not sit idly by while he is dragging himself to hell. We rebuke him in love, in the hope that he may see the error of his ways and repent. And the Bible says that if that means casting him out from our fellowship, so be it (1 Corinthians 5:2,5 ).

Bewildered makes a reference to the Nigerian Church's tolerance of polygamy. Firstly, scriptural condemnation of polygamy is nowhere near as strong as its objection to homosexuality. Nowhere is it stated in scripture that we should disassociate ourselves from members who practice polygamy, or that God condemns polygamists.

In fact, the Bible doesn't explicitly say that polygamy is a sin, even though it is very strongly implied that it is God's will for every man to take only one wife. Thus the stand of the Malaysian Anglican Church, in paying more attention to the bigger heresy is in no way contradictory.

Neither does Bewildered's assertion that the Diocese of Southeast Asia should 'mind its own business' hold any water scripturally. Christians have to be concerned about what is happening on churches all over the world; the Church worldwide is one body; if anything goes wrong with any part the whole body is affected.

Thus, once again the actions of the Malaysian Anglican Church pass the test of scripture. While each Anglican province has the right to govern itself to a certain extent, none has a right to make a mockery of Anglican doctrine, or for that matter mock the Word of God.

In conclusion, the Anglican Church in Malaysia has made the correct decision from a biblical viewpoint. One can only hope that the Anglican Church will show similar zeal and courage of conviction when dealing with issues closer to home.