Archbishop indicates he will not seek to punish churches that allow same-sex marriage in balancing act
![Justin Welby](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fd4614f33a4b7cf46720bccc9c04b1d2ebe2fc64/0_181_5504_3302/master/5504.jpg?width=620&quality=85&fit=max&s=7e8e9f2e9df4087e55c272eb4012d53c)
In a letter to the bishops at the conference, Justin Welby said the resolution was ‘not in doubt’. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican church, has sought to mollify conservative bishops around the world by “affirming the validity” of a 1998 declaration that gay sex is a sin.
He told more than 650 bishops attending the once-a-decade Lambeth conference that, for “a large majority” of conservative Anglicans, questioning biblical teaching was “unthinkable”.