Greyfriars is known as a center of the large and increasingly active evangelical wing of the Anglican church The church, a dark oaken space in the 14th century, is today a light and airy nave, with brightly colored banners hanging from its timbered ceiling, a red, orange and yellow pastel curtain above the altar and upbeat piano and guitar accompaniment for hymns.
The gospel is central to the evangelicals' faith, and a statement handed out to departing parishioners on Sunday said, "The Bible is clear that the only place for sex is within heterosexual marriage. Every single biblical text which speaks of same-sex sexual activity is negative."
Giddings based his sermon on a New Testament admonition not to be ashamed of holding to your beliefs.
"The cost of belief is that people may call you killjoys, bigots and fools," he said, "and let's be honest -- that hurts."
He pulled a Bible from his lectern and held it aloft. "This is the authority, all of it," he declared. "You can't pick and choose. And you just can't say, as some people put it, `Well, the world's moved on.'"
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