LONDON (Reuters) - The next leader of the Anglican Church and thousands of other Christians joined a swelling anti-war lobby in Britain Tuesday with a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair opposing military action against Iraq.
Rowan Williams, who will in October become Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of 70 million Anglicans worldwide, is the highest-profile of about 3,000 signatories of the protest calling a potential U.S.-led attack "immoral and illegal."
"It is deplorable that the world's most powerful nations continue to regard war and the threat of war as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy, in violation of the ethos of both the United Nations and Christian moral teaching," said the petition organized by the Catholic group Pax Christi.
It was handed in at Blair's Downing Street office, although he was on holiday and not there to receive it. Blair is an Anglican while his wife Cherie is Catholic.
Various Catholic and Protestant bishops also signed the petition as churchmen start to take an unusually high-profile role in an issue dominating British political debate.
But it was the support of Williams -- an outspoken liberal who supports gay clergy and women priests and has pledged not to shy away from politically "awkward issues" -- which gave Tuesday's protest its clout.
"His support has been crucial. It gives us authority and gravitas," Pax Christi member and protest organizer Tina Beattie told Reuters. "He is a shining example."
She added: "Generally in Britain there is a very high level of anxiety about Tony Blair taking us down a road that neither parliament nor the public support."
CHURCH SPEAKS UP
Opponents of action against Iraq fear it may spark a more widespread regional conflict and insist any action against President Saddam Hussein must come through the United Nations.
Since the Pax Christi petition began as an attempt by grassroots Christians in Britain to galvanize their leaders, more and more church leaders have begun to speak out.
"A war on Iraq is like throwing a lighted match into a petrol can," another leading figure, the Anglican Bishop of Coventry, Colin Bennetts, said Tuesday.
"The British people do not want war," said Anglican nun Sister Annaliese during Tuesday's protest at Downing Street.
The petition came on the heels of another poll showing 52 percent of Britons oppose UK involvement in a war on Iraq. Washington has a stated policy of wanting to topple Saddam.
Amid speculation Blair may have privately pledged his support to President Bush for an attack on Iraq, many politicians and commentators are expressing disquiet.
One of Blair's most vocal critics in his own Labor Party, Tam Dalyell, said Blair should recall parliament from its summer break to hold a debate on the "most important decision of their (legislators') political lives."
His comments coincided with the Royal Navy's decision to send its flagship aircraft carrier, Ark Royal, to the Mediterranean, sparking speculation it was being positioned for a future raid.
The British government, which says no decision on Iraq has been taken, dismissed that as "rubbish."