Video: Dr Rowan Williams: too many people do not know how religion works Dr Rowan Williams, who has announced his decision to step down as Archbishop of Canterbury after ten years, said the Church was still relevant for millions of people. "I think there is a great deal of interest still in the Christian faith," he said. The Archbishop warned there was a willingness by many to misunderstand how religion, but he welcomed the debate. There is also a lot of ignorance and rather dim-witted prejudice about the visible manifestations of Christianity, which sometimes clouds the discussion, he said. What I think slightly shadows the whole thing is this sense that there are an awful lot of people now of a certain generation who don't really know how religion works, let alone Christianity in particular, and that leads to confusions, sensitivities in the wrong areas - 'does wearing a cross offend people who have no faith or non-Christians?' well I don't think it does. He admitted that the Church's public role is more contested than it used to be. We have to earn our right to speak more than perhaps was once the case but that is probably good for us.