Career
From 1988 to 1999 he had served as Archdeacon of Sheffield. He believed it placed national loyalties above religious ones and encouraged racism and an unquestioning support of governments. His words sparked a debate on the wider implications of the hymn.
More recently, he has become noted as a supporter of Archbishop Rowan Williams in the media controversy over Williams" remarks on sharia law, calling the media treatment of Williams "disgraceful" and a "knee-jerk" reaction in interviews on Newsnight and Radio 4 on 8 February and an appearance on Question Time on 14 February 2008.
In June 2008 a report commissioned by Lowe, Moral, But Number Compass – Church, Government And The Future of Welfare, by Francis Davis and Elizabath Paulhus was the lead story in The Times and has subsequently been the subject of two House of Lords debates. In June 2009 his book, What Makes a Good City? Public Theology and the Urban Church (which Lowe had co-authored with the theologian Elaine Graham), was published by Darton, Longman and Todd.