Lambeth: Reply to an open letter to Justin Welby

The female bishops pose for their group portrait. Photo: Neil Turner/The Lambeth Conference                                                     Source: Episcopal News Service

Perhaps it is a generational thing but I have to admit that I am not a fan of Sandi Toksvig's brand of humour. Having watched bits of QI occasionally her success seems to me to be more to do with lesbianism than comedy. 

An admitted humanist Ms Toksvig has written a 'Dear Justin' letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury telling him of his mistakes at the Lambeth Conference. 

Before playing the usual victim card she writes: 
"So, you and your other religious pals got together at the Lambeth Conference and the main take away seems to be that gay sex is a sin. It was a sin in 1998 and you just wanted to make it clear in 2022 that no-one in you finely frocked gang has moved on from that. Seriously, with the state the world is in, that is what you wanted to focus on? You didn't have other more pressing matters like, I don't know, war or poverty?..."

What the LGBTQ+ lobby fails to understand is it is not about sex it is about marriage.

Civil Partnerships were created for same-sex couples who were not legally allowed to marry. They have legally recognized unions with rights similar to those of marriage. 

Having gained such acceptance the LGBTQ+ lobby are not satisfied. For them, marriage is the ultimate stamp of approval. For Christians marriage is the union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

But the activists stop at nothing. What we have is a re-run of the campaign for the ordination of women. Originally they campaigned for deaconesses to be ordained deacons. Step by step they succeeded in advancing to the priesthood and the episcopate using the same strategy of stealth and deception. 

The result of their efforts can be seen in the women only photograph taken at this year's Lambeth Conference. The number of women bishops attending has grown to 97 in 2022 from 11 in 1998. "We’ve increased exponentially," said Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry. So much for just wanting to be deacons.

Same sex relations are now characterised as 'Human Dignity', just one of the 'Calls' in the Lambeth Conference programme. The agenda includes much more but for bishops in the Church in Wales and other provinces that have decided by committee that same sex marriage is compatible with Christian teaching, it was the main item for them and they went to Lambeth determined to push their agenda regardless of the cost to the Anglican Communion.

Like TEC in the US the Scottish and Welsh provinces are comparatively wealthy but with steeply declining memberships. They are counted in thousands compared with much poorer, more orthodox provinces in the Global South where membership is counted in millions.

Many of the bishops from poorer areas came to Lambeth intent on upholding the sanctity of marriage. Much was done to thwart them but they continued to fight under Christ's banner as Christians promise in our baptism.

If the will of the Anglican Communion as a whole counted for anything the Welsh bishops and their like would be regarded as a tiny, unrepresentative minority and told where to go.

Instead, synodical processes are manipulated by liberal bishops to drive forward their own agendas. They influence public opinion by appealing to humanists and those who have no religion, increasing secular resentment then claim that the Church is out of step. It is not. They are.

This deception is exemplified by the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church who tweeted "Tonight I feel a burden lifted of what might happen at this conference and determined that we continue to be an example of diversity, an example of enabling people with differing opinions to remain part of the same Church... 'love means love' to use the latest catch phrase. Watch this video clip in which the primus claims that nobody is to be thrown out of the Communion and that there will be no sanctions for what people do. 

Complete garbage. 

Whilst pandering to the LGBTWQ+ lobby, thousands of Anglicans who identify with the traditional, orthodox faith, as in the Global South, have been left with no spiritual home. They have effectively been expelled whilst those continuing to attend services are made complicit.

Similarly the archbishop of Wales tweeted "I welcome this afternoon's #LambethCall affirming of the dignity of all people". He was quickly followed by affirming underlings.

If only these idiots could leave Christian marriage alone there would be no problem.