Plot losers

Marriage!                                                                            Source:church Times

Great Britain's fourth largest Christian denomination, the Methodist Church, has voted to change the definition of marriage, thus permitting same sex 'marriage' along with the Scottish Episcopal Church, United Reformed Church and Quakers.

The Church of England continues its convulsions as trendy Lefties push to follow fashion rather than faith. 

The bench of bishops of what is becoming the LGBT Church in Wales have made no secret of the fact that they support same sex marriage but they rarely make the headlines unless plugging the latest LGBT news or having to apologise for offences caused as here and here.

A report to be presented to the General Synod of the Church in England says that, by July, approximately 5500 people will have participated in a Living in Life and Faith (LLF) event. Each diocese has at least one LLF Advocate and 9000 people have registered on the LLF learning hub.

Foremost among those losing the plot on this occasion is the bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev Paul Bayes, who says that "the Church of England should recognise marriage between people of the same sex and allow such ceremonies in church." A move that would break with centuries of Christian teaching.

Bishop Bayes told a conference of the neo-Marxist organisation ‘Mosaic Anglicans‘ that he wanted a gender-neutral marriage canon such as they have in the Episcopal Church or in the Scottish Episcopal Church.

As Archbishop Cranmer puts it in his Blog: "It is not only all gendered language which must be expunged – all mention of male and female, man and woman, husband and wife – but also every mention of children, for in a gender-neutral marriage canon there can be no presumption of or preference for procreation. The nuclear family becomes a partnership of two for mutual society; a contract to keep each other company (though why limit it it just two?): marriage ceases to be about a union to be blessed with babies for the future flourishing of society, because unions in a gender-neutral marriage canon must have a presumption of barrenness in the present. To talk of children is to presume fertility and so to discriminate against the naturally sterile union of man and man and woman and woman."

If that sounds far fetched, the LGBT charity Stonewall has told organisations to stop using gendered terms like mother and father and to close down single-sex toilets while teachers have been told to drop the terms 'boy' and 'girl' in favour of 'learners'. 

Bishop Bayes is not alone in his view of Christian marriage. Commenting on Matt Hancock's resignation as Health Secretary after he breached his own Covid regulations, the bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Dr David Walker dismissed Hancock's 'lies, deception and unfaithfulness' and as 'a bit of a fling', not something to be 'unduly concerned about'.

Bishops Bayes and Walker are just two Anglican bishops who have lost the plot who happen to be in the news.

Why is the Church so woke? asked Giles Fraser following a Savanta ComRes survey which revealed that only 6% of Church of England clergy admitted to voting Tory in the December 2019 General Election, whereas 40% voted Labour.

Writing in Christian Today, former Church of England vicar Julian Mann posed the question Why the left-wing bias of so many Anglican clergy? 

"The short answer would seem to be because that is the way of the world. Or at least the world of this country's institutions, from the BBC to the police, to the educational establishment, to the National Trust, since the 1960s.

"Britain's institutions, including the CofE, are now run by men and women who absorbed the left-wing doctrines that were becoming predominant in the universities they went to in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly the belief that the State is the most effective agent of human betterment."

"The watering down of the CofE's historic biblical teaching since the 1960s is arguably the reason why it has become so woke.

"Because historic Christianity stresses "the resurrection of the body, And the life everlasting" - as the Apostles' Creed concludes - the kingdom of woke, in which humanity can achieve a rainbow utopia in this world, is fundamentally opposed to the kingdom of God and of his Christ."

Exactly. They have lost the plot.

Postscript [06.07.2021]

Apology from the Bishop of Liverpool.

Reflections after Synod

The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek (left), and the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, after their consecrations
at Canterbury Cathedral, in July 2015      Credit: PA/Church Times

Good news is hard to come by for Anglicans left stranded by a church which now gives more weight to politics than to faith, often the faith of cradle Anglicans who were to discover that their Church had left them after the women's movement occupied the driving seat.

It was good to read, then, that the House of Bishops expressed regret that “not nearly enough” was done to create an understanding of the practical outworking of the settlement that accompanied the Women Bishops Measure (see previous entry).


Mission and Ministry in Covenant (GS 2086) responded to a resolution of the General Synod in 2014
by outlining 'proposals for bringing the Church of England and the Methodist Church into communion with one another and enabling interchangeability of their presbyteral ministries'. From Christian Today:

"The particular difference between the two churches lies around their understanding of how churches should be led. Anglican churches operate under an episcopal model with bishops seen as following on from the apostles, as the Church's leaders. As bishops consecrate more bishops and ordain new clergy, the 'apostolic succession' continues.

"However Methodists do not accept the idea of 'apostolic succession' in the Anglican sense. But now under the proposals an Anglican bishop would take part in ordaining new Methodist ministers, meaning they would enter this 'apostolic succession'.

"However the nub of the controversy and opposition lay around existing Methodist presbyters who would not have to be re-ordained – a point the CofE's bishops consider a 'bearable anomaly'. "

A 'bearable anomaly' for some is 'an intolerable departure from order' for others which widens the divide between the Anglican Church and Roman Catholic/Orthodox Churches. For supporters of the ordination of women that is unlikely to be an issue. For others, for whom a woman priest has the same standing as a Methodist minister, it is yet another nail in the coffin.

Original source: Morton Morland/Twitter

Having won the votes to allow women priests then bishops, the women's movement appears to assume that we must all change to their way of thinking but conscience is not something that can be altered by synodical vote.

One of the more telling moments was when Justin Welby called for greater Anglican Communion say in the selection of a successor: He told the Synod: “The work of the Archbishop in the Anglican Communion is quite demanding and quite extensive. The representative of the . . . other members of the Anglican Communion – about 90 per cent from the Global South – when I was interviewed was the Archbishop of Wales [Barry Morgan] who is a wonderful man who did a wonderful job as Archbishop of Wales, but may not have entirely represented the Global South.”

Exactly! Barry Morgan always represented himself regardless of the consequences, particularly for those who have found themselves unchurched. He imitated Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori with the same disastrous consequences which have crippled the United States Episcopal Church (TEC). That Justin Welby applauded the award of Oxford doctorate to Katharine Jefferts Schori helps to explain his archiepiscopacy and his baffling performance over the treatment of Bishop George Bell as explained by Bishop Gavin Ashenden on his blog.


Finally a tweet from the Rev Sally Hitchiner‏ @SallyHitchiner:
"And my first full synod as a member is complete. Highlight was passing motion to support and welcome people with Downs and their families, even after a heated debate.... unanimously."  Hobbit's Wife tweeted in reply: "I really don’t get why this even needed debate. Meant to be Christians so everyone should be welcome. Please help me understand!"

As I understand it the debate was a ruse to discuss screening/abortion. The problem with this is that various groups are welcomed leaving others feeling excluded, and with good reason.

Women priests and bishops have been welcomed, gay, lesbian and transgender people have been welcomed. Since 'love' is the passphrase, how soon before polyamorous people are welcomed, responding to the claim, "I'm polyamorous, why should I limit my love?"

The only people who appear to be unwelcome are traditional Anglicans. The House of Bishops of the Church of England recognise the problem but as far has the bench of bishops in the Church in Wales are concerned, traditionalists can whistle, thanks mainly to archbishop Barry Morgan. This is his legacy from Twitter. His heretical mentor mentoring the new women bishops:

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church(USA) and the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate,visited the diocesan office while in the UK as part of the Bishop’s Training programme.  She is acting as mentor to @BishopJuno and Bishop Joanna