Church of England follows Wales into the wilderness

The Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron blesses
the Revd Lee Taylor and his civil partner, Fabiano da Silva Duarte.
Source: Church Times

From Premier Christian News: 

"The Church of England has moved closer to offering standalone services for the blessing of same-sex couples. Members of the Church’s legislative body have backed proposals to trial the specific services from 2025 as part of the Living in Love and Faith process.

"The services are set to begin in 2025 as part of a three-year trial, pending the provision of 'pastoral reassurance' which would allow clergy and congregations opposed to the new arrangements to be overseen by like-minded bishops." Details here.

So the Church of England is following the Church in Wales in which a couple received the first same-sex  blessing in 2021.

 Commented at the time: "On Monday 6 September, the Church in Wales voted to allow its clergy to bless same-sex ‘marriages’ and civil partnerships. This was not entirely unexpected given the decline of Christian doctrine and ethics within the Church in Wales in recent years." - The Church in Wales abandons the Christian faith.

It has also abandoned those Anglicans who strive to keep the Christian faith.

"Church in Wales takes next step towards allowing same-sex marriages"

Llandaff Cathedral                                                                                                                                Source: Church in Wales

Martin Shipton writes in Nation Cymru:

 "The Church in Wales is taking a further step towards changing its rules so same-sex weddings can take place in its churches. Since 2021 it’s been possible for gay couples who have exchanged wedding vows in a civil ceremony to have their new status blessed in a church service. But so far the necessary constitutional move has not been made to permit weddings themselves.

"According to the Church in Wales’ own rules, all three of its sections – clergy, bishops and lay members – must approve such a change, each by a two-thirds majority. But while senior figures are confident that the clergy and bishops would approve the change, they have not been sure of the lay section, a significant number of whom maintain the conservative view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman."

As previously reported, Llandaff Cathedral is to hold a national memorial service for "people who have suffered exclusion from Christian communities because of their sexuality or gender". It is organised by OneBodyOneFaith, the UK’s oldest Christian LGBT+ members’ network, in partnership with The Gathering, an LGBT+ church in Cardiff, and supported by Church in Wales bishops.

The advancement of LGBTQ+ issues now appears to be the main focus of the Church in Wales as they continue to exclude those who keep the faith.

Current Church in Wales rules provide for same-sex blessings following a Civil Ceremony of Marriage or Partnership in a five year experimental rite which expires on 30 September 2026.

The Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, has expressed his hope that same-sex weddings will then be held in churches in Wales.

To that end the consecration of 'the youngest person ever to become a bishop in the Church in Wales' may have more to do with the fact that the new assistant bishop of Bangor is engaged to a man in a same-sex partnership.

Postscripts 

17.05.2024

Church Times (£): Bishop of Lancaster: I cannot judge Welsh bishop

"Provincial autonomy trumps personal convictions about sexuality for Dr Duff at the consecration of the new Assistant Bishop of Bangor."

18.05.2024

Anglican Ink: The start of an episcopal free for all?

More 'firsts' for the Church in Wales

The John/Starkey wedding, Bangor 2021      Source: Facebook

From Church in Wales Provincial news: 'Archbishop of Wales announces historic appointments at Cathedral':

"The Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, has announced the appointment of five distinguished individuals to serve as Honorary Canons at Saint Deiniol's Cathedral in Bangor. These appointments mark significant milestones in the Church in Wales, as they encompass a range of 'firsts' ."

Among the firsts is the second Mrs Andrew John, the Rev Naomi Starkey, who has been appointed one of three foundation canons who will be members of the Cathedral Chapter.

Another first is author Fr Jarel Robinson-Brown who becomes "the first gay, black Canon to serve in a Church in Wales Cathedral, a pioneering moment that highlights its commitment to diversity and inclusivity. Father Jarel, who will become Canon Preacher, holds joint British and Jamaican citizenship and is a much sought after preacher, having spoken recently at St Paul’s Cathedral, Yale Divinity School, and Oxford, Cambridge and Durham Universities. He is also co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Christian Charity OneBodyOneFaith."

Among previous Church in Wales firsts are the first transgender priest and the first same-sex partnered lesbian bishop.

Highlights September 2021 - the big fix

Church in Wales Governing Body September 2021                                                                                                                                                   Source: YouTube

Highlights of the Church in Wales (CinW) meeting of the Governing Body, September 2021, have been published. 

Highlights for bishops of the CinW they may be but for the vast majority of Anglicans, they will be anything but that. Attracting widespread criticism, the process has been a gigantic fix.

Built around a Bill to authorise a service of blessing for same-sex partnerships, the meeting's opening prayers invited us to show "love, compassion and concern for all those who are anxious about the day's debate, especially for the members of the LGBTI+ community." Especially for the LGBTI+ community! Do others merit no concern?

Even the response 'In your love and tenderness, remake us' was geared towards voting in favour of the measure. The cleric leading the prayers was far from neutral having already been remade, 'living happily' in a civil partnership with a younger man, he is a noted LGBT activist in common with all three women bishops.

One of the more illuminating speeches came from the Revd Dr Jonathon Wright (S&B), who submitted an amendment that, according to the Chair, Judge Andrew Keyser QC, 'touched on a fundamental part of the Bill'. Dr Wright wanted to have it delayed until it could be considered holistically as part of the Church’s doctrine on marriage, and introduced with same-sex marriage at some future date.

The bishops were in no mood to stop and reflect on their actions, typified by the response the bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, also in a same sex civil partnership, said that it would be "a huge missional and pastoral opportunity lost for yet another generation. . . The cry will go up, ‘How long, O Lord, how long?'"

Not the Lord, bishop Vann but GB members. The amendment was lost by 77 votes to 27, with no abstentions. 

The Bill itself was proposed by the bishop of St Asaph who was "conscious that some members saw the Bill as a departure from Biblical teaching and the historic faith of the Church", probably his most accurate statement, but nevertheless he asked if members would be “bold enough to take a decision in favour of faithful love and mercy, which will bring hope and joy?”

The bishops won, the Bill passed. The Church in Wales lost.

The big lie.

Church in Wales Governing Body Meeting 06 Sept 2021 discussing same-sex blessings                         Source: BBC News

                    

On his own admission the bishop of St Asaph prefers queers to evangelicals. That was his conclusion as bishop Gregory responded to the debate on same-sex blessings.

Sounding like a Taliban spokesman claiming every deed to be the will of Allah the bishop said, "I will not betray them, not for any price in this world or the next because I believe it is the will of Christ."

Others in the Church in Wales believe the opposite but the Bill passed when laity and clergy secured the necessary 2/3rds majority. Unsurprisingly the 4 bishops present voted for the Bill in one mind, that of the bishop of St Asaph.

Misinterpreting Galatians 3:28, the bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, seconded the Motion. She invoked memories of the departed to help bolster support for the Bill. Ignoring the Chair's intervention as she over-ran her allotted time bishop June ploughed on. She just wanted to "honour the memory of archdeacon Sue Pinnington who tragically died at the end of July." 

Bishop Osborne suggested that the speech archdeacon Sue would have made would have put the proposed liturgy in the context of mission to which she had 'dedicated her life':

"It may well be that she would have spoken about her sense of God's blessing on her long and godly same-sex life partnership." - The first of a number of archdeacons who would tick the box.

A disproportionate procession of gay clergy from vicars to archdeacons came to the rostrum to support the Bill illustrating that their sexuality had been no hindrance to their careers.

There were claims of suffering among gay and lesbian people as though they have a monopoly on suffering but they still have a church to attend unlike others who have been rejected and left to pray at home.

A prominent supporter of same-sex blessings interviewed on BBC News with her same-sex partner was trainee priest Ruth Eleri James. Clearly she had not been properly briefed. 

On BBCRadioWales (37 Mins in) she told the reporter of the "real love and welcome they have experienced in their local churches." 

Replying to the debate bishop Gregory said his 'heart went out' to archdeacon Stephen and others who had been brave enough to 'open their hearts' in the debate. Brave enough to tell GB of the pain and the cost of what it is to live as a gay or lesbian Christian within our Church because of the unconscious bias and oppression that we unknowingly inflict upon them.

No evidence was presented to support bishop Gregory's assertion. Quite the contrary given the number of gay bishops, archdeacons and others who have made successful careers despite alleged bias and oppression.   

Speaking after the debate the senior bishop Andy John urged the church to 'respond to new challenges'. He warned that organisations failing to adapt to changes ran the risk of "fossilization", ignoring the fact that Anglican provinces that had done most to conform to the world had rapidly declining attendance.

The 'church' bishop John refers to is not the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Church rejects same-sex blessings along with the ordination of women but Wales is a minor province governed by bishops intent on moulding a compliant Governing Body to their will, leading their flock into darkness.

Going their own way by allowing same-sex blessings the Church in Wales has again put itself at odds not only with the vast majority of Christians but with most of the 80 million Anglicans worldwide, risking suspension from the Anglican Communion.

The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted the annual update of regular church attendance figures but based on previous trends less than 0.8% of the population of Wales would regularly attend Anglican Sunday services.

In his keynote address as President of the Church’s Governing Body, its senior bishop Andy John urged the Church to look for God in the changing world and respond to new challenges. He warned that organisations failing to adapt to changes ran the risk of “fossilization”.

Speaking after the vote bishop Andy said that despite all the evidence to the contrary  'the Church' recognised it had "demonised and persecuted" gay and lesbian people. They were reaching out to a constituency that felt abandoned.

It has not bothered the bench one jot that another constituency, so-called traditionalists, have been abandoned despite the promise of twin integrities in the Church in Wales in its Code of Practice.

They may now be joined by evangelicals forced to "find accommodation as best they can" as a former LGBT+ supporting archdeacon of Llandaff directed.

The approval of same-sex blessings is based on the falsehood that gay and lesbian people have been demonised in the Church. Allowing same-sex blessings as a half measure to accepting same-sex marriage in church as an act of repentance. 

No doubt some examples of hurt can be documented but in well over 100 years of combined church attendance neither my wife nor I can recall a single example of such rejection, only of welcome as described by Ruth Eleri James and her partner.

The fact is that claiming persecution is part of a strategy based upon "deceptions and half‑truths":

• Exploit the “victim” status;
• Use the sympathetic media;
• Confuse and neutralize the churches;
• Slander and stereotype Christians;
• Bait and switch (hide their true nature); and
• Intimidation.

The vote to accept same-sex blessings is based on a lie. Shame on the Church in Wales.

Postscripts

[08.09.2021]

How it looks from outside the Church in Wales. 

Anglican Unscripted 684 starting at position 10.15. A devastating critique.

[11.09.2021]

CHURCH IN WALES BACKS THE BLESSING OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGES - C4M

[18.09.2021]

"It may not be an accident that this endorsing of the secular view of the priority and importance of sex and romantic relationships takes place in association with a culture which also attacked the core beliefs of Christianity." - What should we make of the Church in Wales' gay marriage blessings? Gavin Ashenden in Christian Today.

[21.09.2021]

"My experience of "synodality" in  Anglicanism  is that it was a ham fisted PR exercise in which the liberal elite imposed their will but made it look like their novelties were the will of the people." - Fr. Dwight Longenecker @dlongenecker1

[28.09.2021]

Reflections of an Anglican theologian: "The reason I want to comment is because what Cameron said at the meeting of the Governing Body provides a classic example of the weakness of the case for blessing same-sex relationships, and thus shows both why the Welsh church should not have voted to permit such blessings, and why the Church of England should not follow the Welsh example."

Their hypocrisy!

Source: Church in Wales

"There can be no room for seeking to undermine sincerely held views. Neither should we seek to walk away from each other." - Church in Wales bench of bishops.

The hypocrisy of it. 

Highlighted in Provincial News, top of the Agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales from  September 6-8 is a Bill to authorise a service of blessing for same-sex partnerships. 

"Same-sex couples will be able to have their civil partnership or marriage blessed in Church in Wales churches for the first time if new legislation is passed next month (September)."

No doubt seeking their usual secular support an article has already appeared in BBC News. 

The bishops have issued a set of ‘Pastoral Principles’ intended to 'guide people towards thoughtful and considerate discussions'.

Introducing them they say: “There can be no room for seeking to undermine sincerely held views. Neither should we seek to walk away from each other. Our union in Christ is at the heart of our life and the bonds and character of our baptism hold us together; sharing a commitment to each other as together we seek the Kingdom of God. We hope these materials will stimulate this quality of engagement.”

But that is precisely what they have done to faithful Anglicans who have not been swayed by secular desires. Undermined for years they have been ignored by the bench and left with no hope.

Clearly regarded as less worthy than same-sex couples desiring a blessing of their union, the bishops have walked away from traditionalist Anglicans who hold sincerely held views with no thought for their spiritual welfare.

One has to wonder if the bishops of the Church in Wales really do believe in the Kingdom of God.

Church in Wales bishops ditch faith for secularism

      Source: WalesOnline (Image: Caroline McCredie/Getty Images)

The Christmas present to the Church in Wales from their bishops:

A BILL TO AUTHORISE EXPERIMENTAL USE OF PROPOSED REVISIONS OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER (service of Blessing following a Civil Partnership or Marriage between two people of the same sex)

WHEREAS the Order of Clergy and Order of Laity of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales indicated their view by informal poll on 12 September 2018 ‘that it is pastorally unsustainable for the Church to make no formal provision for those in same-gender relationships’.

AND WHEREAS the Bench of Bishops believes that it is desirable that, before a bill for the revision of a part of the Book of Common Prayer is submitted by the Bishops for the consideration of the Governing Body, a proposed form of service be used experimentally in the churches of the Church in Wales for a limited period.

BE IT HEREBY ENACTED that:

1. A Diocesan Bishop shall have power to authorise for experimental use in the churches within their diocese the form set out in the Appendix for a service of Blessing following a Civil Partnership or Marriage between two people of the same sex for a period of five years from 1 October 2021, subject to the conditions set out below.

2. No Cleric shall be obliged to officiate at such a service.

3. The Parochial Fees for a ‘Marriage Blessing (following a Civil Marriage)’ may be charged by the officiating minister and Parochial Church Council for such a service.

Backers:

+John Cambrensis
+Andrew Bangor
+Gregory Llanelwy
+Joanna Tyddewi
+June Landav
+Cherry Monmouth

From Church Times:

In an explanatory memorandum, the Bishops acknowledge that scripture and Christian tradition have previously understood unions of one man and one woman as the only context for sexual relationships.

“However, with new social, scientific and psychological understandings of sexuality in the last one and a half centuries, we believe that same-sex relationships can be understood in a radically different way, and that the teaching of Scripture should therefore be re-interrogated,” the Bishops write.

Postscript [02.01.2021]

From Coalition for Marriage (C4M):

Legalising gay marriage has caused a surge in divorce rates among lesbians, says same-sex fertility chief. - Mail Online

Meanwhile in Wales, Kirsty Williams’s Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill was debated last month. The current legal requirement for pupils to “learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children” has been ditched. The parental right of withdrawal is also thrown out.

More from C4M here.

Pope's support for same-sex civil unions

Pope Francis                                                                                  Source: Twitter

American Magazine carries the headline:

 "Pope Francis declares support for same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope"

"Gay couples deserve legal protections for their relationships" Pope Francis said in a documentary.

Fine. Not so fine if this is taken as a green light leading to same-sex marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others and for life.

Same sex partnerships are to be welcomed but activists take any opportunity to further their cause. Witness feminism in the Church and how civil partnerships were bent and twisted in demands for same sex marriage.

Pope Francis has not changed his stance. When Archbishop of Buenos Aires he advocated same-sex civil unions in an attempt to block a same-sex marriage law.

Probably the best archbishop we never had, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, summarises the situation in this tweet:

"Anyone living together in long term arrangements should have legal protection. This can include siblings or mother and daughter, as well as those in other kinds of relationships being protected eg in tenancy or visiting rights. Such legislation, however, should not mimic marriage."

Exactly.

Next, LGBTQI+ takeover?

The Golden Calf, with apologies to Poussin

"Church of England to discuss same-sex blessing" - BBC

"Synod’s ‘welcoming’ transgender motion asks Bishops to consider liturgy" - Church Times

"Church of England to debate blessings for same-sex couples" - Guardian
"Church of England to consider same-sex blessing services" - Pink News

The pressure to accept blessings leading to same sex marriage on a par with the marriage between a man and a woman is everywhere but is it justified? The Church of England is to debate holding services for same-sex couples for the first time.

The plans have been put forward by the diocesan synod in Hereford, which voted in favour of an "order of prayer and dedication" following a marriage or civil partnership, in response to couples who said they wanted it.

This is how "a gay member of the Synod", Jayne Ozanne, explained the move to PinkNews:
She was “thrilled” at the “overwhelming support the motion has received”.
“It provides an important step on the road to ensuring we are all treated equally by the Church of England.
“I know that many are incredulous at the time it is taking for the Church to understand that we are all loved equally by God, but things are changing and given the strength of support we know that exists I hope this will be debated as soon as possible by the General Synod.”

The Bishop of Hereford, the Right Reverend Richard Frith, said:
"Clergy are already encouraged to respond pastorally and sensitively when approached.
"The motion which is part of a much wider debate asks for guidance on materials to be used in affirming and praying with same-sex couples."
The general synod will now debate a form of service described as "neither contrary to nor a departure from" the doctrine of the church.
Individual churches and priests would be able to opt out of holding the services if they wished.

The pressure is summed up in Church Clarity: "an online database that 'scores' (mainly) US churches according to whether they are 'affirming' or 'non-affirming' of LGBTQ persons, and how clearly they communicate their policy. Its stated aim matches its name: it wants to challenge evasiveness and obscurity on what is to many a central, and personal issue." The group comprised mainly of progressive leaning Christians, says: "No person should have to wonder the limits of their 'welcome'."

It is difficult to see how people can claim to be unwelcome when they are established members of a church which permits them to propose a motion which is contrary to biblical teaching. An Introduction to General Synod and how the parish and deanery relates to it can be found here.

The tactics are familiar. If you are not for us you are against us. Such words as equality, love and affirming imply the moral high ground when the object is, in biblical terms, immorality. What they demand in the name of love is the seal of approval no matter what the consequences for the Anglican Church.

Marriage is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. "It is the very basis of the whole fabric of civilised society." That is it. To claim that members of the Church of England will be treated equally only if same sex blessings are affirmed is absurd.

To expect others to sanction that which is contrary to church doctrine is an act of utter selfishness modeled on the movement for the ordination of women. The liberalism they brought with them was based on the notion that there was no biblical objection to their ordination.

They cannot use the same argument in favour of same sex marriage or blessing gay relationships. That bishops of the church can think it acceptable shows just how far the Anglican Church is sinking below the waterline since women were ordained.

The Church of England lost another 34,000 worshipers last year, far more than all the regular worshippers in the Church in Wales and they still fail to see the problem!

The Welsh language, same-sex and the Church in Wales

Outside St Davids Cathedral "Another First for Canon Joanna, Bishop-elect."  Source: Church in Wales

"From the beginning, the Welsh language was given equality with English in the constitution and liturgy of the Church in Wales, and throughout the twentieth century some of its priests were prominent in Welsh literature." - The Church in Wales, Facing Difficulties

One hundred years after disestablishment, the Church in Wales' 2020 Vision is to "re-imagine itself in order to serve its communities more effectively... We need a cultural change in the kind of church we are". That is what the Archbishop of Wales told the The Time Is Now conference in 2014.

For the bishop elect of St Davids the kind of church she wants is based on what has been rejected by the Church in Wales, most strongly by the good people of St Davids. Her stated priority is "To encourage us that we are not simply trying to keep the show on the road but we are trying to live out our gospel of the risen Christ and the reality of God’s Holy Spirit and to live that out in our real communities, encouraging people to live out their faith in surprising and different ways, not feeling guilty that the future may look different from the past but feeling encouraged that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and is as relevant to Wales in the 21st century as he has been through the centuries until now. But how that plays out may look very different".

Listening to Canon Penberthy on Radio 4 [@12.30] "our gospel" is the gospel according to Dr Barry Morgan. Women clergy, gay blessings and working towards same sex marriage in church. When interviewed Ed Stourton asked what sort of discrimination she had suffered. She replied it was "blank incomprehension" that she would want to exercise her own ministry rather than help her husband. Not the sort of aggravation implied by her earlier "prejudice and discrimination" claim. The implication is that lay ministry was not good enough which hardly fits with the ideas of '2020 Vision'.

So the bishop elect of St Davids, the most conservative diocese in the Province, is a liberal minded woman who on her own admission is not a fluent Welsh speaker either:

"Improving my Welsh is a priority for me now. I was in Welsh-speaking parishes in north Carmarthenshire before and people were very generous and I did learn to take services in Welsh which were received well. But I was always a bit cowardly about the conversations and I think I’ll be looking for money to go on a Welsh immersion course where I will have to take the bull by the horns and have the courage to speak the language. I really want to do it  – we are a bilingual nation and the Welsh language is one of our jewels, if not our life blood."

To quote further from 'Facing Difficulties': "The Church, as ever, wishes to see the Welsh language survive and flourish, but it can do nothing without the support of its members. The Welsh language is a gift from God to all who live in Wales. It is our privilege and responsibility to use and promote it in our future mission and ministry". Surely that should have been uppermost in the mind of the facilitator for the diocese of St Davids.

'Facing difficulties' ends with the question: "How can you promote the use of the Welsh language in the Church in your area?" For a start the facilitator should have ensured that the bishop elect was a fluent Welsh speaker familiar with the diocese which is the spiritual home of the Church in Wales and a place of pilgrimage drawing people from around the world.

Disestablishment was born out of dissatisfaction with English-speaking landowners and "anti-Welsh" attitudes within the Church. Based on the appointment of the bishop elect of St Davids, heritage clearly counts for nothing. Moving forward, or "re-imagine itself", is based not on scripture and tradition but on sexual licence and equality of opportunity in the workplace where secular attitudes to 'equality' count more than theology.

The Electoral College meets behind closed doors so that everything can be done in secret leaving regular churchgoers unaware of how the President stage manages the proceedings in a situation where many members hold their positions under his patronage especially the bishops.

If this candidate matched the diocesan profile either profile was way off the mark or it was prepared to fulfil the requirements of the President who is on record as claiming that "she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishop". If the sacred synod had any spunk they would not confirm this election.

Postscript [08.11.2016]

From Western Mail letters: Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Not quite the successors of St David

When the new woman bishop-designate of St David’s was on Radio Four on Sunday morning being interviewed she had at least the decency to admit that the Church in Wales blesses gay marriages.

When the male bishops deviously introduced such prayers, they claimed they were not blessings!

She also unequivocally stated that she is in favour of full same-sex marriage. Well, she is entitled to her beliefs, but if she seriously thinks she (and her male colleagues) are the legitimate actual successors of St David, they deceive themselves.

They may have the medieval cathedrals, the episcopal props and the endowments but they are self-evidently not bishops in the Church of God, pledged under sacred vow to banish away strange doctrines.

Robert Ian Williams

Pilling: It's all about Eve

It is ten years since Michael Kalmuk and his long-time partner Kelly Montfort recited their solemn Anglican vows that would bless their relationship in what was described as the World's first "official" Anglican same-sex blessing. They had been together for twenty-one years and spent much of their careers working with people with disabilities. Story here.

Unless one is homophobic it is difficult not to be touched by such a story but the Rev. Margaret Marquardt who conducted the ceremony said in her homily that it amounted to "an act of healing for gay and lesbian people throughout the Anglican church"! In another report here she is quoted as saying said that it was an affirmation of "God's presence" in the couple's relationship, making one wonder if she was familiar with the Bible or simply chose passages to re-interpret Holy Scripture  according to her will, now common practice in liberal Anglicanism. 

A similar story can be read in the report of House of Bishops Working Group on human sexuality, the Pilling Report, where natural sympathy leads to the wrong conclusion that members of the clergy should be allowed to offer blessings to same-sex couples (summary here). Another of the report's recommendations is that The whole Church is called to real repentance for the lack of welcome and acceptance extended to homosexual people in the past, and to demonstrate the unconditional acceptance and love of God in Christ for all people. This it seems to me is the main thrust of the report. God loves all, we have been beastly to gays so same-sex unions should be blessed by the Church as an act of repentance. This conclusion ignores biblical facts but there was not unanimity. The report includes a dissenting statement by the Bishop of Birkenhead who said that he was "not persuaded that the biblical witness on same sex sexual behaviour is unclear". It is true that gays have been treated badly in society but I have not witnessed the reported lack of welcome and acceptance in the Church and don't know of anyone who does, quite the contrary.

The item in the report which I find most illuminating is the advice given by a female 'expert' which so baffled the Review Group that it is included as a separate Prologue "Living with holiness and desire". As Pilling remarks in his Forward, "One of our advisers, [the Rev Dr] Jessica Martin, challenged us to think about human sexuality more widely than most of our evidence was leading us to do. We asked her to write a paper which now forms the prologue to the report. We wanted to give others a chance to read it and reflect on it and we feared that, if we tried to integrate it into the main body of the report, much would be lost."

After her opening statement "Desire begins and ends with God", implying that its all His fault, the Rev Dr waffles on page after page implicating St Augustine of Hippo in the process before her aim is made apparent in the final sentence: "In Christ all things may be made new, every failure may be made the occasion of a generous forgiveness", or to put it another way as Pilling does, to demonstrate the unconditional acceptance and love of God in Christ for all people, ergo, same-sex blessings!

The Rev Sharon Ferguson, Chief Executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) welcomed the Pilling recommendations as "a small step of the Church of England towards greater inclusion but urges them to continue this work to enable the church to witness effectively to God’s love for all", echoing the Prologue message, God loves us, so what the hell!

Speaking on behalf of the Inclusive Church we have another female cleric, the Very Rev’d Dianna Gwilliams, Dean of Guildford Cathedral and Chair of Inclusive Church who says: "We hope that this will enable all Christians to find ways of celebrating the covenantal love between people which reflects the love of God for all people."

The House of Bishops has become incapable of coming to any conclusion without using women to do their thinking for them but only women who represent the old Eve. Women in the image of Mary, the new Eve, who gave us the Church in the Body of Christ have no say. Accordingly, even when it is absolutely clear that marriage is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others and that Christ deliberately chose men, not women, to be his Apostles, they work their way around these awkward facts by spinning a yarn about inequality which, if true, must have been what Christ intended. But He saw no inequality, only difference.

The process which gave us women deacons and priests, soon to be women bishops, is being repeated. Not quite as grand as Charles and Camilla but gay couples will be able to get married in a Registry Office before their grand Church service which will appear to be a marriage ceremony. That is a very small step from an actual marriage ceremony, just as women claimed it was only a few words separating deacons from priests.

Shortly after the World's first "official" Anglican same-sex blessing took place, an article in Orthodoxy Today was published under the heading 'Thoughts on Women's Ordination'. One sentence particularly stands out: "Virtually every Protestant group that has decided to ordain women has to one degree or another begun to reject Biblical language and images of God in favor of images more acceptable to feminist theology." Pilling it seems is no exception.

To be joined together

Male and female, made for each other, bonding together for a purpose. Whether you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he was a philosopher or just a perceptive Rabbi, this is the definition of marriage most people understand:

³ Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{[a] 5} and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19: 3-6. 
Footnotes: [a] Matthew 19:4 Gen. 1:27 [b] Matthew 19:5 Gen. 2:24

Joining together male and female is what defines marriage, be it metal, wood or human flesh. Two males or two females may 'bond' in terms of human affection but so does a mother and her child or a person may express love for their pet but that does not, indeed can not, lead to marriage. Claims that same sex couples are discriminated against because they are not allowed to marry are absurd. They have equal rights under civil partnership legislation which puts them on equal basis with heterosexual couples but by definition they cannot be joined together in marriage. Some have suggested that if they were allowed to marry their union would be no different to the union of a heterosexual couple unable to have children. That is as bogus as it is unkind. But it goes further than that. The 'want it all' mentality extends to same sex couples expecting to have children by one means or another regardless of the cost to the child or the claimed heartbreak because a child 'has no mother' when clearly he must have.

Manipulation is the name of the game. This article lists the six ways homosexual activists manipulate public opinion:

• Exploit the “victim” status;
• Use the sympathetic media;
• Confuse and neutralize the churches;
• Slander and stereotype Christians;
• Bait and switch (hide their true nature); and
• Intimidation.

The Anglican church knows all about 'Confuse and neutralize the churches' and 'Slander and stereotype Christians', particularly in England and Wales where US liberalism has spread like a rash losing the bond of trust that existed in our once broad church. Remember how traditionalists were promised an honoured place in the church, how civil partnerships didn't mean gay marriage? No more. Tolerance of minorities has become intolerance by minorities but whatever they say, they cannot redefine what it means is to be male and female.  

You don't have to be religious to oppose same-sex marriage, just rational.

Different, but inferior?

Traditionalist Anglicans will be familiar with the sort of tactics used by the inappropriately named Equal Love campaign. In 2010 The Rev Sharon Ferguson, a lesbian church minister fighting to overturn the ban on same-sex marriages revealed that she had been 'sent abusive messages' since launching her campaign. Familiar tactics in a campaign of of half truth and dissimulation. 

Complaints from 'equal rights' campaigners about receiving abusive messages and being spat upon are not uncommon despite hard evidence when to my knowledge filth laden hate mail has been received in the opposite direction. 'Different' these agitators may be in the sense of being a vociferous minority but 'inferior'? Such suggestions are used solely to gain support by implying discrimination from people who fail to see that discrimination is, in reality, against those who do not clamour to change everything only to the advantage of minorities regardless of the cost to the majority. What they seek is not equality but dominance, the very thing they complain about in their power struggle using religion and the church as though it were a secular institution rather than the vehicle of faith that brings people closer to God.

In her campaign for so-called equality the Rev Sharon Ferguson said: “The system we currently have is discriminatory and segregates people. It is not acceptable in this day and age. As a person of faith, I want to get married." To get married implies taking a husband when in fact her desire is to share her life with another woman. That is her privilege. The law has been changed to ensure that she and those like her not disadvantaged. But this is not enough for so-called equal love campaigners. We do not judge how couples live their lives but however they wish to see it, a homosexual partnership is not the same as the union between a man and a woman joined together in holy matrimony for the procreation of children. They can call it whatever else they like but it is not marriage as understood by the majority of people handed down by tradition and custom for thousands of years so why pretend that it is? To suggest that these couples are made to feel inferior if they are not allowed to be 'married' is a problem of their own making. 

The trendy list of gay marriage supporters is growing and, perhaps unsurprisingly, is now afflicting the Anglican church following its abandonment of apostolic tradition. Since the Prime Minister decided to come out in favour of gay marriage, politicians and celebrities have joined the clamour to satisfy people who will never be satisfied until the rest of us are completely subjugated. In a classic piece of dissimulation the Guardian has come out in favour claiming that 'the argument that gay marriage undermines straight marriage is as unconvincing as it is insulting'. The reasons they find so convincing are neatly unpacked line by line here but it is unlikely that campaigners will be interested in the facts.