Religious Left demands action from Justin Welby
The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby
Lambeth Palace
London SE1 7JU
January 19th 2016
Your Grace
We, as original signatories to the letter sent to you on January 7th 2016, wish to acknowledge and thank you for the personal apology that you made on behalf of the Church in Canterbury.
We recognise the significance of this statement coming as it does from you, especially at a time when tensions within the Anglican Communion are high.
We also wish to acknowledge the commitments that were announced in the Final Communique from the 2016 Primates Meeting, specifically where all the Primates within the Anglican Communion: “condemned homophobic prejudice and violence and resolved to work together to offer pastoral care and loving service irrespective of sexual orientation…The Primates reaffirmed their rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people.”
It of course will be of some comfort for LGBTI Christians to hear that the Primates recognise that: “..the Christian church and within it the Anglican Communion often acted in a way towards people on the basis of their sexual orientation that has caused deep hurt. Where this has happened they express their profound sorrow and affirm again God’s love for every human being is the same, regardless of their sexuality, and that the church should never by its actions give any other impression.”
These are significant and important words, which will engender hope that the Church might finally start to alter the way in which it conducts this debate. That said, we believe that words alone are not enough. Indeed, similar words were stated in Resolution 1.10 from the 1998 Lambeth Conference – for which we still await any meaningful action, particularly on any action towards decriminalisation.
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