Senior Church liberals pile pressure on Archbishop to stop the ‘vilification’ of gay Christians

Jan 10, 2016 by Jill

By Jonathan Petre, Mail on Sunday:

More than 100 senior Church of England liberals will today increase pressure on the Archbishop of Canterbury to support reforms aimed at stopping the ‘vilification’ of gay Christians.

In a strongly worded open letter to Justin Welby, the signatories – who range from bishops and cathedral deans to MPs – call on the Church to ‘repent’ for treating gay people like ‘second-class citizens’.

The letter will heighten tensions at a week-long meeting of the world’s Anglican leaders which begins in Canterbury tomorrow, at which the Archbishop hopes to avert a permanent split between warring factions in the Church.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that conservative leaders from Africa and Asia are threatening to walk out unless liberal British and American clerics abandon their support for gay marriage and openly gay bishops – or are disciplined.

In a fierce attack on the conservatives, the letter says the Church should acknowledge it had treated gay people as ‘a problem to be solved rather than as brothers and sisters in Christ to be embraced and celebrated’, making them ‘feel like second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God’.

Read here

Read letter and list of signatories here