Why The General Synod’s Vote Last Night Was Bad For Everyone
by Peter Ould, Christian Today:
Alternative truths abounded last night after the General Synod vote on the bishops’ report on human sexuality came through and the House of Clergy voted by a narrow margin not to ‘take note’ of it.
Normally a Take Note motion is a neutral one and members of Synod debate a subject that they’ve been given an opportunity to talk about and then nod it through. Not so last night. Revisionists used a procedural Standing Order to force a vote in all three houses rather than just a simple show of hands. What this means is that the synod was asked to give approval by a clear majority in each of its three parts– the bishops, the clergy and the laity. It was in the House of Clergy that the Take Note motion failed – 100 voted no and only 93 voted yes. Even though the other two houses voted in favour, officially the synod voted no and so there was a ‘victory’ for the revisionists.
Or was there?
This morning’s newspapers were full of ‘one step closer to gay marriage in the Church of England’ headlines, but this is just another example of synodical alternative facts. Let’s actually stop and think about what the synod voted against.
The bishops’ paper proposed creating a new theological teaching document on the issue of sex and marriage. The synod voted not to have that so we’re still stuck with the 1987 Higton motion and the 1991 Issues in Human Sexuality as our doctrinal positions on homosexuality.
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