by Julian Mann, TCW
DESPITE their setback over gay wedding celebrations, Church of England ‘progressives’ are still hell-bent on replacing Christianity with toxic neo-Marxist identity politics.
The February 2026 General Synod in Westminster saw the end of the Bishops’ Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process which they launched in 2020 to prepare the way for dedicated services of blessing for same-sex couples. In February 2023 Synod duly agreed to these by quite narrow majorities among the clergy and laity, but the services then ran into legal difficulties. It turned out that gay wedding celebrations at special services needed two-thirds majorities in each of the three Houses of Synod, Bishops, Clergy and Laity.
So, at the last Synod meeting, the Bishops called time on LLF to the fury of the ‘progressives’. But church leftists have not thrown in the towel.
A private member’s Synod motion which is fast gathering signatures proposes that ‘there are no fundamental objections to being in a committed, faithful, intimate same-sex relationship, and that such a relationship can be entirely compatible with Christian discipleship’.
This motion, put forward by Professor Helen King, a lay member for Oxford Diocese, had by February 18 garnered the support of 161 members, which means it is set fair to be debated at the July Synod. It would require only a simple majority and if passed would pave the way for clergy to be allowed to enter into same-sex civil marriages.
As Dr Martin Davie, a champion for Christian orthodoxy in the C of E, explains on his Reflections of an Anglican Theologian blog: