Fury at inclusion of same sex marriage ban on Lambeth conference agenda
by Ruth Peacock, Religion Media Centre:
There has been a furious response to the decision to re-introduce a divisive resolution banning same sex marriage, at the forthcoming Lambeth conference of worldwide Anglican bishops.
The measure comes in a “call” stating as fact that the “mind of the Communion” is against same sex marriage. Yet there are clergy and bishops living in same sex marriages in America and other parts of the worldwide Anglican church.
The unexpected inclusion comes after years of painstaking work seeking deeper relationships and understanding among the Communion’s 1,000 bishops and is feared likely to torpedo any chance that the conference would be remembered for the church looking out into the world instead of within itself to internal disputes.
The Lambeth conference of worldwide Anglican bishops meets in Canterbury from 26 July – 8 August 2022. The conference happens once every ten years and around 650 bishops are expected to attend out of a possible 1,000. Read our explainer here.
The “Communion” of Anglican bishops has been deeply divided for decades over same sex relationships and marriage. Bishops from Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda are boycotting the conference in protest at the “false gospel” of allowing same sex relationships and marriage. Six bishops in same sex marriages in America are boycotting it because their spouses were not invited.
There are two sides in the dispute. One uses Bible verses as a basis for deciding same sex relationships are wrong and that marriage is only right between a man and a woman. The other side thinks the Bible must be read in context and the overarching Biblical teaching on love, relationships and equality should determine the Christian response.
There have been strenuous efforts by the Anglican Communion to broker peace and the message went out that this conference, titled “God’s Church for God’s World”, would foster new partnerships on challenges outside the church.
But on Tuesday 19 April, a document with draft “calls”, items for discussion and voting, revealed that the bishops would once more be asked to vote on the infamous Lambeth Resolution I:10, in the following wording: “It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same gender marriage is not permissible. Lambeth Resolution I.10 (1998) states that the “legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions” cannot be advised. It is the mind of the Communion to uphold “faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union”.
This is how Anglicans have responded:
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