Living In Love And Faith: the roadmap to the extinction of the C of E

Feb 2, 2021 by

by Judi Sture, Virtueonline:

So — in November 2020 we finally received the Church of England’s Living In Love And Faith report, book and ‘resources’. But does any of this help us to see a clear way forward? Or does it simply muddy the waters further, while advertising itself as a remedy for confusion? Is it in fact the beginning of the end?

The following comments are made about the way in which the Church is using the Living In Love And Faith project as a means to change its beliefs and practices to accommodate current cultural upheavals. My criticisms are of the LLF materials and the way they are being used by the Church hierarchy, not a criticism of the place of LGBT+ Christians in the Church. LGBT+ Christians are part of the Church. The question before us is whether or not all other Christians must agree that the LGBT+ lifestyle itself is in line with the Bible.

The over-arching problem with these ‘resources’ and the Living In Love And Faith book itself is that the authors — backed up by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York — clearly equate the Bible with a range of other concepts as if they are of equivalent value. These other things include ‘queer hermeneutics’, ‘science’ (as if it is a settled argument), ‘cultural contexts’, ‘issues of interpretation’, ‘debates’ about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage — and my personal favourite, ‘lived experiences’. And while there are regular comments about the generality of the focus on all areas of sex and marriage in society, it is absolutely clear throughout where the principal emphasis lies: a pacifying response to LGBT+ activism.

If anyone should be left in any doubt, this publication surely heralds the death-throes of the Church of England as we know it — or at least, as it used to be. Despite their efforts to bamboozle readers with attempts to project an impartial stance, the authors’ barefaced cheek and fudging is clear. There is much talk about ‘learning’ and ‘listening’, but I suspect most traditionalists know in what direction any learning and listening is leaning. And it is not towards us.

Read here

Colin Coward, former director of gay pressure group Changing Attitude, takes a different view.

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