Guardian: Anglican Bishops Can't Do Damned Thing about Clergys' Same-Sex Marriage

The Guardian

by Giles Faser

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/mar/11/gay-clergy-marriage-anglican-communion

Gay clergy marriages: the final chapter of the Anglican Communion fiction

Despite the inevitable toy throwing – from bishops and overseas churches – there is little anyone can do about them            

 

Gay marriage becomes a legal reality in the UK on 29 March. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Well, you could knock me down with a feather duster. The Pope is looking into the subject of gay marriage. According to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Holy Father said to him that "rather than quickly condemn them, let's just ask the questions as to why that has appealed to certain people". OK, it's hardly a new Vatican policy. But language matters. And in the week of the first anniversary of Francis's appointment as pope, it is worth recognising how far the language has come.


But things are going to change even faster for the Church of England over the next few weeks. With gay marriage becoming a legal reality on 29 March, it is certain that a number of clergy will be looking to get hitched, in direct defiance of the wishes of their bishops who have vaguely warned of disciplinary action if they do. But the truth is that the bishops can actually do very little about it. The following is slightly nerdish stuff, but for the likes of north London vicar Reverend Andrew Cain, now preparing for his nuptials, it is crucial. Writing on my Facebook page last night, the Bishop of Buckingham explained the clergy discipline measure:

"Its Section 7 lays down that matters of doctrine and worship are not justiciable under the measure, but must be tried under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963. Insomniacs may remember that around 10 years ago there was a proposal to have a Clergy Discipline Measure type measure for doctrine and worship cases but it failed. The legal trail leads from here to section 39 of the EJM63. The maximum penalty it lays down for a first offence is a rude letter telling you not to do it again – which hopefully people getting married won't."

Of course, the bishops could pretend that clergy getting married is not a matter of doctrine, but this would be a bit of a problem given that they have been going round telling everyone that it is.


Other ecclesiastical nerds could point to the 32nd of the 39 articles – historically, the defining doctrines of the Church of England and beloved by conservatives: "Bishops, Priests, and Deacons are not commanded by God's laws either to vow the estate of single life or to abstain from marriage. Therefore it is lawful also for them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness." Of course, they didn't have gay marriage in mind when they wrote this. But meaning is not determined by authorial intent.


All this means that the bishops won't be able to do a damn thing about their clergy having same-sex marriages. As the bishop of Buckingham explained: "If a member of the clergy wants to marry, I may like or not like the match, but I have no legal power to stop them marrying." And when this happens, the toys will be thrown from many a Nigerian church pram. The fiction that is the Anglican Communion will be over and we can go back to being the Church of England, rather than the local arm of the empire at prayer. And thank God for that.

(2 Mar 2014): Does Media Shape or Sell Gay Rights Narrative?

Welcome to Waffle House: Canterbury Justin Welby's Waffle House

http://www.christianpost.com/news/anglican-leader-upholds-traditional-marriage-after-meeting-with-gay-rights-activist-94250/

Anglican Leader Upholds Traditional Marriage After Meeting With Gay Rights Activist 

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  Bishop of Durham Justin Welby.

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter

April 18, 2013|6:45 pm

The much awaited discussion on homosexuality between the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell on Thursday at Lambeth Palace in England ended with both men still convinced in their principles.

"It was a very constructive, engaging meeting. But also quite frank with a number of disagreements," Tatchell said, according to Pink News. "We agreed same-sex relationships can be of extraordinary quality and great moral character. But the archbishop's stumbling block is he couldn't make the further step of acknowledging that justified marriage equality."

The Australian-born British political campaigner continued: "Quite clearly Justin Welby is struggling with how he reconciles Christ's gospel of love and compassion with the church's current position which is to oppose marriage equality. I think he took on board my point that discrimination is not a Christian value."

Lambeth Palace has stated that it will not be commenting on the discussion between the two men, as it was a private matter, but the Anglican leader is still backing the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman.

"The Church of England holds very firmly, and continues to hold to the view, that marriage is a lifelong union of one man to one woman," Welby has said. "At the same time, at the heart of our understanding of what it is to be human is the essential dignity of the human being."

Thursday's meeting was in response to Tatchell accusing Welby and traditional marriage supporting Christians of homophobia, whether they accept the label or not. News sources noted that Welby agreeing to hear Tatchell out was a notable event, since the previous archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, had turned down such offers in the past.
"Parliament has a right to legislate same-sex marriage … the church has a right to oppose it … I am in favor of the state recognizing same-sex relationships but not in favor of redefining marriage," Welby said.

According to Tatchell, the Anglican leader told him that he believes gay relationships are "intrinsically different and therefore should be acknowledged in a different legislative framework from marriage," as reported by The Independent.

Tatchell said he "pressed him" on how the "church over centuries had evolved on many policies and had once supported slavery, colonialism and the denial of votes for women. These were all traditional church teachings but they have all been changed. So why can't this also change?"

The two disagreed on whether redefining marriage would be a positive for society, Pink News noted, with the archbishop of Canterbury advocating for the traditional family unit of one mother and one father.

Welby agreed, however, that the current ban on heterosexual civil unions should end, and couples should be allowed to choose that option if they so desire.

"He indicated very clearly that he supports an amendment before parliament to open up civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples which is a new development I haven't heard before."

Read more at http://global.christianpost.com/news/anglican-leader-upholds-traditional-marriage-after-meeting-with-gay-rights-activist-94250/#vEyFfepxTMryiACT.99

Andy Sullivan, Guardian, UK: Church Wars on Sodomy Coming to End

A marginal Westerner, a British writer of curious attainments, Andrew Brown of the Guardian, apparently a theological liberal, predicts the end of the Church of England's loss of a posture on sodomitic-marriage.  That might be so.  Largely, the C o E has lost on the issue of theologial liberalism...although the 1662 BCP and the Thirty-nine Articles remain the law of England.  But, back on issue, Andrew isn't God, is he?  Nor is the Queen, Prime Minister, or the Episcopal bench. It would not be the first time the Church has lost the battle against the disordered sexualities of the outsider-pagan cultures. One is reminded of the repetitive forays of ancient Israel into the paganized sexualities of Baal and Ashtoreth religions. The Prophets and Law have stood through the centuries although "pagans in the church" were pruned off.  As the twilight darkens and the sun sets in England, like the US, there will always be "7000 who have not bowed the kneel to Baal" (Rom. 11.1ff.).  Andrew can crow in public, but the Christian rehearses, repeats, and rejoices in the eschatological hope of Mt. 25.31ff, Rev. 22, and the weekly confession of faith, "....and He shall come again to judge the living and the dead."  Andrew, your crowing is premature.  The elect will survive the decadence and, in fact, will be strengthened for war, battle, writing, speaking and confessing the faith.  Prov. 28.4 promises this, to wit, those who forsake the law will praise the wicked while those who keep the law will content with the forsakers and the wicked.  If Andy persists in his depravity, his funeral would be a fine occasion for a scholarly, Biblical, Confessional and pastoral sermon on hell and Andy's new status as a new member of hell.  Hell's made for those who rejoice against God.  Here's Andy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2012/sep/30/church-england-homosexuality-liberals-won

The church's wars over sexuality are coming to an end

Conservative evangelicals in England hope for a return to a Nigerian or Ugandan view of homosexuality, but it won't happen

 

Meetings of Anglican primates have failed to end the disagreements over gay clergy. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Reuters

There is a heart-rending interview going around the net with Vaughan Roberts, the rector of St Ebbe's, a hardline evangelical church in Oxford. He is gay, though he wouldn't use the term, and celibate. He talks about two things: the difficulty of remaining celibate, and the difficulty for conservative evangelicals of ever admitting to anyone, even to themselves, that they are in fact gay. A further layer of irony and pain is added to the situation because his interviewer, Julian Hardyman, leads a Cambridge Baptist church where his predecessor was chased out of the job for coming out and announcing he had a partner.

What the article makes clear is that, even among conservative evangelicals, it is no longer possible to deal with gay people, and the problems their existence poses, by simple repression.

Coming out was obviously a hugely painful business for him.

"Close family and friends have known for a considerable time that I experience same-sex attraction … In fact, I included some personal references when I first wrote the chapter on homosexuality six years ago, but I removed them before it was published, because we were all conscious of the potential dangers of unhelpful labelling."

I sympathise with anyone who wants to keep their sex life, or lack of it, private. But Roberts appears to realise the truth of the anti-Mafia slogan "Silence is complicity" – in his case, complicity with homophobia. The message of evangelical churches is often that gay people are repulsive and the things they do disgusting.

"We in the church are too often heard to be presenting only a negative message, which can leave them feeling deep shame and discourage them from emerging from the isolation of a lonely and private battle, which creates a fertile soil where temptation increases and compromise becomes more likely."

So, at last, we have an important evangelical figure admitting that conservative evangelicals are repelled by gay people, that homosexuality is not a choice, and that God won't cure it, even if omnipotence means He could: "A small proportion of people, including Christians, find that they remain exclusively attracted to the same sex as they grow into mature adulthood. God has the power to change their orientation, but he hasn't promised to and that has not been my experience."

The vision he sets out of a celibate gay Christian life lacks joie de vivre. In fact, he compares it to depression, alcoholism and blindness. "Those who have not married have embraced the Bible's very positive teaching about singleness as a gift (see 1 Corinthians 7.32-35), whether chosen or not, which, I imagine, alongside loneliness and sexual frustration, has afforded them wonderful opportunities for the loving service of God and others."

It's not really surprising that few Christians find this prospect attractive; silence and suppression were very much safer. But a constant theme in his interview is that it is the sexually relaxed culture around them that is forcing the church towards greater honesty.

Meanwhile, the moderate evangelical grouping Fulcrum, which was formed, really, in order to uphold the prohibition on gay sex but to welcome women priests, carries an article on its website that shows opinion shifting there as well: Matthew Grayshon, the rector of St Mary's Hanwell, in west London, wrote in favour of blessing civil partnerships. One factor in changing his mind had been the fact that one of his churchwardens is in a civil partnership.

Grayshon is still opposed to gay marriage, and ambivalent about gay adoption. Unlike Vaughan Roberts, he is himself straight. But he writes like a man who has had intimate conversation with gay friends (which must, in a way, be much more difficult for celibates still mostly in the closet). He writes:

"It is cruelly unhelpful to suppose that anyone has chosen their sexual orientation. I have had fierce conversations in east Africa, which have used up nearly all my credibility in defending the givenness of sexual orientation."

This last, is I think, the crucial point. Conservative evangelicals in England have dreamed or hoped for 20 years that England could be brought back to a Nigerian or Ugandan view of homosexuality. It's not going to happen, and it's not going to happen within the Church of England, either. That's true whoever becomes archbishop. The sexuality wars are coming to an end, and the liberals have won.

UK Prime Minister's Speech at Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Reception at Downing Street

http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/lgbt-reception/

Prime Minister's Speech at Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Reception

Prime Minister affirms commitment to same sex marriage civil marriage this parliament

The Prime Minister David Cameron has affirmed his commitment to same sex civil marriage while addressing a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) reception at Downing Street.

Read the Prime Minister’s remarks:

“I just wanted to say three things to you tonight. First of all, this party is really a celebration of the immense contribution that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people make in every part of our country, in the arts, in media, in sport, in business, in finance – that’s what tonight is about and I want to thank you for the immense contribution that you make to our country.

The second thing I wanted to say – there are a number of anniversaries – it’s the 40th anniversary of the first Pride march in London, the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Jewish Gay Equality Group and I think it’s worth remembering the journey that politics has been on in terms of gay equality over the last forty years – the decriminalisation of homosexuality, the lowering of the age of consent to 18, the equalisation of the age of consent that the Blair government achieved, the introduction of civil partnerships - backed by my party and I just want to say I am absolutely determined that this Coalition government will follow in that tradition by legislating for gay marriage in this parliament. I make that point not only as someone who believes in equality but as someone who believes passionately in marriage. I think marriage is a great institution – I think it helps people to commit, it helps people to say that they’re going to care and love for another person. It helps people to put aside their selfish interests and think of the union that they’re forming. It’s something I feel passionately about and I think if it’s good enough for straight people like me, it’s good enough for everybody and that’s why we should have gay marriage and we will legislate for it.

And I know there’s going to be some big arguments, there will be arguments obviously within political parties including my own, there will be arguments with many of the public that take a different view, although it is worth noting that opinion polls consistently show that the public support the case for equality and obviously there’ll be arguments within the Churches as well and I can say how great it is to see some Church men and women here tonight supporting this cause.

I run an institution – the Conservative Party – which for many many years got itself on the wrong side of this argument, it locked people out who were naturally Conservative from supporting it and so I think I can make that point to the Church, gently. Of course this is very, very complicated and difficult issue for all the different Churches, but I passionately believe that all institutions need to wake up to the case for equality, and the Church shouldn’t be locking out people who are gay, or are bisexual or are transgender from being full members of that Church, because many people with deeply held Christian views, are also gay. And just as the Conservative Party, as an institution, made a mistake in locking people out so I think the Churches can be in danger of doing the same thing.
The third point I wanted to make is, changing laws is important, legislating is important. But what is equally important – arguably now what is more important – is actually going to be changing culture; whether it’s on the football field, or in the rugby dressing room. Changing the culture whether it’s in the school playground, changing the culture in the workplace, changing the culture everywhere so that people can genuinely feel we live in an equal, fair and tolerant country. And changing the culture is much more difficult than changing the law, changing culture is much more subtle and difficult. But the promise I can make you is that this coalition government is committed to both changing the law and also working to help change the culture and the Conservative party absolutely backs that. This is something I personally feel very passionately about.”