Global Anglican leaders criticize Justin Welby’s move to LGBTQ marriage

Conservative global Anglican leaders rebuked the Archbishop of Canterbury for saying in a recent podcast interview he believes that sex in any “committed relationship, straight or gay,” is moral, which they call an “explicit denial of Christian doctrine.”

The statement came from the Primates’ Council of GAFCON, which stands for the Global Anglican Future Conference and is a conservative Anglican movement formed in 2008. It came on a Reformation Day e-mail from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, where GAFCON gathered to celebrate installation of the Most Reverend Steve Wood as Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America.

Archbishop Justin Welby’s remarks were part of a lengthy interview with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart from The rest is politicsGreat Britain fourth most popular podcast, which was released on October 27.

In the discussion, which was filmed in the crypt of Lambeth Palace’s chapel, Campbell asked Welby whether gay sex is sinful, a question he had first asked the archbishop in a 2017 interview for GQto which Welby had replied that he “stayed out because I’m struggling with the problem.”

This time Welby told Campbell he had “a better answer”, saying: “What the Archbishop of York and I, and the bishops, by a majority, by no means unanimous, and the Church is deeply divided about this; where we has come to is to say that all sexual activity must be within a committed relationship, and whether it is straight or gay.In other words, we are not giving up on the idea that sex is within marriage or civil partnership .

“We have put forward a proposal that where people have been through a civil partnership or a same-sex marriage, equal marriage under the 2014 Act, they should be able to come to their local, to a church and have a prayer service and blessing to them in their lives together.”

In a 22 October declarationLambeth Palace slightly qualified Welby’s statement: “Archbishop Justin gave a personal view that reflects the position that he himself, the Archbishop of York and many other bishops now have with regard to sexual intimacy. He has been honest that his thinking has developed over the years through much prayer and theological reflection – especially through the process of living in love and faith – and he now sincerely holds this view.

“However, there is no consensus among the bishops on this issue, and the Church remains deeply divided. Archbishop Justin emphasized his absolute commitment to those holding a traditional view having ‘a full and unquestionable place in the Church of England’. His answer does not indicate a change in teaching from the House of Bishops.”

The GAFCON Primates Council admitted that the Church of England’s decision to allow same-sex blessings does not amount to an endorsement of same-sex marriage, but they are unconvinced by his attempt to differentiate his personal views from the teachings of the Church he has pledged to lead. .

“Although he may claim not to have changed the doctrine of marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury has demonstrably changed the doctrine of sin by promoting the sanctification of sin by means of a divine blessing,” the primates wrote.

After explaining that Scripture “unequivocally teaches” that heterosexual marriage is the only context in which sexual intimacy is moral, and that the Archbishop’s statement defies Lambeth 1.10which he declared to be the teaching of the Anglican Communion on human sexuality in 2022, the GAFCON primers added:

“We are guided by Jesus’ solemn words of warning to the Church of Thyatira because ‘they tolerate the teaching of Jezebel’ which supports sexual immorality. Only judgment awaits Jezebel and all who follow her unless they repent (Revelation 2:21-22; 22:15). Any tolerance, let alone approval, of immorality is liable to God’s judgment.

“For this reason, in response to his public comments, we solemnly repeat our call to Archbishop Justin Welby to personally and publicly repent of this denial of his ordination and consecration vows in which he promised to ‘teach the doctrine of Christ as the Church England has received it.”

Welby’s reply to Campbell was not unexpected, as he said something similar about the morality of sex in committed relationships in a June 2023 interview at the Religion Media Festival. But the stakes are higher now, given the permission from November 2023 Prayers for love and faithwhich contains liturgies for the blessing of same-sex couples.

Instead of using the Church of England’s normal process to examine court liturgies, the bishops were given chose to praise Prayers for love and faith for use under the terms of Canon B5, which allows clergy to make changes to existing liturgies as long as the replaced material is “reverent and reasonable and is neither inconsistent with nor indicative of any departure from Church of England doctrine in any essential matter .”

IN GS2328a paper distributed to the Synod before the narrow vote in November 2023 to praise the bishops’ recommendations regarding Prayers for love and faithsaid the bishops:

“The teaching of the Church remains as set out in Canon B 30 (on holy matrimony); we have been clear that we do not intend to change that doctrine. We also note that the teaching of the Church on sexual relations has been treated as being a part of the Church’s teaching on marriage. We do not propose to change that teaching.”

The Church of England’s traditional teaching of sexual intimacy as belonging only to heterosexual marriage was indeed confirmed by a majority of its bishops in December 2019, as part of a ministerial declaration on civil partnershipswho said:

“The Church of England teaches that “sexual intercourse, as an expression of faithful intimacy, belongs exclusively to marriage (Marriage: A Doctrinal Document from the House of Bishops1999). Sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage are considered deficient in God’s purposes for humans (section 9).

Conservatives argue that Welby’s opinion undermines the legal basis for the current authorization of Prayers for love and faithsince the blessing of same-sex couples implies an approval of sexual activity in their relationship, which is contrary to church doctrine.

A note on legal issues relating to Prayers for love and faithdistributed to members of the General Synod in July 2024, said that in offering blessing liturgies, the church made no assumption about whether sex would take place in the relationships being blessed.

The Blessings, it said, was “a pastoral work at a time of uncertainty that respects the Church of England’s unchanging doctrine on marriage, including those aspects of that doctrine that relate to sexual intimacy. On that basis, we have concluded that setting the PLF available to same-sex couples, without there being a presumption of their sexual relationship, would not be inconsistent with the doctrine of the Church of England.”

In a further exercise in hair-splitting, the legal memo acknowledged that “many same-sex couples will be in active sexual relationships,” which are contrary to church teaching. Still, “to the extent that making PLF available to couples in an active sexual relationship involves any departure from doctrine, it nevertheless involves a departure from doctrine ‘in any substantial matter’ and that it is compatible with the relevant canonical requirement.”

This fine definition of doctrine “in any material matter” may also provide a legal basis for what many expect will be the next step in Living in Love and Faith: a repeal of the current ban on same-sex marriage for church ministers , and a removal of the celibacy requirement for priests in same-sex partnerships.

This article originally appeared at The living church and has been reprinted with permission.

The Reverend Mark Michael is editor-in-chief of The Living Church. A graduate of Duke University and Oxford, he serves as rector of an Episcopal church in Maryland.