The following article was in the November 2023 issue of Decision magazine:
According to a survey by The Times, many Church of England clergy no longer hold a Biblical view of sexuality.
More than half (53.4%) of the clergy agreed that priests should be permitted to conduct same-sex weddings. Slightly less than half (49%) said they’d be willing to officiate the ceremony of same-sex couples.
Out of the 1,185 active Anglican priests who responded to the survey, 62.6% believed the church should not oppose premarital sex. Slightly more than 1 in 3 (34.6%) thought the Church of England’s Biblical teaching on pre-marital sex should stay the same.
As for homosexuality, over half (64.5%) of the clergy said the Church should alter its teaching that homosexuality is “incompatible” with Scripture. Most priests (63.3%) also wanted to end the ban on gay priests, enabling them to have civil weddings.
“The Christian Gospel has always offered a radically distinct, challenging, and life-giving vision to society,” said Christian Concern CEO Andrea Williams. “Simply aping the current values of culture around us is the road to extinction for the Church of England.”
Around 6% of England’s total active clergy participated in the survey.
Why is it that sexual anarchy is so important that the Church wants to turn its back on God?
Of course the Anglican Church has dealt with this issue for at least a couple decades and I’ve many times linked to articles of how apostate they have become. When any Christian feels the need to have society’s approval regarding sexual morality, they’ve proven they don’t truly understand the faith.
2 comments:
I made my first reaL commitment in a C of E church, and have benefitted enormously from some of its ministries - greats like John Stott, Dick Lucas in particular, or David Watson back in the past. Large vibrant evangelical congregations.
6% in the survey is not a high percentage, but I feel it probably reflects fairly accurately the mixture in the C of E of believer and unbeliever, light and darkness. The evangelicals are suffering heartache and anger at what has been going on with compromise on same-sex relationships, and the way this has been manipulated into being approved. I have followed this on various Anglican channels.
The 85% or so of Anglicans who are outside of England and are much more faithful and conservative have rejected the Archbishop of Canterbury as being first among equals until there is clear repentance by the mother church over the same-sex blessing issue.
Within England some are leaving for other expressions on Anglicanism, but this is easier said than done when your house and livelihood are at stake. Some are just getting on with being faithful in their local congregations, and other hope rightly or wrongly that if they hang on the apostate section will in a few years die out, leaving a faithful church again.
Watching Rev Brett Murphy's Anglican channel last night he published the following advert for 11 jobs being created within the C of E with better pay than a minister (I'm not making this up!!)
Anti-Racism Practice Officer (Deconstructing Whiteness), Regional Racial Justice.
No wonder with their current 'growth' rate the C of E will be extinct sometime around 2050.
Ken B
It was just in the mid-20th century that the C of E began tinkering with apostasy.
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