Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, currently under fire from worldwide Anglicanism for moving to bless gay couplings, has claimed Parliament tried to “force same-sex marriage” on the Church of England.
As England’s established church, the Church of England, or ‘C of E’, was exempted from having to officiate same-sex weddings under legislation institutionalising gay marriage introduced by the nominally Conservative Party, despite an equality regime which might otherwise have penalised them for discrimination.
As the country’s notionally right-wing governing party continues to drift further left, however, senior figures including Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt have put the Church of England under increasing pressure to wed gay couples — with Archbishop Welby now alleging he was actually “summoned twice to Parliament, and threatened with parliamentary action to force same-sex marriage on us”, according to The Telegraph.
“In the last few weeks, as part of our discussions about sexuality and the rules around sexuality in the Church of England, I talked of our interdependence with all Christians, not just Anglicans, particularly those in the global south with other faith majorities,” he said in a speech at a plenary meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council gathered in Ghana over the weekend.
“When I speak of the impact that actions by the Church of England will have on those abroad in the Anglican Communion, those concerns are dismissed by many, not all, but by many in the General Synod [of the Church of England],” he added, clearly signalling that he feels unable to take a more liberal line on gay marriages because global Anglicanism, much of it African, does not approve of such clear deviations from Christian scripture.
Welby also said that “[o]bedience to God comes ahead of loyalty to country” and that he said as much to “some Members of Parliament” who did not like it — although this is a perhaps deliberate overselling of his traditionalist credentials, given he and other woke C of E bishops have recently upset global Anglicans by voting to bless same-sex couplings, even if they are not yet going so far as to wed them.
Despite Welby’s comments in Ghana suggesting he held the line against Parliament to show solidarity with African conservatives, the move by the Church of England, under his effective leadership despite King Charles III being its Supreme Governor, to bless same-sex relationships has caused a significant rift within the Anglican communion.
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), which represents as much as 75 per cent of Anglicans worldwide, said that move had “triggered a widespread loss of confidence” in Welby, with the Archbishop of Uganda denouncing “the suicidal path the Church of England has now taken” and demanding: “Do you have the integrity to step out of the Anglican Communion because you have departed from the Anglican faith?”
“[Welby] seems to be claiming to the conservative African churches that the baby steps taken last week to tackle homophobia in the Church of England are being forced on him by Parliament, while telling Anglicans here, the majority of whom support same-sex marriage in church, that he and his fellow Bishops can’t go further because it would alienate the Africans,” complained Ben Bradshaw, a gay Labour MP who entered into a civil partnership with a male BBC producer before same-sex marriage was legalised.
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