United Kingdom

The Church of England is increasingly “excluding” gay couples

Speaking about his concerns about the future of the Church, the Venerable Coles said: “As more and more parishes become unviable, the problem for me is that the least viable are the ones I like the most.

“The Church of England I love is a church of liberal sympathies, inclusiveness, beautiful worship, wise preaching, friendly to dogs with Fairtrade biscuits, and when it comes to orthodoxy, I would prefer its members not to be Goneril or Regan. proclaiming his zealous devotion, but Cordelia, confessing her love.

“Churches that are viable – by which I mean growing in number and income – tend to be conservative, assertive, fundamentalist in scripture, strict in doctrine, and almost as likely to offer choral evening songs as I am.” m with obstacles.

“Some of my friends and many devout Christians are at home in churches like these. But if the future church of England looks like this, I can’t see myself in it […] because they are places where gays are not welcome and that excludes me. ”

“Second class citizenship”

Rev. Coles added that “it’s not just me,” saying, “Over the past few months, I’ve had a growing number of inquiries from same-sex couples who are afraid to find that their relationships don’t qualify for blessings or reassure them that their children are in church schools.” they will not be made to feel uncomfortable having two fathers or two mothers.

“I am not allowed to do the first one [the Church of England does not recognise same-sex marriages]; the latter I can’t do, sorry to say. Things are changing, we are told; I play the long game and I have. But now I see the change focusing more on exclusion than on.

“Such churches are protesting that everyone is welcome,” says their websites and bulletin boards, “but this reception will be on their terms, formed by a conservative reading of the Scriptures, and require me and others not only to give up intimate life.” for which we were created, but also to accept second-class citizenship in the house of God.

“I object to this not only because who would not, but because I simply do not believe and cannot believe that relationships that are open to grace, holiness, and healing may be contrary to God’s will.”

He continued: “Same-sex relationships are all these things and more, just like everyone else; a fact so obvious that it cannot be denied, and therefore the sin lies in accepting something less than equal inclusion.

“I appreciate that aligning my view with the Church’s traditional teaching on sexuality is, to put it mildly, problematic. But nowhere does Jesus state that love and gospel ministry are done precisely.

“What I will miss the least after I retire is to pretend that it is legal to postpone or deny justice. That and photocopying. ”

The Rev. Coles has already said he plans to retire as a volunteer with prisoners after the death of his partner from alcoholism.

The Anglican Church was asked to comment.