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Why Ben Bradshaw needs the Church of England to interrupt its contract with the English nation

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Again in September there was a furore concerning the refusal of the Bishop of Hereford, Richard Jackson, to present permission for the Rev Mpho Tutu van Furth, the daughter of late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to officiate on the funeral in Shropshire of her godfather, Martin Kenyon, due to her being in a same-sex marriage.

Within the aftermath of this furore the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, a lay Anglican who’s a member of Parliament’s Ecclesiastical Committee, the committee that scrutinises laws handed by the Church of England’s Common Synod to find out whether or not it ought to go to the King for royal assent, has declared that until the Church of England ceases to discriminate towards lesbian and homosexual individuals it should face questions in Parliament about why it does so.

In keeping with a report within the Guardian on 4 October Mr Bradshaw stated:

‘I hope that we’d see change … If not, parliament would possibly need to have a look at this. Persistence is being worn very skinny, and parliament is able to put strain on the church. With out change, I feel we’d see rising requires disestablishment ….

‘The C of E is a unbelievable useful resource in each a part of the nation. I feel there’s nice worth within the servant church that is there for everyone, on large state events and on numerous smaller group events and occasions.

‘However the contract with the nation needs to be that it’s there for everyone. It is more and more apparent that the C of E just isn’t there for lesbian and homosexual individuals. And never solely that, however it’s actively homophobic, merciless, hurtful and institutionally hostile.’

There might be little question that there shall be many on the liberal facet of the Church of England’s debate about sexual ethics who shall be replying ‘amen’ to what Bradshaw is saying right here. Nevertheless, I need to argue that what he’s saying is deceptive and that it’s what he’s asking for that might imply the Church of England breaking its contract with the English nation.

As with so many parts of the normal constitutional preparations in the UK, there isn’t any written assertion of the contract between the Church of England and the English nation. However, the witness of historical past makes the character of the contract clear.

For the reason that conversion of the Saxon kingdoms of what’s now England in the course of the course of the seventh century, it has been traditionally accepted that the function of the Church of England is to minister the saving work of Jesus Christ to the individuals of England by means of the preaching of the Phrase, the celebration of the sacraments, and the availability of pastoral care, so that they could have the chance to repent, consider, and dwell a godly life within the energy of the Holy Spirit, in order that they could get pleasure from a proper relationship with God on this world and spend a blessed eternity in God’s presence on the planet to come back.

The function of the English monarchy (exercised right this moment along with the British Parliament) is to present authorized authority to the Church to hold out this function and to oversee the Church’s exercise to make sure that it’s exercising this function correctly (it’s this supervisory function that’s meant when the English monarch is described because the ‘supreme governor’ of the Church of England).

The query raised by Ben Bradshaw is whether or not the Church of England is performing its function on this association correctly in relation to ‘lesbian and homosexual individuals’ (which I take to imply men and women who’re sexually interested in members of their very own intercourse). In my opinion the reply to this query is ‘sure’.

Can lesbian and homosexual individuals attend Church of England providers in order that they will hear the Phrase preached? Sure.

Can lesbian and homosexual individuals be baptised and confirmed and obtain Holy Communion? Sure.

Can lesbian and homosexual individuals obtain pastoral care from the Church of England all through the course of their lives and Christian funerals on the finish of them? Sure.

Why then do Ben Bradshaw and others with related views really feel that the Church of England just isn’t fulfilling its function correctly?

For 3 causes.

First, as a result of it says to lesbian and homosexual individuals (because it says to everybody) that sexual activity ought to solely happen inside marriage.

Secondly, as a result of it says to lesbian and homosexual individuals (because it says to everybody) that marriage needs to be throughout the limits laid down by God (this implies somebody can’t marry if they’re already married, they can’t marry a detailed relative, and so they can’t marry somebody of the identical intercourse as themselves).

Thirdly, as a result of it says to lesbian and homosexual individuals (because it says to everybody) that they will solely be ordained if they’re ready to dwell in line with the Church’s educating (together with its educating on sexual ethics and marriage).

These are the the reason why Bradshaw holds that the Church of England is ‘actively homophobic, merciless, hurtful and institutionally hostile.’ This accusation has resonance in our society as a result of it’s now more and more held that everybody (lesbian and homosexual individuals included) ought to be capable of have interaction in no matter type of sexual exercise they discover fascinating with out encountering ethical disapproval for therefore doing, and will be capable of marry the individual (of no matter intercourse) they need to marry.

To not enable individuals to freely benefit from the types of sexual exercise that they want or marry who they need to marry is seen as ‘merciless’ as a result of it stops individuals doing what’s going to make them completely happy. The Church of England is seen as attempting to cease lesbian and homosexual individuals having fun with the types of sexual exercise that they need and marrying who they need. Subsequently, the Church of England is being merciless and hostile to lesbian and homosexual individuals.

Nevertheless, this argument misunderstands what it means for an motion to be merciless. To qualify as merciless, an motion has not solely to trigger somebody misery however to take action unnecessarily. For instance, each athletic and army coaching could contain types of bodily and psychological misery, however the misery concerned doesn’t imply that the coaching was merciless until it may be proven that the misery was pointless. The right query to ask is subsequently whether or not the Church of England is being merciless by inflicting pointless misery to lesbian and homosexual individuals.

The reply to this query is ‘no.’ To know why, it first must be famous that it’s a central a part of Christian educating that each one human beings must say no to needs which are opposite to God’s will for his human creatures. Thus, Christianity says to the one who needs their neighbour’s property ‘Thou shalt not steal’, to the one who needs to slander or libel their neighbour ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness,’ and to the one who needs to sleep with their neighbour’s spouse or husband ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ What the Church says to lesbian and homosexual individuals about their sexual needs and want for marriage is subsequently a part of what it says to everybody, which is that to be rightly associated to God on this world, and pleased with him eternally on the planet to come back, it’s important to say ‘no’ to a few of the stuff you want to do, even in the event you actually need to do them.

At this level it is likely to be requested, is the Church proper to say that lesbian and homosexual individuals have to chorus from intercourse outdoors marriage and solely marry these of the other intercourse? The reply is that the Church is correct to take action as a result of each the witness of nature when it comes to human biology, and the witness of Scripture, inform us that God created human beings to have sexual activity with the other intercourse, and since the biblical account of the origins of marriage in Genesis 2:18-25 (reiterated by Jesus in Matthew 19:3-12 and Mark 10:2-12) likewise tells us that God created marriage to be a relationship between two individuals of the other intercourse.

God created human beings to dwell sexually in a sure means and the Church has no authority to say in any other case, any greater than it has the authority to say that it’s proper to steal, bear false witness, or commit adultery.

What Ben Bradshaw and others really need the Church to do is to interrupt its facet of the unwritten contract between the Church of England and the English nation by ceasing to evangelise the reality about how God has created his human creatures to dwell in favour of what some, though certainly not all, lesbian and homosexual individuals need to hear. The Church can’t rightly do that and neither Bradshaw nor Parliament as a complete ought to search to power it to take action.

Martin Davie is a lay Anglican theologian and Affiliate Tutor in Doctrine at Wycliffe Corridor, Oxford.

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