Global South urges Church of England to pull back on gay bishops

The Global South Coalition of Anglican Primates – representing a majority of members of the Anglican Communion – has urged the House of Bishops of the Church of England to rescind its decision to permit clergy in gay civil partnerships to be appointed to the Episcopate.

By allowing partnered gay clergy to become bishops, the Church of England was jeopardizing the lives of Anglicans in majority Muslim countries, who would become targets of rage from extremists who would not appreciate the distinction being drawn by the House of Bishops between sexually active gay bishops and bishops who had entered a legal relationship defined by sexual activity, but who would nonetheless refrain from sexual activity.

Signed by nine archbishops, the statement follows responses from the Archbishops of Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria last week decrying the initiative. Read more