Changing Attitude England is one of the eight groups who have written an open letter to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England expressing our concern about the draft Lambeth Call on Human Dignity, to be discussed and possibly issued by the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. This Call has been drafted with reference to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference. It says: “It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same gender marriage is not permissible. Lambeth Resolution I.10 (1998) states that the “legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions” cannot be advised. It is the mind of the Communion to uphold “faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union.”
Were it to be accepted, it would fatally sabotage the Living in Love and Faith process and rule out any possibility of progress towards the Archbishops’ vision of a radical new Christian inclusion for LGBTQIA+ people.
Dear Archbishops and Bishops,
We write on behalf of a wide range of organisations representing members of the Church of England to express our grave concern at the draft Lambeth Call on Human Dignity, to be discussed and possibly issued by the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. As you will be aware, this Call has been drafted with reference to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, ruling out the possibility of same-sex marriage, and making the claim that this represents “the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole.” We do not see how this claim, overriding the real diversity of doctrine and practice in the Communion, can be substantiated. With respect of the Church of England, we note the following urgent points:
Resolution 1.10 has never been adopted by General Synod or any other representative body of the Church of England
A similar attempt to foreclose debate on the possibility of same-sex marriage was contained in GS2055, debated by General Synod in February 2017 but for that reason, Synod refused to Take Note of the paper.
We have engaged hopefully since then in the Living in Love & Faith process on the basis of the repeated assurances that it is an open process without foregone conclusions.
Given this expectation of openness to the different possible futures in the Church of England, to be discussed by you this very autumn as part of LLF, we urge each and every bishop of the Church of England to use their voice and vote at the Lambeth Conference to oppose the issuing of the Call on Human Dignity in its present form. Without such a stand trust between LGBTQ+ members and many others of the Church of England will be impossible when it is most needed. United, we ask for reassurance as to the security of the LLF process and how the misrepresentation of the diversity of the Communion will be corrected. Only then may it be possible for this call to truly affirm human dignity as intended.
Signed:
Fr Dan Barnes-Davies SCP, (Chair of Trustees, the Inclusive Church Network)
Revd Colin Coward MBE (Convenor of Changing Attitude England)
Luke Dowding (Executive Director, OneBodyOneFaith)
Nigel Evans (Chair of the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England)
Revd Canon Tim Goode {Co-Chair, MOSAIC)
Prof. Elaine Graham (Chair of Council, Modern Church)
The Very Revd Joe Hawes (Chair of Trustees, the Ozanne Foundation)
Prof. Helen King (Vice-Chair, General Synod Gender and Sexuality Group)
Jayne Ozanne (Director, the Ozanne Foundation)
Revd Neil Patterson (Chair, General Synod Gender and Sexuality Group)
Revd Trevor Wyatt (Co-Chair, MOSAIC)