Gender

Gender Recognition Act: could reform be used to impose same-sex marriage on the Church of England?

October 18, 2018
Archbishop Cranmer
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"This week we will also complete our consultation on plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act," the Prime Minister confirmed in her video message at the Pink News Awards last night." There is a real desire reform, she explained, in…

Patriarchal pronouns: if we should stop calling God ‘he’, may we call Satan ‘she’?

October 10, 2018
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The Rev'd Canon Rosie Harper wants to vomit. That's what she wrote in her article 'Toxic masculinity: Why we should stop calling God "he"'. What makes her want to vomit…

If the Pope can honour a pro-abortion activist, why not bless Durex?

January 15, 2018
670 Comments

It is being widely reported that Pope Francis has bestowed the title of Commander in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great upon pro-abortion activist Lilianne Ploumen, sometime…

jo johnson freedom of speech universities

Jo Johnson’s muddled and aimless thinking about freedom of speech in universities

December 28, 2017
130 Comments

Universities Minister Jo Johnson delivered a much-trailed (..and here, here, here...) speech about the imperative of academic freedom of speech, which he says must be guaranteed on pain of universities…

The General Synod of the Church of England puts same-sex relations over youth evangelism

December 1, 2017
300 Comments

There is perhaps nothing more challenging in mission than the proclamation of the gospel to those who have never heard it, in a foreign land, in an unfamiliar culture, in…

If a bigot can’t be PM, why should one be allowed to become an MP?

September 7, 2017
397 Comments

Jacob Rees-Mogg walks into a TV studio. Grand Inquisitor Piers Torquemorgan has wheeled out his rack; his beatific assistant Susanna Reid has greased up the Judas cradle. Heresy is not…

Justine vs Justin: the ‘not yet’ and ‘never’ of same-sex marriage in the Church of England

July 27, 2017
692 Comments

In an interview for Sky News last week on same-sex marriage and the Church, Justine Greening (the Education Secretary who also happens to hold the Equalities portfolio) told Sophy Ridge:…

The two opposed expressions of Anglicanism

July 25, 2017
1,061 Comments

There is a letter published in today's Telegraph signed by 23 conservative (/traditionalists/orthodox) Anglicans concerning the tensions in the Church over England (and wider Anglicanism) over same-sex marriage and other…

The Church of England’s obsession with diversity is damaging its orthodoxy

July 7, 2017
186 Comments

"Your Grace, do you by chance know what 'Sexuality, composition of themed groups' is? Or what it has to do with the price of fish?" tweeted George Trefgarne in response…

Church of England schism: a timely new reformation or tit-for-tat boundary pushing?

May 12, 2017
694 Comments

On 31st October 1517, an obscure Catholic monk called Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints', the Castle Church in Wittenberg, protesting at the sale…

‘Dear Patrick…’ Words of comfort for clergy who feel forsaken by mutual flourishing

May 5, 2017
163 Comments

Returning to the Church of England's gender wars and sexuality skirmishes (which never really went away), the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, who advocates righteous discrimination against traditionalists who discriminate…

Gender justice and LGBT equality: Martyn Percy demands female cardinals and gay imams

April 5, 2017
453 Comments

In another 5,000-word essay, the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, demands "a thorough and wholesale review" of discrimination in the Church of England. And by…

Brexit and Gibraltar: Bishop bashes Government for issuing “bland statements of optimism”

April 3, 2017
280 Comments

The Bishop of Leeds isn't happy. In a speech to the House of Lords on Brexit and Gibraltar, the Rt Rev'd Nick Baines censures the Government for being optimistic. It…

Women bishops: the desperate and disingenuous distinction in the Five Guiding Principles

March 30, 2017
168 Comments

Of all the responses to the post on the 'review' instigated by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York into the operation of the Five Guiding Principles in the nomination of…

As Gavin Ashenden leaves the Church of England, the Ordinariate circles like a vulture

March 18, 2017
687 Comments

"I thought you'd already gone through the exit door a long time ago. Unless you actually want to stay and fight?" tweeted the Rt Rev'd Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden,…

Synod vote on same-sex relations: it was female clergy wot won it (or lost it)

February 23, 2017
243 Comments

The electronic voting results for the Synod motion on 'Marriage and Same-Sex Relations after the Shared Conversations' have been released. As we know, in an exercise of pure democracy, Synod…

A female Bishop of London “to make a statement”?

January 4, 2017
678 Comments

The Rt Rev'd Dr Richard Chartres retires as Bishop of London in February (he will be greatly missed - 'Peer Now!'), and according to the Times (..hold loosely..): Bishop Chartres…

“Is Justin Welby not showing the world Jesus?”

November 10, 2016
116 Comments

Here follows Adrian Hilton's response to Martyn Percy's first letter: Dear Martyn, Thank you for your letter. I appreciated the account of your conversation with the “senior commentator on religious…

Same-sex marriage/blessing confronts Church of England with "a structural flaw of fatal proportions"

August 30, 2016
192 Comments

We have reached Chapter 5 in the great Anglican sexuality saga: 'Church of England parishes consider first step to break away over sexuality'. It isn't clear what the dénouement…

Gender neutral pronouns: Mx Proudie laments the abolition of Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms

August 19, 2016
234 Comments

Goodness! A little bird tells me of a disturbing development in Oxford. The socialist city council have decided, without consultation, to do away with honorifics on all official documents,…