Germany to allow annual gender change (including children)
Just as a victory for sex/gender common sense is won in the UK with the closure of the Tavistock gender clinic for children (and a class action brought by a…
Sexuality
Church of England says its own teaching presents a safeguarding risk
Remember the Rev'd Dr Bernard Randall? He was chaplain at Trent College, Nottingham – an independent Church of England school – until he was sacked for preaching Church of England doctrine. The fact that Trent College is a Church of…
Welby: most Anglicans recognise the Pope as “the father of the Church in the West”
As the Lambeth Conference drew to a close, the Archbishop of Canterbury waded into ecumenism, declaring he believed that most Anglicans in England now recognise the Pope as "the father…
Sandi Toksvig and her caricature Church of England
Sandi Toksvig is a patron of Humanists UK. She is also openly gay, and married to a psychotherapist called Debbie. Her relationship with the Church is strained at the best…
Lambeth Conference 2022 looked outward, sideways and upward, but the world only saw inward
From the four corners of the world the came, to kiss the shrine of Canterbury. Some 660 bishops from 165 countries representing dioceses and Christian communities from the global Anglican…
Sunak vs Truss: where is the moral vision of leadership?
Rishi Sunak may become the first Asian Prime Minister of the UK. A practising Hindu, his faith is manifestly important to him. He swore his parliamentary oath on the Bhagavad…
Welby prays Lambeth Conference won’t be dominated by human sexuality
The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed his sincerest wish, if not profoundest hope, and quite possibly his most earnest prayer that this summer's Lambeth Conference won't be dominated (again) by…
Negative media about the Church outweighs the good news
A Christian PR agency has been weighing the media, and found it wanting. They have discovered that, on average, the Church attracts 150 pieces of negative media coverage every month…
When does talking or praying about sexuality become conversion therapy?
As the Government's consultation on their Conversion Therapy (Prohibition) Bill nears its end, there is a sense of confusion and exasperation, if not of fear and despair. Not among those…
Conversion Therapy: is the Government about to ban prayer?
Conversion Therapy is variously understood, but essentially defined as the practice of attempting to change someone's (or one's own) sexual orientation, usually from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual, and so…
Just 6% of Anglican clergy voted Conservative in 2019
A Savanta ComRes poll was published just over a week ago on the political affiliation of Church leaders, and it hasn't had much coverage. In fact, it doesn't appear to…
Why has female-perpetrated child sexual abuse increased by 84%?
"Between 2015 and 2019, the numbers of reported cases of female-perpetrated child sexual abuse to police in England and Wales rose from 1,249 to 2,297 - an increase of 84%",…
Anglican spinach – a primary challenge for the Church’s mission
There was a subtitle fail in the Zoom service from Guildford Cathedral on Advent Sunday. It caused a bit of amusement on Twitter, but it presents an opportunity to explore…
Diversity is deeper than BAME and LGBT: it is social, political, intellectual and philosophical
Lord Hall, the outgoing Director General of the BBC, has demanded that the Corporation improve the diversity of its staff to better reflect those who pay its TV licence. "You…
Transgender aged seven; puberty blockers aged 11; detrans aged 18
There is an evil here which needs to be addressed. O, some will hurl 'transphobe', others 'bigot', and still others 'homophobe' or 'hater', but it still needs to be addressed,…
Franklin Graham ban: Rees-Mogg defends freedom of religion
While the General Synod of the Church of England was repenting of its 'white privilege' and committing to 'net zero' carbon omissions by 2030, the Rt Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg MP…
Candlemas: from the Presentation of Christ to ‘Radical Inclusion’
Today we mark a Church Feast which is known as either Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. I doubt if any of us will…
Catholic and Reformed: continuity and development
Toward the end of his ministry as Archbishop of Canterbury (though it may have been just after the end), Rowan Williams was interviewed about his beliefs, and in particular his…
When did traditional morality become ‘fundamentalist’?
It was a question posed by Professor John Milbank on Twitter a few days ago. Or, rather, it wasn't posed as a question, such as the 'when' inquiry into conceptual…
What bishop would tell a vicar: ‘You’re no longer welcome in the Church of England’?
It made the pages of the Daily Mail, so it's serious: 'Vicar resigns after being 'silenced' over a Church of England school's plan to keep an eight-year-old pupil's sex change…