Church of England to allow civil partnerships – if synod agrees

The Church of England has said it would allow civil partnerships in its buildings but only if the General Synod agreed to the move, an unlikely prospect given the staunch opposition of traditionalists to homosexuality.

In response to the government's Equality Office consultation on the subject, the church said the "present objective" was to ensure that amendments to existing legislation continued to provide "unfettered freedom for each religious tradition to resolve these matters in accordance with its own convictions and its own internal procedures of governance".

Some religious groups welcomed last year's House of Lords decision to lift the ban on religious premises holding civil partnership ceremonies. The amendment to the equality bill, tabled as a free vote by Lord Alli, received overwhelming backing, including from several bishops.

But William Fittall, general secretary of the Archbishops' Council and member of the synod, which would decide whether to allow civil partnerships in churches, wrote: "For most Christian denominations, as well as other faith groups, the issues involved are set to remain sensitive and, to varying degrees, contested."

There would need to be an "opting-in mechanism", as proposed by the government.

He added: "In the case of the Church of England, that would mean that its churches would not be able to become approved premises for the registration of civil partnerships until and unless the General Synod had first decided as a matter of policy that that should be possible."

The church, indeed much of the Anglican communion, has wrestled with the issue of same-sex blessings for decades, leading to factions, splits and power struggles. Senior figures are unenthusiastic, to say the least, about same-sex weddings in Anglican churches.

Dr John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "I live in a liberal democracy and I want equality for everybody. I cannot say the Quakers shouldn't do it.

"Nor do I want somebody to tell me the Church of England must do it or the Roman Catholic Church must do it because actually that is not what equality is about."

Earlier this year the Most Rev Peter Smith, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Southwark, attacked the government, saying it was neither "necessary nor desirable" to allow gays and lesbians to have civil partnership ceremonies in religious premises and accused ministers of "considering a fundamental change to the status of marriage".

In spite of assurances from Theresa May, the home secretary, that the rule changes would not be mandatory, Smith said the change was something "never envisaged by the Equality Act or any other legislation passed by parliament".

He added: "Marriage does not belong to the state any more than it belongs to the church … It is a lifelong commitment of a man and a woman to each other, publicly entered into, for their mutual wellbeing and for the procreation and upbringing of children."

In 2008, the Rev Martin Dudley, conducted a same-sex blessing for two gay clergy at a church in the City of London, triggering an outcry from evangelicals and an investigation by the bishop of London.

 

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