OVER 30 National Church leaders hand delivered a letter to Lambeth Palace on Monday morning (3 June) pleading with the Archbishop of Canterbury to use the Church of England’s unique position in the House of Lords to help vote down the controversial Same Sex Marriage Bill.
In a strongly worded letter, the leaders of mainstream churches ask the Archbishop to use all the Bishops seats in the Upper House to speak out on behalf of all Christians in the land, taking advantage of their special rights of audience as Bishops in a State Church.
Normally Bishops are represented by one or two of their members by rota, but the senior church leaders believe Tuesday’s vote on Same Sex Marriage is so important for the nation that the Archbishop should ‘whip’ the House of Bishops into attending en-block, and voting against the Bill. The unprecedented move comes at a time when the role of the CofE Bishops in the Lords is under scrutiny in the proposed restructuring of the Lords.
In their letter, the leaders state: “As senior Church and Denominational leaders from a variety of non-Anglican churches and backgrounds, we recognise the unique opportunities and responsibility that you have, by virtue of your office, to explain God’s teaching in our public discourse and provide Christian leadership.
“We write therefore to urge you to speak and vote in defence of God’s pattern for marriage in the House of Lords this week, publicly to encourage your fellow Lords Bishops to do the same and publicly to challenge the Prime Minister on this issue that is so vital to the future wellbeing of individuals and communities.”
They add: “If marriage is re-formed as this Bill proposes, there will be a profound effect on people’s ability to understand themselves (especially the importance of gender), to prosper relationships and to comprehend, experience and enjoy the love of God and the liberating power of the gospel.
“Moreover, it is clear that the creation of a new form of marriage will be used by some to try to further exclude the church and Christians from public life through cultural pressure and legal challenge to compel recognition of this new form of ‘marriage’. In fact, as it stands, this Bill will effectively institutionalise two rival understandings of marriage in society – an unstable and unsustainable scenario. The passing of this Bill would not mark the end but the beginning of argument between those competing views.”
The leaders end their plea: “We therefore implore you to seize this opportunity to speak boldly and clearly at a critical juncture in the life of our nation, to vote against this Bill and to urge all other Anglican Bishops in the House of Lords to do the same. We recognise that this represents a defining point in the future direction of the established Church and you can of course be assured of our prayers as you act courageously.”