The Archbishop of Wales has argued that the Church can change her stance on same-sex relationships and support same-sex 'marriage', if they take the Bible seriously.
Earlier this year, Dr Barry Morgan, who will retire in January, authorised prayers which can be said with same-sex couples following a celebration.
In response, Dr Martin Davie, academic consultant to the Church of England Evangelical Council, refuted the bishops' statements, arguing that biblical truth must be upheld in love.
However, in his final address to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales Dr Morgan said the Bible had more than one view on homosexuality and that sex in a committed gay or lesbian relationship is perfectly "proper".
Parting shot
In a parting-shot, Dr Morgan responded to Bible-believing Christians who said he had been "swayed by the liberal culture of our age" and encouraged him to look at what the Bible says.
He said: "Taking the Bible as a whole and taking what it says very seriously may lead us into a very different view of same-sex relationships than the one traditionally upheld by the Church."
Using the example of slavery, he went on to suggest the Bible can be interpreted in more than one way, and that as opinions within the Church changed over slavery, they may also change over same-sex relationships.
He said: "It absolutely will not do to quote texts from parts of the Bible in a simplistic way without reference to their contexts.
"In spite of all the passages in favour of slavery… you realise it is about freedom from all that diminishes and dehumanises people.
"No Christian I hope would today argue that slavery is good, but for 19 centuries the Church accepted it and defended it."
He claims that this means "one cannot argue that there is one accepted traditional way of interpreting Scripture".
Amazing Love?
Last week, the Bishop of Grantham, Nicholas Chamberlain, disclosed that he is in a same sex relationship, but made clear that he was following Church guidelines as the relationship is celibate.
Dr Morgan rejected the celibacy requirement, quoting a passage from a recent book of essays on the subject, entitled Amazing Love, he said:
"Christians have discovered that most people flourish best when this living for others finds its focus in a commitment to one other person: when a couple make a lifelong commitment within which sex properly belongs."
He added: "Those of us who were or are married have found that to be the case. Why would we want to deny such a possibility for those who are attracted to their own gender?"
'No longer on biblical ground'
However, in his review of Amazing Love, Dr Peter Sanlon said the book had a "deceptive and manipulative rhetoric that ought to have no place in the Church".
Dr Sanlon recently announced church leaders are preparing for the beginnings of what could be a formal split from the Church of England over its teaching on same-sex relationships.
Dr Sanlon concluded his review with a quote, from German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg, who wrote that a church which accepts same-sex 'marriage' is no longer on Biblical ground:
"Those who urge the church to change the norm of its teaching on this matter must know that they are promoting schism.
"If a church were to let itself be pushed to the point where it ceased to treat homosexual activity as a departure from the biblical norm, and recognized homosexual unions as a personal partnership of love equivalent to marriage, such a church would stand no longer on biblical ground but against the unequivocal witness of Scripture.
"A church that took this step would cease to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."
First UK LGBTQIA+ chaplaincy
The Bishop of St. Asaph, Bishop Gregory, a region within the Church in Wales, announced that the Diocese had hired the UK’s first LGBTQIA+ chaplaincy.
Related Links:
Archbishop Morgan: Same-sex relationships and the Bible (Law & Religion UK)
The UK’s first LGBTQIA+ chaplaincy officially launched (The Diocese of St. Asaph)
Amazing Love? A review article by Peter Sanlon (Part 2) (Church Society)
Church of England parishes prepare for a possible schism
CofE bishop reveals he is in a homosexual relationship
Theologian refutes Church in Wales letter affirming same-sex relationships