CofE leaders are ‘walking together’ into sin. It’s a bad joke

The true doctrine of marriage cannot be changed, regardless of how the Church of England’s general synod votes, says Andrea Williams. But things are about to get harder for churches and ministers with traditional views on marriage and sexuality 

It is being widely reported that the Church of England’s governing body, General Synod, has backed trials of services blessing same-sex relationships. The Guardian says “services to celebrate gay marriages could be held within weeks”.

The CofE leadership are often at pains to claim that these services - and the prayers within them - only “ask for God’s blessing”, and that they don’t directly bless these relationships or sexual activity within them.

This is straight out of the CofE playbook: deceptive language that allows the de facto approval of sin while pretending they’re not contradicting the Church’s doctrine of marriage. All this nuance is lost within minutes of the vote as media outlets report that these ‘blessings’ are going ahead.