Forget Nixon in China. That phrase needs renaming: Welby on sexuality.
For it is now at last clear that he has shifted his position on homosexuality. Talking to The Rest is Politics podcast this week, he finally came out with it. He is not, as we all assumed, a conservative in the awkward position of presiding over a Church that is pursuing reform. He has quietly changed his mind.
He is not, as we all assumed, a conservative in the awkward position of presiding over a Church that is pursuing reform
In the last year or two, he has hinted that he is on a journey, moving away from the conservative position that he has taken throughout his career, but he has never quite clarified. Before that, of course, he was a clear advocate of the conservative evangelical line: the Church only affirms sex within heterosexual marriage.
Since February last year, his position has implicitly shifted. For he has remained in post, as Synod has introduced a new policy, that the Church may bless same-sex couples. The evangelicals see this as undermining the traditional teaching. No, Welby and most of the other bishops have said, there is no planned change to the doctrine of marriage. But the evangelicals are obviously right that the innovation implies the acceptability of gay relationships. The archbishop of York has said that sex is permissible in stable relationships, straight or gay. This is the reformist position, seemingly held by most of the senior bishops.
Astonishingly, Welby has now said the same thing. This is what he said.
‘What the archbishop of York and I, and the bishops, by a majority, by no means unanimous, and the Church is deeply split over this, where we’ve come to is to say that all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship, whether it’s straight or gay. In other words, we’re not giving up on the idea that sex is within marriage or civil partnership. We’ve put forward a proposal that where people have been through a civil partnership or a same-sex marriage, equal marriage, under the 2014 Act, they should be able to come along to their local, to a church, and have a service of blessing for them in their lives together. Now we accept that. Now I think this is a long way from church same-sex marriage. But there is no doubt that the Church is deeply, profoundly divided on this.’
This is the key phrase: ‘sex is within marriage or civil partnership.’ That is an endorsement of gay sex within stable relationships, such as he has never previously given. He then says that the doctrine of marriage is unaffected, that the current change does not open the door to the Church backing same-sex marriage. But, once sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage is affirmed, the door is open and the horse has bolted.
Lambeth palace issued a clarification. But instead of rowing back, and saying that he misspoke, it rowed forward. It says that this is indeed the view he has come to. ‘He has been honest that his thinking has evolved over the years through much prayer and theological reflection – particularly through the Living in Love and Faith process – and he now holds this view sincerely.’ It admits that this view is not the current official position of the Church – which is the (contradictory) position that sex belongs in heterosexual marriage, despite the fact that gay couples can now receive blessings. The clarification therefore admits that Welby is taking a reformist position. He is not just holding the ring, staying neutral for the sake of ‘holding the Church together’. He is – I never thought I’d say this – leading the Church through this mess, offering a vision, a way forward.
Things might now move quite fast. Other bishops will feel emboldened to come out with similar statements. The liberal majority will at last unify around their surprising leader.
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