Former Cabinet Minister: ‘CofE prioritising politics over doctrine’

A former Cabinet Minister has criticised the Church of England for prioritising politics over doctrine.

David Mellor QC, a former Secretary of State for National Heritage, made the comments on GB News while discussing the state of the Church in Britain.

He said that “if the Church becomes merely an alternative pressure group on politics it loses its ability to make people feel any sense of spirituality”.

Wrong priorities

Mellor accused the Archbishop of Canterbury of sounding “much more confident when he’s talking about politics than when he’s talking about religion.

“The question is what is God’s message to the country today, perfectly obvious, whatever it is is not coming across and as an older church-going community dies off the younger ones aren’t coming in”.

Referring to the blocking of political commentator Calvin Robinson’s ordination, Mellor said: “He’s not allowed to be a member of the Church of England because to be a member of the Church of England you don’t have to believe in God but you do have to believe in institutional racism.”

The GB News discussion followed an article in The Times about the declining rate of membership in some denominations, including the Church of England.

Archbishop

Last month, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams claimed that becoming transgender is “a sacred journey of becoming whole” as he called for the Government to cover gender confusion in its ban on conversion therapy.

Lord Williams, who was Archbishop of Canterbury between 2003 and 2012, signed a letter to the Prime Minister written by LGBT activist Steve Chalke. They argued a conversion therapy ban must not be limited to those who identify as lesbian, gay and bisexual, but must also include those who say they are transgender.

The Institute’s Ciarán Kelly commented: “It seems remarkable that a former Archbishop should have such a poor understanding”.

He added: “The Bible is clear that God created us male and female. It is equally clear that sexual activity is exclusively for marriage, which is only between one man and one woman. To reject these truths is not ‘sacred’ but sinful.”