Over 120 Anglican bishops affirm ‘one man, one woman marriage’

Over 120 Anglican bishops have reaffirmed the denomination’s adherence to the Bible’s teaching on marriage and sexuality.

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) urged bishops at the Lambeth Conference 2022 to reaffirm the Lambeth 1.10 resolution from 1998. The resolution “upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union”, rejecting “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture”.

By Sunday, 125 bishops, representing almost eight million Anglicans at the conference, had pledged to ensure their provinces abide by the statement.

‘Encouraged’

The GSFA plans to develop a system to enable those who did not attend the conference to add their support, such as the clergy from the provinces of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda, who represent approximately 30 million Anglicans.

Archbishop Justin Badi, Primate of South Sudan and Chairman of the GSFA, said: “I give thanks to God for all the bishops who have reaffirmed Lambeth 1.10 – in its entirety – as the official teaching of the Anglican Communion on Marriage and Sexuality.

“We have been greatly encouraged by the bishops throughout the world at this Conference who have expressed their support, in whatever form, for the Communion to be governed by Biblical authority.”

‘Not in doubt’

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told bishops at the conference that Lambeth 1.10 was “not in doubt”, but claimed he did not have the authority to discipline Anglican churches that conduct or bless same-sex marriages.

This would include the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales and the Episcopal Church in the United States.

In a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, humanist broadcaster Sandi Toksvig claimed Welby’s statement was failing to protect the lives of LGBT people. She claimed she had previously received death threats from evangelical Christians, and invited Welby to meet with her so that she could ‘talk him round’ and that perhaps she might forgive him.

Following an attack on mainstream historic Christian teaching on sexuality, Toksvig said Welby should focus on teaching people to “be a good person”.

‘Broken’

Last month, African Archbishop Emeritus Mouneer Anis told his colleagues in the GSFA that biblical orthodoxy must not be compromised for the sake of global unity among Anglicans.

In a briefing paper, he wrote: “These issues are essentials of faith and cannot be ignored. The Church cannot deal with the brokenness of the world if she herself is broken.”