Anglican Church has no official definition of women

The Anglican Church (COE) states that there is “no official definition” for women, and the senior bishop states that the term was previously self-explanatory, but now requires additional attention.

July, General Assembly (pdf), The COE Church legislative body was asking questions as discussions continued on transgender issues and gender-specific designations.

Adam Kendry, a synod and representative of the Royal Navy, asked, “What is the definition of a woman in the Anglican Church?”

complexity

“There is no official definition,” said Dr. Robert Innes, the chief pastor of the Diocese of Europe, the bishop of the Anglican Church.

“There is no official definition that reflects the fact that until very recently this kind of definition was considered trivial, as reflected in the marriage liturgy,” he said.

“But the LLF project is beginning to explore the complexity associated with gender identity, with additional care and thinking in understanding our similarities and differences as people made in the image of God. We point out the need for, “Ines added.

The Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project aims to address “how questions about identity, sexuality, gender, relationships and marriage fit into the COE”.

“These departments are more sharply focused as social perspectives and practices are changing, especially in relation to lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex people,” he writes. ..

The General Assembly reviews and approves laws that affect the entire COE, formulates new forms of worship, discusses important national and international issues, and approves the annual budget for Church activities at the national level. To do.

Journalist and commentator Calvin Robinson I wrote on Twitter: The definition of “female” is not a complicated moral issue. It is a scientific and biblical truth. How can you trust someone who can’t tell the truth about such basic facts? “

Robinson is critical of the steps COE has taken to solve its “deeply institutional racist” problem, which is the view. hold By Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury.

In May, he told The Epoch Times that he believed that the COE “focused not on the teachings of Christ, but on the critical left-wing critical racial theory.”

In 2021, Welby urged the Racism Commission to “eradicate systematic racism” in response to the COE established last year after the Black Lives Matter protest.

Asked it to be obligatory training Incorporating anti-racist practices in all parishes, full-time racial judicial officers are employed in all parishes for five years.

More potential committees

At the July rally of the same church conference, members called on the church to make similar efforts to find out if the church was “institutionally homosexual” and doord to more potential committees. Opened.

Alexanderbury (Leeds) asked the chairman of the Bishop’s House: “The Bishop’s House has publicly declared that the Church is institutionally racist. The Bishop’s House is institutionally the Church. Perhaps we will start a similar process, including reporting, to determine if we are homosexual or not? “

The Bishop of London said that if a “process similar to the Racial Justice Commission” was initiated, it would be decided early next year.

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Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist who covers stories from a wide range of countries with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech.