Anything less than allowing same-sex marriage will see the Church accused of rank injustice

The Church changed the rules for divorced heterosexuals. If she is willing to change the rules for a large minority and not a tiny marginalised one, it starts to look very much like prejudice… and, yes, homophobia

I am a huge fan of our current Archbishop of Canterbury. I know him to possess great personal generosity and integrity; am frequently impressed by his deftness in negotiating political minefields; and found the poetry and power of his sermon at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II worthy of Donne in his prime.

And yet… one decision still puzzles me, from one so principled and habitually wise. On 19 May 2018, witnessed by a quarter of the world, His Grace – ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion – conducted the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, who was divorced, with her former spouse still living – something that was not permitted by the Church until 2002.

Is the Church in a mire of her own making? We now see it facing another dilemma at Synod this week over same-sex marriage. If (when?) the Church of England eventually agrees to same-sex marriage, schism will inevitably follow – and the Church needs to be prepared for it. After all, the majority of the world’s Anglicans are African. And in the majority of African countries, homosexuality is still illegal. More than 230 bishops (more than a quarter of those invited) reputedly vetoed the 2008 Lambeth Conference over the issue. The day same-sex marriage is ratified by the CofE, there will be ecclesiastical apartheid. The Anglican Communion will be no more.

The Church of England is the established Church of the nation; ultimately answerable to parliament, as parliament is to the people – a majority of whom support same-sex marriage. Anglican clergy are marriage registrars, constrained by law. How long before the Church’s beliefs shatter her constitution? How long until her refusal to conduct these legal marriages leads to deafening calls for her disestablishment?

Until 2002, divorced people with former spouses still living could not (officially) be remarried in the CofE. Of course, people moaned about these rules. But the Church, like any institution, is allowed to have rules: the orthodox Judaeo-Christian teaching in Genesis 2 is that marriage is a sexually exclusive commitment between one man and one woman for life. If you wanted to be married by her, you had to tick her boxes. Any five-year-old can see that if the Church can’t conduct remarriage of divorced people because of certain passages of scripture, she might struggle with same-sex marriage for the same reason.

All that changed in 2002: divorced people could be remarried… at clerical discretion. This set at least two un-Anglican precedents: one going against the clear teaching of scripture; and the other being that for the first time in history, Anglican clergy were to sit in judgement on their peers. “What (or who) caused the marriage break-up?” “Are the couple in good faith now?” These became legitimate questions. From being their equal, clergy became the judge.

As it happens, I find Synod usually quite sensible. We now see debate over giving God gender-neutral pronouns. In my opinion, of course we should discuss gender language with reference to the Almighty (as Synod will today) and what we are conveying by the pronouns used. This doesn’t mean Synod has gone completely loopy and is about to change the Lord’s Prayer to “Our mother which art in Heaven.” But there are ways to work with this. I know – I’ve done it.

Last year, I was commissioned by a music publisher to write lyrics for a song for Mothering Sunday, to be set to music by the composer Caroline Leighton. The last thing I wanted was to write about human motherhood to the cringing exclusion of the childless. As it turned out, I didn’t need to. The Bible is full of such a wealth of maternal images for both God and Jesus that I had ample material for what we all have in common: not just a human mother, but the motherhood of God.

The Church changed the rules for divorced heterosexuals. If she is willing to change the rules for a large minority and not a tiny marginalised one, it starts to look very much like prejudice… and, yes, homophobia. I thereby see no alternative but that same-sex marriage must follow. Anything less seems rank injustice.

‘Could the Sky Forget Rain’, a song on the motherhood of God for Mothering Sunday 2022, lyrics by Anne Atkins, music by Caroline Leighton, Encore Publications, can be found here.