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THE survey, which shows that a majority of priests are out of step with core Church or England doctrine, was slammed this week by hate group Christian Concern, headed by the dotty Andrea Minichiello Williams and Rev Dr Ian Paul, inset above, a member of the Anglican Archbishops’ Council.

The Times reported that 53 percent of those surveyed said that the C of E should allow priests to conduct same-sex weddings if they wish, while 59 percent said that they would offer blessings to same sex couples as backed by Synod this February.

When questioned about premarital sex, 62 percent of priests thought that the church should drop its opposition to sex outside marriage. Only 34.6 percent said that the teaching should remain unchanged.

On homosexual practice, 64.5 percent said that the church should change its teaching that “homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture.” And 63.3 percent of priests agreed with lifting the ban on gay priests entering civil partnerships with their partners.

Those who responded to the survey were also pessimistic about the future of the church. Just 43.9 percent said it was “very likely” that they would still be holding a service every Sunday in ten years’ time.

And 66.7 percent expected church attendance to continue to fall over the next ten years.

Claiming that the survey was deeply flawed because was based on just 1,200 responses and only concentrated on the C of E, Paul is quoted as saying:

I think that this Times article is yet another signal that we are now living in a culture which is highly antagonistic to the Christian faith. We’re moving very rapidly into an era where, on some key issues in culture, to be a Christian is going to be to be unpopular, and that those who put their heads above the parapet and say things in the public domain are going to be targets.

He also claims that the newspaper:

Makes the mistake of thinking that the Church of England represents the whole church. It doesn’t. They think that the Church of England is declining. Yes, it is. But the church IN England isn’t. The churches that are growing … are all ones who hold on to the historic teaching of marriage. Maybe we could learn something from that.

Williams, on her website, wrote:

To survive and thrive the Church of England needs leadership that believes the Bible and puts it into practice … Simply aping the current values of the culture around us is the road to extinction for the Church of England. Church leaders that have lost confidence in the Bible and the beauty of God’s ethical teaching should resign or be removed.

Claiming that churches with large youth groups are actually thriving because of their support for the church’s “historic doctrine that sex is reserved for one man, one woman marriage”, she said:

If the church wants to grow, attract youth, and remain relevant in society it needs to advocate for Biblical teaching on marriage and sexual ethics. The church should not be adjusting its teaching to follow the culture or society, but proclaiming the benefits for society and individuals of life-long heterosexual marriage and reserving sexual expression for marriage.

Pre-marital chastity and “life-long heterosexual marriage” is wishful thinking by this crazy bigot. In the U.S., where people are far more likely to identify as devout churchgoers than in the UK and most European countries, the divorce rate among Christians is “surprisingly high“—around 25 percent and rising.

Overall, the divorce rate among Christians is just as high if not higher than the overall divorce rate in U.S. society.

And acording to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, half of U.S. Christians say casual sex between consenting adults is sometimes or always acceptable.

As for marriage equality, it was reported here in 2020 that, in the U.S., most major religious denominations back same-sex unions, including white mainline Protestants (79 percent), Hispanic Roman Catholics (78 percent), religious non-Christians (72 percent) Hispanic Protestants (68 percent), white Catholics (67 percent), Black Protestants (57 percent) and other Christian denominations (56 percent).

Religiously unaffiliated Americans were the most supportive, with 90 percent endorsing same-sex marriage.

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