The Pilling Report (PR) recently released in the Church of England, authorized by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, is no surprise. Despite assurances in advance from leading CofE spokesmen that the PR would contain no liturgies for blessing same sex civil partnerships, and that reports leaked to the contrary were sheer speculation, Recommendation 16 of the PR states clearly:
“Recommendation 16. We believe that there can be circumstances where a priest, with the agreement of the relevant PCC, should be free to mark the formation of a permanent same sex relationship in a public service (emphasis added) but should be under no obligation to do so. Some of us do not believe that this can be extended to same sex marriage. (Paragraphs 120, 380-3) [Pilling Report Page 151]”
At GAFCON 2013, the 1358 delegates to this assembly adopted The Nairobi Communique which anticipated the direction of the PR when they wrote at Paragraph 5, page 2,
“We grieve that several national governments, aided by some church leaders, have claimed to redefine marriage and have turned same-sex marriage into a human rights issue. Human rights, we believe, are founded on a true understanding of human nature, which is that we are created in God’s image, male and female such that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife (Matthew 19:6; Ephesians 5:31). We want to make clear that any civil partnership of a sexual nature does not receive the blessing of God. We continue to pray for and offer pastoral support to Christians struggling with same-sex temptation who remain celibate in obedience to Christ and affirm them in their faithfulness.”
The 31 Archbishops, 300 Bishops, 482 other clergy and 545 laity from 38 countries representing tens of millions of faithful Anglicans worldwide went on to make the following commitments, also in anticipation of the direction of the PR:…..
A marvelously clear “shot across the bow” by Canon Ashley. However, I fully expect his warning to fall on deaf ears. There were no sitting English bishops present in Nairobi (unlike at GAFCON I back in 2008 when two brave bishops dared to go to Jerusalem), and I seriously doubt that the English HoB will pay much attention to the implicit threat contained in the Nairobi Communique. They are far more concerned with the futile, doomed attempt to try to retain the ever-diminishing respect and rapidly-eroding good will of the majority of the English population. They long ago conceded that it’s hopeless to try to retain the former loyalty or devotion of the masses, which are united in staying away from the worship of the CoE in droves. They are engaged in a Neville Chamberlain sort of policy of trying to appease Christianity’s “cultured despisers” (Schliermacher’s famous phrase from 1799). Alas, appeasement never works.
Still, the disastrous Pilling Report, while obviously very ominous for the orthodox minority of the CoE, may well prove to be a blessing in disguise. For the first time, we have an open sign that the majority of leaders in the CoE are willing to condone, if not support, a grossly unbiblical action that has absolutely no theological justification, because the cultural pressures in favor of the gay rights agenda (and the moral relativism that underlies it) have become (in their eyes) irresistible and overwhelming.
The fact is, however, ’twas ever so since the fundamental character of the CoE was set long ago as an established church. The rest of the Anglican world has at least begun to face up to the reality of disestablishment at different rates, according to the varying circumstances of the provinces around the globe (i.e., all provinces except England have gone through political disestablishment, while the harder and more complicated process of mentally disengaging from our former privleged status still continues, at different paces in different contexts). The Pilling Report is Exhibit 847 that it’s now time for the CoE to go through the same traumatic experience of being liberated from the shackles of an inherited system that has always subordinated the interests of the Church to the interests of national unity and the sanctifying of the political, economic, and cultural powers that be.
So therefore, I (for one) see some real silver linings in the gray clouds that now loom over the future of the CoE. Or to be more precise, it’s not the proverbial “silver” lining that I see in those ominous storm clouds on the horizon, it’s the beautiful colors of sunrise as a new day begins to dawn for Anglicanism in the motherland of England. For if the Pilling Report tells us anything, it’s that the time has come at last for the CoE to give up all pretense of retaining the support of the majority of the population, or the majority of English leaders. It’s high time to face the grim reality that England has indeed turned from being a pro-Christian country to an increasingly unChristian or even anti-Christian land. It long ago transitioned from being a majority Christian country to a minority Christian one. And for an established church, that literally changes everything.
The English HoB has to finally come to grips with the elephant in the living room that they’ve been so reluctant to admit and face. Christians are an endangered species now in England. We’ve lost control of the culture and most of the institutions of Global North society. And we won’t regain control of the culture no matter what we do. We can run Alpha all over the place and double or triple the conversion rate (may it be so!), but that still won’t change the fact that the Post-Constantinian era is here to stay. It’s back to the catacombs now for the Church everywhere in the Global North. We’re all forced to become sectarian now, even the Roman Catholics, because the culture has turned against us.
But I see this huge crisis we’re now faced with as a golden opportunity for the Church to rediscover its idenity as “called out” ones, called to be salt in a rapidly decaying society, and light in an increasingly dark culture that has utterly lost its bearings and its way. It’s high time for the leaders of the English church, especially the evangelical and Anglo-Catholic leaders still faithful to the authentic gospel, to grab the bull by the horns and undertake the radical overhaul of Anglican ecclesial structures in England that is now forced upon them by an increasingly hostile culture.
The early Christians of the first few centuries not only survived under constant harassment and occasional violent persecution before Constantine, they actually thrived, despite intense external pressure from an uncomprehending, suspicious, and even hostile cultural environment. We can do the same, if we’re willing to pay the same high price for following the Savior that they did, and that so many of our brave brothers and sisters in Christ in the Global South have been paying for a long time.
Freed from the shackles of an obsolete, counter-productive, and corrupting association with the powers that be in Englsh society, Anglicanism may just experience in our time a rebirth, a revitalization that is almost unprecedented. I fervently hope and pray that it may be so. it could even prove to be a Second Reformation, worthy of being compared to the original Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
David Handy+
Thank you Canon Ashey and God bless you.