(The Critic) Peter Leach–Why are Christians hung up about Sarah Mullally?

Mullally has been closely involved with the so-called “Prayers of Love and Faith”, proposed marriage-like prayers for same-sex couples. When PLF was approved she described it as “a moment of hope” for the church, leaving little doubt as to her own opinion. It is this position, rather than anything about the ordination of women, that has caused the most consternation from conservatives. GAFCON and GFSA, two large alliances in the worldwide Anglican Communion, both speak of it as a key driver for continued suspension of ordinary relations with Lambeth.

Once again the history of the church is instructive; any kind of acceptance of same-sex unions was unknown to Christianity before about the last hundred years, and has only found widespread traction in about the last thirty. (Of course, popes, televangelists and many others have had their moral failings, but these were always recognised as failings and a subject of scandal when revealed.) And once again this is in part because of extremely plain statements in Scripture. Such behaviour is an “abomination”; those who practice these things “will not inherit the kingdom of God”. There is a famous story about Sodom and Gomorrah with which you may be dimly aware. Scripture is at pains to point out that this sin, like all others, will be forgiven for anyone who repents; but it is a sin, and forgiveness does require repentance. (Of course, for all the creative reinterpretations that have flourished here as well, the real reason for the church’s shift is evident to anyone with half a brain: the culture moved, and the church wanted to move with it.)

Here there is an important difference from the issue of women’s ordination. While Scripture is clear on that topic, it is silent on its precise seriousness; most conservatives would not suggest that disobedience around women’s ordination is necessarily the death of faith. But the matter is very different with sexual immorality (of which same-sex unions are of course only one example); here God repeatedly warns us that unrepentant disobedience means judgement. To our culture, obsessed with sex and thereby cheapening it, this seems a strange overreaction. In reality, however, God could hardly do otherwise. Sex is deeply significant, the closest you can get to another human being and therefore an act with enormous power. Any parent can testify to its life-giving strength; any victim of sexual abuse, to its destructive force. God takes it seriously because it is serious.

Read it all.

Why Christians have an issue with Sarah Mullally — by @petermileach https://t.co/S0KODGQZhf

— The Critic (@TheCriticMag) October 11, 2025